5 Sustainable Event Activities to Celebrate World Tourism Day

World Tourism Day is celebrated every year on the 27th of September since 1980. The date marks the celebration of the adoption of the statuses, in 1970, which would be the base for the creation of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), in 1975. 

What is the World Tourism Day theme for 2023?

This year’s theme is “Tourism and Green Investments”. Where is tourism going and how can it be more sustainable, in line with the Sustainable Development Goals 2030 agenda?

The role of tourism in the SDG’s achievement

The UNWTO acknowledges the importance of the tourism sector for all Sustainable Development Goals (SDG’s), but the activity has specific targets for SDG’s 8, 12, and 14:

– SDG 8 – Decent Work and Economic Growth

• Target 8.9 – “By 2030, devise and implement policies to promote sustainable tourism that creates jobs and promotes local culture and products”.

– SDG 12 – Responsible Consumption and Production

• Target 12. b -“Develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism which creates jobs, promotes local culture and products” 

– SDG 14 – Life below water

• Target 14.7: “By 2030 increase the economic benefits to SIDS and LDCs from the sustainable use of marine resources, including through sustainable management of fisheries, aquaculture, and tourism”.

In a nutshell, among the goals to achieve by 2030, is the adoption of policies to promote sustainable tourism and sustainable use of marine resources, promote local products, create jobs and develop tools to monitor the development and impact.

World Tourism Day and Sustainable Events

The event industry is a very important part of the tourism sector, not only at a corporate level with destination events such as meetings, conventions, trade shows, or conferences but also for leisure, with events such as music festivals or other local festivities.

Therefore, it’s important to adopt sustainable practices to contribute to the achievement of the 2030 agenda. World Tourism Day is a great occasion to start new procedures that will impact your event’s footprint and improve the life of local communities.  

5 Sustainable Event activities to celebrate World Tourism Day in your organization

Even if you don’t host international events, you can take action and join this celebration! We have 5 ideas for sustainable activities to develop in your company. Have fun together, while saving the planet!

1-The “tourist for a day” team-building

While in our city, how common is it to say “I’ll do that later”? It’s the urgency trigger: when traveling, we have a limited time to experience a city. In our home, we have all the time in the world. Why not invert this logic, and host a team-building in your city? If you are a remote team, choose one of your headquarters and the most sustainable public transportation modes for your team. Some examples of things you can do:

• Do a bicycle tour and see the city from a different angle;
• Travel without moving: visit the migrant communities’ neighborhoods, taste, and learn about other cultures! Or engage on a tour held by migrants, and gain a new perspective on your city!
• Build your own walking tour with local businesses, rediscover forgotten traditions and eat a good meal in a family-owned restaurant. 

2-Raise awareness of the theme on social media

Sharing is caring, and including the theme in your communication plan is always an effective way to help to raise awareness for sustainable events and tourism. Inspire others by sharing the latest changes in your organization or start an online challenge for the impact organization of your choice with a little help from technology! With the sharethemeal app you can help to fight world hunger, and the app charitymiles will help you to walk, run or bike for a cause! Check also on your local community how your company can make a difference.

3-Offset your CO2 emissions

As we know, the event and the tourism industry can have a big environmental footprint. Travelling, hotels, and air conditioning, are only some of the activities that contribute to this. Happily is easier than ever to offset your CO2 emissions through apps like Tree-Nation, where you can plant the number of trees needed to offset your emissions. If you are using the SCOOCS platform, don’t forget to enable the CO2 calculator to learn how many trees were saved while hosting an event with an online component.

4-Start a responsible World Tourism Day Challenge

Speak with the CSR or the RH departments of your company to start a responsible tourism challenge! This game would reward the sustainable employees of your company! Try this activity on a 6-month or yearly timeframe, for better results!

Define the number of points for each one of the actions, and create a board where you can see the results in real-time. If you’re using the SCOOCS platform, you can do this easily with the gamification board! Here are some of the examples of the activities included in the challenge:

• Partner with local producers, and build a volunteering program for your employees to share their expertise to help their business thrive with the tourism ecosystem of your city;
• Reward the most sustainable choices during company traveling;
• Affiliate with impact tourism companies and certified B-Corporation agencies to make it easier for your co-workers to book sustainable holidays (and be rewarded for it).

5-A tourist in your Company

The World Tourism Day can also be the motto for a job shadowing activity or a job switch day. You will feel like arriving in a different country! If you have people who speak different languages in the company, why not organize a small (and funny), language lesson? 

If you are looking for more ideas on how to turn your company and events more sustainable, check here for more articles to help you with this task.