Three UN Agencies United to Advance Sustainable Urban Tourism

UN Tourism, UN-Habitat, and UNESCO came together at the World Urban Forum to host a side event under the theme Urban Tourism: Policies and Governance for More Sustainable, Inclusive, Creative, and Resilient Cities.

From the interconnection of their mandates, this is the first time that three UN Agencies join forces at the World Urban Forum to stimulate dialogue and call for cooperation to help drive sustainable urban tourism.

The event builds upon the innovative and successful partnership between UN-Habitat and UN Tourism. The agencies organized, with the support of the Basque Government,  an  Expert Group Meeting on Advancing Sustainable Urban Tourism: Tools for promoting good practices in cities and territories” (Bilbao, 21-22 March 2024) where UN agencies including UNESCO, representatives of national, regional, and local governments, academy, private sector and civil society, debated how to build better policies and governance for urban tourism in a way that benefits all. The final conclusions of this meeting were presented at the event, which served a baseline for further action.

Tourism, Culture, and Creativity: Catalysts for Urban Regeneration

Mayors from Granada (Spain), Las Palmas de Gran Canaria (Spain), Madrid (Spain), Porto (Portugal) and the Councillor Member of the Mayoral Committee – Human Settlements of Buffalo City (South Africa) shared their vision of how tourism drives economic and social development in their respective cities. They emphasized tourism’s role in advancing urban infrastructure, accessibility, preserving and promoting cultural and natural assets, stimulating creative industries and regenerating neglected areas, eventually transforming their cities into better places.

Yet, they also stressed that to reach its full potential, tourism must be developed sustainably across economic, sociocultural, and environmental dimensions and emphasized that this requires a holistic, multisectoral governance and approach that embeds tourism and culture within the urban and territorial planning addressing the diverse needs of all stakeholders, namely local communities.

Culture-driven Urban Solutions

As part of this strategic partnership, a series of Urban Solutions: Culture-Driven Sustainable Urban Tourism will be launched in the following weeks. Developed by UNESCO, in collaboration with UN Tourism and UN-Habitat, these solutions aim to place culture at the heart of sustainable urban tourism policies and strategies, blending cultural heritage, creativity, and local traditions, to foster inclusive growth. These solutions will help transform tourism into a powerful catalyst for positive change.

The three UN agencies will continue exploring ways of collaboration, from the tourism, territory and culture, intersection towards creating more sustainable, resilient, creative, and inclusive cities and territories, accelerating the localization of the SDGs and implementation of the New Urban Agenda.