Chief executive Mark Tanzer said the challenge for the industry was to balance the benefits of tourism with its costs.
Tanzer said the UN’s chief goal was the reduction of poverty and tourism accounted for 10% of the world’s jobs.
“We’ve seen through Covid the devastating impacts where tourism stops, both in employment and social disruption.”
The industry needed to work with governments “as partners, not as adversaries”, he said.
“There’s a lot we can do in our own businesses; big problems don’t always have big solutions.”
The webinar, Decarbonising Tourism, is on 11 November. Non-members can attend for a small fee.