Principle 1
Promote the culture of peace through tourism.
By its very nature, tourism activity can help promote cultural diversity, universal values, the culture of peace, human rights, and the intercultural dialogue so necessary in today’s world. Far from becoming a factor of homogenisation or imposition, the development of tourism can and must be considered one of the pillars of the culture of peace, becoming a powerful force capable of fostering multicultural understanding and promoting mutual comprehension among the peoples of the planet.
The understanding and promotion of common values, in a spirit of tolerance and respect for the diversity of cultures, are both the foundation and the consequence of responsible tourism. Tourism development stakeholders and tourists must pay attention to the social and cultural traditions and practices of all peoples, including those of minorities and indigenous populations, recognising their richness and uniqueness.
The tourism phenomenon is not only a source of personal and collective enrichment, but can become a great instrument to foster inclusion, cultural respect, and the prosperity of peoples—values that are intrinsically linked to peace.
Principle 2
Strengthen environmental solidarity and the regeneration of natural resources.
Tourism activity must be compatible with the conservation of nature and terrestrial and marine biodiversity, implementing effective measures to protect natural and landscape heritage as one of the most valuable components and attributes in many destinations. Preserving terrestrial and marine ecosystems, halting biodiversity loss, and restoring natural environments—and our relationship with them—will be key for tourism to ensure its future prosperity and resilience, given that the future of travel and tourism is inevitably tied to nature.
In the current circumstances, it is urgent to adopt a regenerative and environmentally supportive vision in the use of natural resources, avoiding the potential degradation that tourism activity may generate. The definition of a sustainable tourism policy necessarily requires the support and promotion of environmentally responsible tourism management systems, implementing best practices that minimise environmental impact and ensure the restoration of areas degraded by activity.
Consequently, the great challenge now and in the future is to make tourism a positive factor for nature. The goal must be not only to minimise environmental harm but also to actively invest in the recovery and restoration of nature in tourism destinations and spaces. This includes rigorous monitoring and reporting on environmental damage, as well as redoubling efforts to prevent it, and integrating these measures throughout the entire tourism value chain. In current and foreseeable future conditions, it is undeniable that nature-positive tourism is not only a moral imperative but also a commercial one.
Good tourism management requires ensuring the sustainability of the resources it uses and depends on. Key environmental factors such as water and waste generation must be considered fundamental aspects throughout the tourism activity value chain.
Tourism must provide innovative solutions to be more efficient in resource management within the context of a circular economy, limiting waste generation, increasing recycling capacity, minimising production, and reducing pollution. In the same line, sustainable integrated water cycle management must be reinforced, prioritising measures aimed at saving, treating, and recovering water in tourism infrastructures and services.
Principle 3
Encourage cooperation for the safeguarding of cultural heritage, tangible and intangible, among all tourism stakeholders.
The recognition and appreciation of cultural heritage, both tangible and intangible, are among the main reasons for tourism activity in a wide variety of destinations and play a fundamental role as a driver of travel. However, its fragility and conservation requirements are not sufficiently acknowledged. Consequently, the safeguarding of expressions of cultural heritage must be considered one of the key commitments in tourism development by all involved parties.
This commitment entails a genuine challenge of cultural, technological and professional innovation, which also requires a major effort to create and develop creative instruments and tools for coordination and management, with the active participation of the communities who are custodians of cultural heritage. In this context, it is essential that the revenues generated by cultural tourism effectively contribute to the conservation of heritage and the maintenance of its integrity.
The management of tourism activity in heritage sites must not be limited to the legal boundaries of cultural heritage properties. Tourism development, infrastructure projects and management plans must contribute to preserving the integrity, authenticity and aesthetic, social and cultural dimensions of heritage sites, including their surroundings and associated cultural landscapes, also taking into account the close relationship between cultural and natural heritage.
Special attention must be paid to the preservation of the fragile intangible cultural heritage of destinations, passed down from generation to generation and instilling communities and groups with their identity and continuity, avoiding its degradation and mystification for speculative purposes. Indigenous cultures, traditions and local knowledge, in all their forms, must be respected and valued in the development of sustainable tourism policies, without forgetting the role of tourism as a potential driver for the safeguarding of cultural creativity.
Principle 4
Strengthen the common commitment to unite all agents to transform tourism and make it an effective contributor to climate action.
In the current context of a global climate emergency, tourism can and must become a responsible activity by establishing a solid and lasting commitment to reduce its carbon footprint across its entire operational spectrum, minimising greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as much as possible and strengthening its adaptive capacity in the face of the foreseeable impacts of a changing climate.
Tourism can play a prominent role in the fight to mitigate climate change if the sector’s resources and capacity for innovation are fully mobilised and directed towards achieving this goal. Accelerating the decarbonisation of tourism involves a broad set of permanent measures related to energy, transport, and consumption patterns. Beyond compensation measures or adaptation strategies in tourist destinations affected by climate change, real emission reduction solutions must be established by all involved parties.
Promoting the widest possible adoption of renewable energy in all areas of tourism activity, from accommodation to transport, is one of the most effective ways to reduce its carbon footprint. A tourism sector that prioritises energy efficiency and savings, combined with the use of renewable energies as the core of its actions, is not only technologically and economically viable, but also brings countless benefits in terms of competitiveness, reduced dependence risks, and the eradication of energy poverty in destinations.
Given that, on average, transport to and within destinations is the leading source of GHG emissions across all tourism operations, this dimension must be placed at the heart of climate action. This includes adopting a wide range of solutions involving the choice of zero- or low-emission mobility and transport alternatives, including new electric motorisation technologies based on renewable energies, as well as prioritising collective transport and pedestrian travel.
In general terms, it is a priority to steer all tourism activities towards the goal of halving carbon emissions in the next decade and reaching net zero emissions as soon as possible, and always before 2050. In particular, it is urgent to establish the requirement that all new tourism initiatives and projects be developed under the premise of net zero emissions. This includes applying innovation and a commitment to decarbonisation in areas such as the construction and refurbishment of tourism infrastructure, new materials, mobility, technologies, supply and consumption patterns, energy, or integrated waste and water management.
Principle 5
Promote innovation and the adoption of sustainable technologies.
Tourism is a privileged field of action when it comes to adopting advanced technologies and innovative sustainable practices, with a commitment to smart tourism that will increase the capacity of tourism companies, organizations and institutions to improve their environmental performance and sustainability.
A responsible vision of tourism requires the incorporation of technologies that increase operational efficiency and reduce environmental impact, in addition to providing the destination's infrastructure with intelligence to promote the efficient and sustainable development of the activity. Therefore, innovation ecosystems must be permanently strengthened to identify and select appropriate solutions in the wide range of green technologies that guarantee eco-efficiency in all tourism activities.
In this context, the digitization of tourism can sustain the great paradigm shift towards comprehensive sustainability in an ethical, inclusive and safe way, opening up new opportunities for businesses, local communities, destinations and, especially, tourists.
It is necessary to support and promote disruptive technologies related to tourism activity that emerge with digital tools with the capacity to improve the traditional way of planning and enjoying travel, offering new experiences and more sustainable business models. Disruptive technologies that contribute to a more sustainable tourism in all aspects are: Artificial Intelligence (AI); Big Data; Chatbots; 5G; Drones; Internet of Things (IoT); Mixed Reality (Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality). All of them to improve the tourism experience and optimize sustainable management. In addition, new challenges and tools arise, ranging from the application of neuromarketing techniques to know the experience and emotion of the tourist, to the prevention of cybercrime in the tourism sector.
Due to its cross-cutting capacity, AI constitutes a key tool for the transformation of the tourism production model towards greater sustainability, provided its potential is harnessed in an ethical, secure and responsible way. The ultimate goal is to facilitate digitalisation, harness artificial intelligence, and foster collaboration to enhance the global tourism innovation ecosystem oriented towards sustainable development.
Principle 6
Limit overtourism and its harmful effects.
Unsustainable practices of mass tourism and tourist overcrowding continue to be among the greatest challenges to the sustainable development of tourism. The effects extend across multiple areas today, impacting the quality of life of the resident population, business viability, and public management of the territory, even degrading the tourism experience itself.
An urgent participatory and coordinated response is needed in terms of planning, management and regulation to address the phenomena of urban space appropriation and the displacement of residents, which are being recorded in an increasing number of destinations and tourist sites. The privatisation and congestion of public space are undesirable consequences of poor tourism management, as is the unacceptable competition for access to housing resulting from the emergence of new rental and holiday accommodation systems. This highlights the need to consolidate liveable and inclusive tourist destinations by establishing carrying capacity limits in a coordinated manner among all responsible entities, with the involvement of local communities.
The saturation of many cultural and natural attractions beyond their acceptable limits of change can irreparably damage their own values and attributes. This calls for the implementation of appropriate management and monitoring measures to ensure their preservation.
Principle 7
Increase the capacity to imagine and create new sustainable tourism forms and products.
The tourism of the future will require imagination and a continuous capacity for innovation to conceive more sustainable, attractive, diverse, and responsible ways of travelling. The creation of tourism products aligned with sustainability values must not be limited to marginal adjustments of traditional models but, should represent a conscious and creative effort to transform tourism practices from their very conception, while simultaneously increasing tourist satisfaction and the social, cultural, and economic benefits perceived by local communities.
The diversification of tourism offerings is an essential condition for overcoming standardisation and overdependence on dominant traditional models, many of which are vulnerable and high-impact. The promotion of modalities such as ecotourism, nature tourism, cultural tourism, rural tourism, wellness tourism, or scientific and educational tourism, among many others, opens a wide range of opportunities for the development of more diverse destinations, with more equitable benefits and greater respect for environmental values and those of the local community.
This principle calls for strengthening the capacities for designing, promoting and managing tourism products that meet the demands of responsible travellers—those who are aware of their footprint and seek authentic and emotionally enriching experiences. At the same time, it is necessary for new products to integrate, in a cross-cutting way, criteria of environmental and cultural sustainability, gender and generational perspectives, universal accessibility, social inclusion, and economic viability.
The current and future challenge lies in increasing the ability to develop sustainable travel product projects and prototypes and to test them in the market, sharing success stories and ensuring their credibility and effectiveness. Ultimately, it is about fostering a new culture of innovation in the practice and art of tourism, one that prioritises purposeful creativity, respect for the identity of territories, and the generation of shared value between visitors and hosts.
In this shared task, it is crucial to build new bridges between science and tourism, between academia and tourism developers. Such alliances could bring the necessary intelligence to future tourism, helping to guide the objective of new initiatives, their limits, and opportunities.
It is also considered a priority to develop actions to involve young people in this process of creatively defining the future scenarios that not only the tourism sector but society as a whole should be heading towards.
The collective capacity to imagine a better tourism activity is also the capacity to transform and renew it: with more meaning, more respect, more creativity, and in harmony with the planet and its inhabitants.
Principle 8
Promote and demand for economic and social justice in tourism.
A more sustainable tourism will only be possible if it becomes an effective tool contributing to economic and social justice in the territories where it takes place. This vision requires going beyond the generation of short-term income and benefits, and decisively orienting itself towards a tourism development model that contributes to the redistribution of benefits, fosters social cohesion, reduces inequalities, and eradicates poverty and abuses.
Ensuring an equitable distribution of the benefits of tourism activities means placing local communities at the centre, particularly those that have traditionally been marginalised or excluded from decision-making processes and mainstream economic circuits.
The implementation of planning policies, fiscal measures, regulatory frameworks, and effective redistribution and predistribution mechanisms must ensure that the value generated by tourism translates into real improvements in people's lives, supporting local businesses and community economies, without forgetting the potential to boost other activities.
Socially just tourism also requires a firm commitment to improving working conditions, especially considering the sector's significant role in global employment. The promotion of decent work, equal opportunities and gender equality, the protection of labour rights, and ongoing training must be fundamental pillars of any tourism sustainability strategy. Only in this way can a tourism that generates decent, inclusive, stable jobs, and is compatible with the personal and professional fulfilment of those working directly or indirectly in the sector, be consolidated.
The active participation of local communities in planning, decision-making, and destination management is another essential goal to guarantee their empowerment and their right to define the future of the place where they live. This requires participatory governance models that value local knowledge and promote dialogue between public, private, and community actors.
In this effort, corporate social responsibility must cease to be a voluntary add-on and fully integrate into the business strategies of the tourism sector. Furthermore, cooperation with non-governmental organisations and international bodies is fundamental to promoting good practices, facilitating knowledge transfer, and channeling resources that strengthen local capacities.
Promoting and advocating for economic and social justice in tourism is an ethical demand, but also an indispensable condition for its legitimacy, resilience, and long-term sustainability.
Principle 9
Activate the engines of change: education, awareness and dissemination of best practices.
The path towards truly sustainable tourism inevitably involves a deep cultural transformation process that can only be achieved through education, awareness, and the systematic dissemination of best practices. For tourism to become a conscious force for positive change, it must be supported by an informed citizenry, a trained professional sector, an aware and proactive public administration, and an environment conducive to shared learning.
Education and training in sustainable tourism must be present at all levels and aimed at all parts of the system: from travellers to public managers, from private operators to local communities. Ongoing, practical and applied training must provide updated tools and knowledge to understand the impacts of tourism, take on responsibilities, and act accordingly.
Awareness raising of tourists is equally essential. Promoting effective awareness and communication campaigns allow to build a travel culture based on respect, empathy and co-responsibility, including the proper use of digital tools. Traveling ethically, learning about local realities, reducing the environmental footprint and valuing host cultures are elements that should be part of the tourism experience of the present and the future.
It is also crucial to encourage the identification, documentation, and dissemination of successful experiences that are already generating positive impacts. Best practices are a source of inspiration and collective learning that deserves to be recognised, shared, and replicated. The visibility of these initiatives—whether from businesses, local communities, administrations, governments, or international organisations—demonstrates that another tourism model is not only possible, but already underway.
The creation of knowledge-sharing networks, interregional cooperation and the transfer of sustainable technologies should be strengthened as key instruments to accelerate the transition to a more just, regenerative and resilient tourism. In this process, the contribution of universities and research centers focused on tourism is a key factor in underpinning smarter and more sustainable tourism.
Ultimately, educating, raising awareness, and sharing knowledge are complementary actions and essential drivers of the change that tourism needs. Transformation will not come solely from new regulations or technologies, but from the development of a global consciousness that places sustainability as the guiding principle of all tourism activity.
Principle 10
Establish codes of conduct, instruments, and proactive frameworks to ensure the sustainability of tourism.
Moving towards more sustainable tourism cannot solely depend on individual will or isolated actions. It requires solid structures, effective instruments, and regulatory frameworks that guide, organise, and stimulate responsible behaviour from all the actors involved. Establishing and applying codes of conduct, certifications, regulations, and planning tools are fundamental instruments to transform commitments into tangible and lasting results. The objective of these actions is to integrate sustainability into the local, national, regional, and international tourism policies, strategies, operations, and plans.
Responsible codes of conduct should serve as ethical and practical references that guide the activity of tourism agents, promoting behaviour consistent with the principles of sustainability, cultural respect, social justice, and care for the environment and heritage. These codes should adapt to diverse contexts, maintaining a shared vision to guide destinations and tourism businesses.
The recognition of good practices and management systems through certifications and sustainability labels represents an important way to stimulate continuous improvement, bringing transparency to the sector and offering consumers tools that allow them to make more responsible decisions. Furthermore, the promotion and harmonisation of international standards on sustainable tourism is a key step towards advancing a common global framework based on objective, verifiable, and comparable criteria.
Sustainable tourism management at the destination level requires strategic, integrated planning based on evidence. Tourism development plans must incorporate the environmental, social, economic, and cultural dimensions in a balanced way, as well as effective mechanisms for participatory governance. This vision should be complemented with monitoring and evaluation systems that measure, analyse, and adjust the impact of tourism policies and activities on territories, ecosystems, heritage, the economy, and local communities. To this end, it is necessary to establish indicator frameworks that measure not only environmental sustainability but also heritage and cultural sustainability, resilience, and quality of life in destinations. In this context, the ESG (environmental, social, and governance) approach should become a cross-cutting reference to guide investment, management, and planning decisions in the tourism sector.
Compliance with environmental and heritage regulations, applicable to all tourism operators without exception, as well as the implementation of continuous socio-environmental monitoring systems, are essential conditions to minimise the negative impacts of tourism. This commitment reinforces the need to ensure that tourism growth does not come at the expense of the degradation of natural resources, heritage, or the well-being of local populations.
Sustainability requires not only will, but also clear rules that are adhered to, effective instruments, monitoring mechanisms, and an institutional culture that encourages compliance, continuous improvement, transparency, and accountability.
Principle 11
Forge alliances to consolidate a sustainable tourism future.
The sustainability of tourism is a shared responsibility that transcends borders, sectors, and levels of action. Only through active cooperation between the different actors involved —governments, the private sector, civil society, local communities, and international organisations— will it be possible to build a tourism future that is truly just, resilient, and respectful of the planet's limits.
The strengthening of solid and lasting alliances must be aimed at achieving common goals, inspired by the principles of sustainable development and aligned with the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These alliances must go beyond declarative commitments, transforming into platforms for concrete action, knowledge exchange, technology transfer, and building local capacities.
International cooperation plays a crucial role in this process. It is essential to establish effective mechanisms for technical assistance, financing, and institutional support for those tourism destinations that may present greater vulnerabilities, either due to their environmental fragility, economic dependency, or limited infrastructure. The creation of specific funds to support sustainable tourism development, as well as post-disaster recovery, should be considered a priority by multilateral organisations, cooperation agencies, and public-private partnerships.
In an increasingly global context exposed to health, economic, climatic, and geopolitical crises, tourism must strengthen its ability to anticipate, prepare for, and respond to these challenges. Building territorial and sectoral resilience requires well-designed contingency plans, collaborative support networks, and cooperation frameworks that allow for more effective and solidaristic responses to common challenges.
Alliances focused on sustainability also allow for the sharing of good practices, standards, methodologies, and innovative solutions that can be adapted and replicated in diverse contexts. This joint effort not only strengthens the global governance of tourism activity but also multiplies positive impacts, reducing gaps between destinations and generating equitable benefits.
In short, no actor can move towards sustainability alone. Forging alliances, cooperating, and acting in networks is not an option but an essential condition to consolidate transformative, regenerative tourism that serves the common good.