Tourism is facing a new era of risk. Climate change is reshaping destinations, growing visitor pressures are affecting communities and natural resources, and questions about who benefits from tourism are becoming increasingly urgent.
Responding to these interconnected challenges requires action across the tourism system. That’s why we launched Where Next? last year, to bring together destinations, businesses, NGOs, investors and other partners to explore practical solutions that can strengthen tourism destination resilience and improve outcomes for the people who live there.
Over the past year, that work has evolved from a global conversation into something increasingly practical. The next phase will focus on turning shared ideas into collaborative projects and collective action.
Putting ideas into practice
Through consultations, workshops, events and collaboration across the sector, we identified four “Big Ideas”: Identify the risk; Mobilise the money; Build the capacity; Require a fair deal for communities. We then began developing practical, collaborative solutions to bring those ideas to life, working closely with partners to test and refine them.
We’ve also continued to put the ideas into practice. Our collaborative Destination Climate RiskScan initiative is helping destinations better understand and respond to the climate risks they face, while our work on climate finance has brought together tourism and finance experts to explore how investment can better support destination resilience. Together, these initiatives are helping us explore and, in the case of Destination Climate RiskScan, test in real-world settings, two of the four Big Ideas (understanding the risks and mobilising the money) while providing valuable learning to inform the initiative’s next phase.
In September, at New York Climate Week, we are hosting a second roundtable with Cornell University and the University of Edinburgh to explore the development of a technical assistance facility to help turn destination climate adaptation needs into investable projects, connecting tourism’s commercial reach and destination relationships with the capital needed to build resilience. We’re inviting destinations, climate finance experts, tour operators and hotels with experience and ideas to contribute, click here to find out more and register.
Over the past six months we’ve also worked with an advisory group, strategic partners and stakeholders from across the tourism sector to turn the Big Ideas into practical projects. This has included workshops with stakeholders representing a broad mix of NGOs and foundations, tour operators, destination authorities, accommodation businesses, international organisations, associations, donors, consultancies, and research institutions.
Learning through collaboration
Four themes have emerged consistently through our consultations, events and stakeholder workshops. Together, they are shaping both the next phase of Where Next? and the collaborative approach needed to create lasting change.
- Tourism already has many of the ingredients for change. The next step is connecting them more effectively. Participants highlighted the wealth of expertise, research and initiatives already underway across the sector. The opportunity lies in helping organisations learn from one another and collaborate around shared challenges.
- Destinations and businesses need actionable information, including climate risk data that helps prioritise investment, build confidence and turn knowledge into action.
- Tourism’s biggest challenges are interconnected. The solutions need to be as well. Climate resilience, finance, workforce, skills, governance and community wellbeing reinforce one another, making a systems approach essential for lasting change.
- Destination resilience begins with thriving communities. Participants consistently emphasised that tourism’s long-term success depends on creating benefits that are shared more fairly, supporting thriving places alongside thriving visitor economies.
Shaping the next phase
The next phase of this work marks an important shift, from exploring what’s needed to making it happen together. We’re working with partners to develop a portfolio of practical, collaborative projects that organisations can help shape, test and deliver together. These are emerging directly from the conversations we’ve had over the past year and build on the four Big Ideas at the heart of the initiative.
This portfolio brings together practical initiatives that reinforce one another and tackle different parts of the tourism system. It includes projects that help destinations better understand risk to nature, connect destinations with climate adaptation finance, strengthen climate capability across the tourism sector and develop new frameworks and indicators that measure whether tourism is delivering better outcomes for local economies and communities.
For this next phase, we’ll be looking to work with organisations that want to help shape, pilot, fund or deliver this work, recognising that lasting change will only happen through collective action.
Thank you to everyone who has contributed ideas, challenged our thinking and helped shape this journey so far. Your insight has played an important role in moving Where Next? from a shared conversation towards a shared programme of action. We look forward to sharing the next chapter with you soon.
