Minister Martin welcomes the report of the Sustainable Tourism Working Group
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From: Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media
- Published on: 19 October 2021
- Last updated on: 26 October 2021
The Minister for Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media, Catherine Martin T.D., today (19 October 2021) welcomed a report from the Sustainable Tourism Working Group which identifies actions to promote sustainable tourism practices out to 2023.
The Sustainable Tourism Working Group was established under the Tourism Action Plan 2019-2021 and previously published a report which sets out the ambition that “Ireland will seek to be amongst the world-leaders in sustainable tourism practices” and, in addition, accompanying Guiding Principles for Sustainable Tourism Development in Ireland.
The Sustainable Tourism Working Group has now completed the development of a suite of actions that will promote sustainable tourism practices in Ireland. The actions identified in this report aim to establish new research methods, which will increase the level of evidence available, and form a clear narrative for communicating about the sustainability agenda to build a better understanding and awareness among tourism stakeholders and the general public. It will also ensure that sustainability is taken into account in policy development, business planning by the agencies and industry as well as in destination management and promotional activity.
Some of the key recommendations in the plan include:
• Ensuring greater community involvement in destination planning to maximise the potential of nature based solutions in local tourism.
• Providing better access to information and tools for visitors to practice responsible tourism through the development of carbon calculators which will allow visitors to evaluate the impact of their carbon footprint on the environment.
• Stimulating change in the tourism industry by identifying and delivering incentive schemes to address key change barriers & drivers.
• Developing a sustainability pledge for visitors to support Ireland’s efforts to help preserve the environment and act in a responsible and sustainable manner.
• Responsibilities to be assigned within the tourism agencies to provide strategic direction and increased profile for sustainable tourism development.
• A senior industry representative to be assigned to act as a sustainability champion.
• Identifying and developing destinations that have the potential to be promoted as best in class in terms of sustainability.
Speaking today, Minister Martin said:
“I am very pleased to accept the report of the Sustainable Tourism Working Group which outlines the steps that can be taken to promote sustainable tourism practices in the short term. The record level of funding for tourism that I secured in last week’s budget will further address immediate survival-related concerns while also facilitating a recovery across industry as we reopen to international tourism. However, as the recovery takes hold we need to look to the future and set out what type of tourism sector we want out to 2030 and beyond. To that end, I have instructed my officials to initiate the development of a new national tourism policy, which mainstreams sustainability. This policy will be informed by and build upon the work undertaken by the Sustainable Tourism Working Group. The successful implementation of the actions in this report will help to grow the awareness and understanding of issues relating to the sustainable agenda in tourism.
“Sustainable tourism means to use, without exploitation, our natural, cultural and other tourist resources and to preserve them for future use by future generations. It also means that tourism should be a positive for local communities as well as being economically sustainable. With that in mind, we must seek to realise Ireland’s ambition to be amongst the world-leaders in sustainable tourism practises. Ireland has a reputation as the Emerald Isle internationally and sustaining and nurturing this green image through the adoption of sustainable tourism practises is an important underpinning for recovery and future tourism growth.”