For World Tourism Organization secretary-general Taleb Rifai, sustainable tourism can also help achieve the goals of the 2030 Agenda.
"Travel is a human right", travelling is a human right, "like the right to work or to medical care". Doing so in a sustainable, respectful way that helps the growth of the populations visited is a related and inescapable duty. In Italy to take part in a conference on the Italian approach to sustainable tourism organised by the Ministry of Cultural Heritage and Tourism, the secretary-general of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (Unwto), the Jordanian Taleb Rifai, says it in no uncertain terms: tourism, certainly, has a strong impact on economies, being "the third largest export industry in the world", but it can and must have a decisive impact at a social and cultural level. How? First of all, a good share of tourism profits "must be invested in the culture and growth of the country and in its conservation. Growth on one hand and sustainability on the other are not two contradictory things." But above all, what is needed is respect.
Dr Rifai, for 2017 — the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development — Unwto has adopted the motto "Travel-Enjoy-Respect." Why is the concept of "respect" so important in the approach to travelling?
Because respect is the foundation of sustainability. You cannot have real, genuine sustainable practices if you do not respect people, society and the environment: without all of this, sustainability is an artificial thing. "Respect" must reach, through people and travellers in particular, the peoples of the entire planet and the environment in which they live.
At first glance, however, this would seem to be a fundamental yet entirely individual concept, left to the conscience of the individual traveller: what can be done instead at an institutional level to instil respect in people?
Policy can do two things. The first is to raise awareness of the fact that when you go somewhere you must show respect: it is necessary to create public awareness, through the media and all means of communication. The second is to act through laws, recommendations and regulations, so that we no longer find ourselves faced with reactions like those we have seen in Barcelona, where they no longer want tourists: all we need to do is put rules in place — for example, that there be a minimum number of local residents relative to tourists in every place visited. Awareness and rules: these are the things that are needed.
In your address at the Mibact conference, you spoke of Italy as a cultural leader…
Italy had 52 million foreign tourists in 2016 — it is the fifth most visited country in the world. One of the most important things is to keep the governance of culture and tourism under the same ministry. This is very important, and in Italy in particular it makes a great deal of sense given its history. If there were two separate administrations, things would be far more complicated and there would be conflicts between the two governance bodies. You must maintain this approach.
And yet Italy can also do much more to truly be an example at a global level, right?
Yes, that said, Italy must grow: it must not limit itself to being a leader in tourism but must become a leader in sustainable tourism, and in the protection and preservation of heritage. And in this there is still a great deal of work to be done: at present there is a numerical leadership, a growth in tourist flows, but this leadership must be transformed into an example of good practice, not just of business.
For 2030, the United Nations has set 17 sustainable development goals: in which of these can tourism have a significant impact?
I believe all of them, starting with the first, the one on zero poverty. There is something we call "sustainable tourism for development" — it is a very important programme based on tourism's contribution to lifting people out of poverty: job creation, trade, environmental preservation. Tourism is mentioned directly in the goal on decent work and economic growth (which includes as a target "to devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products", ed.) on responsible consumption and production ("develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable tourism's impacts on sustainable development") and on life below water ("increase economic benefits to small island developing states and least developed countries from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture and tourism"). But tourism is encompassed in all the goals — we must treat it as a cross-cutting theme.
