The head of the UN tourism agency said Thursday that the tourism sector needs more green investments because it is not achieving the Sustainable Development Goals for 2030.
“We are falling behind in the race to achieve the goals of sustainable development,” warned the secretary general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) in Macau.
At the opening ceremony of the World Economic and Tourism Forum (GTEF), which runs until Saturday in Macau, Zurab Pololikashvili defended the urgency of “returning to the right path.”
The leader highlighted “the importance of increasing green investments to make this sector more sustainable than ever.”
The 17 Sustainable Development Goals for 2030, agreed by UN member countries in 2000, include the eradication of poverty and hunger, the reduction of inequalities, clean and affordable energy and action against climate change.
At the same ceremony, the CEO of the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) went further and argued that “the focus of the next decade must be on achieving zero emissions and protecting biodiversity.”
Julia Simpson recalled that the intensity of carbon emissions production in the sector is already decreasing. “It’s positive and important, but not enough,” she said, stressing that “international travel remains extremely dependent on fossil fuels.”
The director stated that airplanes powered by renewable energy will still take time to arrive and pointed to biofuels as “the only short-term solution for the aviation and tourist travel industry.”
Simpson called on all countries to carry out studies on the possibility of “multiplying the production of sustainable biofuels for aviation” over the next ten years.
At the same ceremony, China’s Minister of Culture and Tourism, Hu Heping, stressed that “environmental protection should be a precondition for the development” of the tourism industry.
China, which followed the ‘zero Covid’ policy, announced in mid-December, after almost three years, the gradual lifting of most restrictions, which included the imposition of quarantines upon arrival in the country.
As a result, tourism “has been recovering, creating jobs in various sectors and providing important support to economic growth,” Hu said.
The minister maintained that, although access to tourism is “an important criterion to evaluate the quality of life” of the population, the sector must also improve the life of the local population.
“We must take into account ecological capacity, the efforts needed to restore nature and the ability to develop green tourism,” Hu said.
Source: TSF
