The fourth meeting of the Expert Group for MST took place in Marbella - with the collaboration of the Consejería de Turismo, Cultura y Deporte de la Junta de Andalucía, co-financed with European Funds - to consolidate technical progress and articulate governance ambition.

Andalusia is known for its openness, collaboration and innovation, quite a fitting symbol for this meeting and for our MST endeavour. UNWTO Executive Director, Zoritsa Urosevic

The relevance of measurement for sustainability

MST seeks to establish an internationally recognized reference framework for measuring the economic, social and environmental impacts and dependencies of tourism. Consequently, countries will gain access to reliable and internationally comparable data at both national and subnational levels. This ensures that sustainable initiatives adopt a unified approach and yield a lasting and meaningful impact.

Securing international recognition

UNWTO has followed a UN process that will culminate in the presentation of the Statistical Framework for MST to the United Nations Statistical Commission. The goal is to secure endorsement and thereby elevate it to the status of third statistical standard for tourism.

The framework has undergone numerous consultations, has been fed by the work of nine research teams and over 21 discussion papers, as well as close technical guidance of the MST Editorial Board.

The 4th meeting of the expert group

The meeting convened representatives from Ministries, Statistical Institutes, subnational authorities, academia, and the private sector. This momentum will see the agreed Framework undergo global consultation and presentation to the UNWTO Statistics Committee and the UNWTO General Assembly for endorsement.

The successful conclusion of this journey owes much to the valuable efforts and collaboration of 44 countries plus over 30 international organizations, academic institutions, and regional tourism authorities. To date, 28 MST pilots have demonstrated the policy relevance and technical feasibility of the Framework, which is flexible to adapt to different country situations and policy priorities

MST fills a critical gap in tourism data by offering a consensus and guidance for generating data on the economic, social and environmental dimensions of tourism's sustainability. Now, more than ever, governments, businesses and citizens require reliable and standardized data to assess performance, communicate progress, inspire the right policies and more innovative business models, and to ensure that tourism action on the ground contributes to achieving a more sustainable development.

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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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