The Future of Tourism Coalition and Tourism Declares have announced plans for a climate action blueprint designed specifically for destinations.
The blueprint will comprise the frameworks, tools, best practices and resources needed to ensure destinations can produce their own action plans that align tourism with key climate goals.
These include halving global emissions by 2030 and limiting global warning to a maximum of 1.5C.
The blueprint will be made available ahead of the UN Climate Change Conference in November as a free and practical resource for all destinations to use.
Together, the coalition and Tourism Declares hope the blueprint will be adopted as the standard approach to scaling up climate action throughout travel and tourism.
Tourism Declares is developing separate climate action blueprints for accommodation providers and tour operators.
Supporters and members of both groups will be invited to contribute to development of the blueprint, guided and overseen by a smaller group of destination climate leaders.
Progress will be shared by Tourism Declares and Future of Tourism via their website and other channels to encourage wider consultation, engagement and contribution.
Jeremy Smith, co-founder of Tourism Declares, said: “It is essential 2021 is a turning point for our industry, the year when delivering against science-based climate action plans becomes standard practice for travel and tourism organisations.
"It is great that the Future of Tourism Coalition is aligned to this ambition, and we shall combine our expertise and growing community networks to co-create a new, low-carbon, destination blueprint.”
Jeremy Sampson, Chair of the Future of Tourism Coalition, added: “We’ve been working closely with Tourism Declares since we launched last summer as climate change is the big issue that cuts right across our 13 guiding principles for the future of tourism.
"We would like our two initiatives to align as seamlessly as possible, as we need engagement, insights, experience and expertise from all parts of our diverse industry to find the best solutions for tomorrow’s tourism.”
It comes after the Future of Tourism Coalition recently declared a climate emergency; it is encouraging organisations signed up to its 13 guiding principles for the future of tourism to make similar declarations.
These organisations include Intrepid Travel, Responsible Travel and Travel Matters Ltd, among nearly 30 others.
