Tourism is widely recognized as one of the largest and rapidly expanding industry sectors in the world. In 2004, over 764 million international tourists generate more than 509 billion Euros in annual receipts. Hence, it is no surprise that over the last 20 years the role of tourism has been increasingly recognized as an important development strategy. If managed properly tourism can have a variety of positive environmental, economic, and social impacts.
The Marketing Assistance to Nepal for Sustainable Tourism Products (MAST-Nepal) project has built capacity within the Nepal tourism industry on the concepts of sustainable tourism, assisted project companies in developing action plans to increase product sustainability, and created an economic incentive for project participation by linking the companies demonstrating increased sustainability to the European sustainable tourism market. By strengthening sustainable tourism in Nepal, the project has increased economic benefits to the poor and minimized the environmental and socio-cultural damages related to tourism activities. This project was funded by the Asia-Invest Programme, a European Union (EU) initiative that aims to promote and support business cooperation between the EU and Asia, for increased trade and investment flows between the two regions. The MAST-Nepal project has been implemented by three partners: the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), SNV Nepal (Netherlands Development Organization) and the Nepal Tourism Board (NTB). This publication introduces the MAST-Nepal project and provides case studies outlining the actions of project companies to integrate sustainable tourism principles. The case
studies highlight best practices and the resulting business, environmental, economic, and socio-economic benefits of sustainable initiatives among private sector tourism companies. This publication is designed to raise awareness on the importance of sustainable tourism and the business potential involved in adopting responsible practices. The document is particularly relevant to small and medium sized enterprises in the tourism industry where there is often the misconception that their operations are too small to have significant positive or negative environmental, economic, or socio-cultural impacts. In reality, small and medium sized tourism enterprises comprise approximately 80 percent of the global tourism industry and collectively their business operations have an immense potential to affect the locations in which they operate.
#SUSTAINABLETOURISM #PRIVATESECTOR #BUSINESSOPERATIONS #ECONOMICBENEFITS #SUSTAINABLEDEVELOPMENT #SDGs
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Publisher:
UNEP/UNDP, NTB, SNV, EU
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(2008
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Type / Script:
Annual Report
in English
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Keywords:
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM OPERATIONS, SOCIO-ECONOMIC BENEFITS, CULTURAL HERITAGE, BUILDING CAPACITY, ENVIRONMENTAL SUSTAINABILITY, ECONOMIC-SUSTAINABILITY, ECONOMIC VIABILITY, LOCAL PROSPERITY, EMPLOYMENT QUALITY, ENVIRONMENTAL PURITY, SELF-ASSESSMENT, WATER CONSERVATION, WASTE MANAGEMENT, PLASTIC REDUCTION, ENVIRONMENTAL AWARENESS TRAINING, WOMEN EMPOWERMENT, SKILL BUILDING, GENDER DIVERSITY, TOURISM REVENUE, SUPPLY CHAIN MANAGEMENT, PHILANTHROPY, LOCAL PROSPERITY, SOCIAL EQUITY, PHYSICAL INTEGRITY
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Thematic Group:
UNDP
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Social and Institutional Developoment
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Thesaurus:
02.04.00
- Development
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Reference Link:
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ANJANA SHARMA
, Editor:
PRABIGYA MANANDHAR
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