"Tourism and Rural Development: A Policy Perspective - Results of the UNWTO Survey on Tourism for Rural Development to Member States" represents the first baseline document of UNWTO on tourism and rural development with the participation of Member States worldwide.

Key Findings: Rural Tourism for Opportunity

  • More than half of all Member States (59%) stated that rural tourism is a priority
  • Almost all Member States (96%) foresee a better future for rural tourism in the upcoming years
  • The creation of new jobs, improvement of livelihoods and fighting depopulation were the most frequently-cited opportunities offered by tourism for rural areas
  • Member States also identified the conservation and promotion of cultural heritage and environmental protection as among the biggest potential benefits of rural tourism

Main Challenges in Rural Areas

The UNWTO research also identified three main challenges associated with realizing the potential of tourism for rural development:

  • The "infrastructure gap" in rural areas. Deficiencies in roads, ports, airports and other infrastructure that allow access to rural areas remain a challenge for the surveyed countries.
  • Rural depopulation. Seasonality and farming product competitiveness add to this challenge, increasing the instability of rural businesses, which prevents the retention of population and human resources.
  • The lack of education and training, as well as skills development, in addition to the capacity to attract and retain workforce talent.

Other challenges include limitations in accessing financial systems, restrictions in the development of innovative tourism products in rural areas, managing the impacts of degradation of natural resources, and limitations in handling data, digitalization, and knowledge management.

UNWTO: Advancing Tourism for the SDGs

In terms of how tourism can help in supporting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), UNWTO Member States emphasized the potential of rural tourism for advancing SDG 8 (Decent Work and Economic Growth) SDG 1 (No Poverty), SDG 11 (Sustainable cities and communities) and SDG 5 (Gender Equality).

The report was launched during the 118th Session of the UNWTO Executive Council in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. It forms part of the work of UNWTO's Tourism for Rural Development Programme, established to develop initiatives and programmes to grow the sector in size and relevance as well as to monitor it in destinations worldwide.

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About UN Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Our Priorities

Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.

Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.

Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.

Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.

Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.

Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.

Our Structure

Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.

Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.

Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.

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