ASOLAN participates in the World Summit for Sustainable Tourism, organised by the Institute of Responsible Tourism (ITR), the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) and the Basque Tourism Agency (Basquetour), with the support of UNESCO and the WTO and it is framed as an initiative within the cop21.
This summit celebrating the twentieth anniversary of the World Charter for Sustainable Tourism and is presented as the major international event in 2015 to bring together the main actors of sustainable tourism in search of a new momentum towards their goals.
In 1995 the Charter for Sustainable Tourism was adopted at the first World Conference on Sustainable Tourism, held on the island of Lanzarote (Spain). This historic action took place under the auspices of UNESCO, the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the leading associated international organisations and related programmes, such as the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the MAB Programme (Man and the Biosphere), the World Heritage Centre, the European Commission and the United Nations Division for Sustainable Development. The conference saw the birth of the term and the concept of Sustainable Tourism, which, along with the Declaration, was a significant shift in the tourism industry and the carrying out of tourism towards more responsible ways of conducting and conceiving this activity.
Twenty years later, major changes have occurred in today’s world and in the travel and tourism industry, obliging us to rethink and update the terms and objectives of the initial declaration in order to give new drive and meaning to the commitment to sustainability in this key sector.
More information here.