Working Group of Experts on Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism Second Meeting, UNWTO Headquarters Madrid, Spain, 24-25 October 2018 Reflections on measuring the sustainability of tourism at the destination scale Raúl Hernández Martín Head of the Chair in Tourism CajaCanarias-Ashotel University of la Laguna Objectives Identifying two main scales of analysis for MST: global and local Integration of the global and the local scales of analysis in MST Contribution to the extension of the existing conceptual framework for tourism statistics 1
Policy issues in MST 1 Global challenge CO2 emissions, depletion of non-renewable resources, SDGs Global sustainability Tourism Industry Destinations Congestion Waste production Water scarcity Loss of identity Local wellbeing Labour conditions Sea level rise, climate change mitigation, 2 Destination challenge Policy issues in MST Contribution of tourism to global sustainablility Sustainability of local tourism destinations 2
Contribution of tourism to global sustainability Global Supra-national National Regional Municipal Local destination Contribution of tourism to global sustainability Comments: Accumulative scales of analysis Available international methodologies Economic: Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA, 2008) Environmental: System of Environmental Economic Accounting (EEA, 2012): water, resources and energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions, waste, green jobs, etc. Social: world heritage sites, poverty alleviation 3
Sustainability of local tourism destinations Comments: + tourism industry + local population + environment System of indicators (some initiatives) Local singularities, relevance of perceptions of stakeholders Non-additive indicators (air puritiy, quality of sea water) Economic: income, local control, decent jobs, Environmental: water quality, biodiversity, air quality, waste management, sea water quality, green firms,... Social: education, health, poverty, wealth distribution, crime, corruption, job security, gender inequality, protection of heritage, respect of traditional values,. The relevance of the destination approach 1% of municipalities in Spain account for 63.5% of tourism overnights and, thus, for most tourism sustainability problems 4
The relevance of the destination approach The growing concerns about overtourism and congestion International statistical standards regarding tourism measurement (IRTS, 2008 & TSA, 2008) Supply perspective (activities & products) Demand perspective 5
Global approach: Supply Supply perspective (activities & products) Demand perspective Global approach: demand Supply perspective (activities & products) Demand perspective 6
Extended framework for sustainable tourism Extended framework for sustainable tourism Rest of the territory Destinations 7
Global tourism supply perspective Rest of the territory Destinations Global tourism demand perspective Rest of the territory Destinations 8
Destination supply perspective Rest of the territory Destination Destination demand perspective Rest of the territory Destination Non-vistors 9
Integrated destination perspective Rest of the territory Destination Integrating destinations in the existing tourism statistics framework Tourism industry Destinations 10
Extended approach for measuring tourism at a local scale (IRTS, 2008) defined through the usual environment Tourists Excursionists TSA 2008 IRTS 2008 Large share of consumption Large share of production Large share of experiences take place at Large share of experiences oriented to Tourism characteristic products and activities (IRTS, 2008) defined through significance Large share of establishments located in Large share of establishments belong to Tourism destinations (defined through significance) Local destinations Tourism area of influence UN Sustainable Development Goals = + non visitors = + other industries = Tourism destinations + other places 11
New concepts, definitions and UNWTO guidelines are needed Activity of visitors (at destinations) Area of influence Carrying capacity Comparability Clusters of destinations Functional areas Local population Point of interest Scalability Significance (of tourism) Stakeholders Tourism destination Tourism (equivalent) population Tourism visits at destinations A system of indicators for destination sustainability is needed Despite advances, some limitations of existing initiatives: Sustainability (policy) implications of individual indicators Weights, relevance and interrelations of individual indicators No clear object of analysis (tourism industry vs destinations) Singularities of individual destinations Combination of quantitative indicators and stakeholders perceptions Effects of seasonality on sustainability 12
Provision of new methods for new statistical information Delimitation of tourism destinations for statistical purposes and decision-making The case of the Canary Islands 1.7% of land 94% of tourist beds Source: Canary Islands Institute of Statistics Canary Islands 16 tourism zones divided into 47 micro-destinations 3 zones in Lanzarote (coverage 92% of tourist beds) 4 zones in Fuerteventura ( coverage 93,4% of tourist beds) 4 zones in Gran Canaria (coverage 96,1 of tourist beds) 5 Zones in Tenerife ( 83,2% coverage of tourist beds) Source: ISTAC 13
The importance of geolocating tourism information Revenue per available room in 9 local destinations in 2 municipalities. Tenerife. 2017 Source: Canary Islands Institute of Statistics. Tourist accommodation survey Thank you very much!!! Raúl Hernández-Martín (rahernan@ull.es) Head of the Chair in Tourism CajaCanarias-Ashotel University of La Laguna 14