PATA, UNESCO, and Expedia Group Partner for Sustainable Tourism Course
Committed to a greener recovery from COVID-19, PATA, UNESCO and Expedia Group co-developed an online course to address capacity-building and standards for tourism sustainability. The course, titled Targeting Zero Plastics in Hospitality and Tourism Businesses- with UNESCO, PATA & Expedia Group, aims to equip hotels and other tourism services providers with highly sought-after knowledge to meet the UNESCO Sustainable Travel Pledge.
What is the UNESCO Sustainable Travel Pledge?
The Pledge is a joint effort between UNESCO and Expedia Group to advocate for positive changes in the travel industry. It is a way for tourism businesses to publicly commit to their sustainability strategies in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also, to maintain ongoing commitment towards sustainable travel and to ensure maximum impact, the UNESCO Pledge is reviewed and signed on a yearly basis.
Taking a person-centric approach, the Pledge places emphasis on the value of local communities, culture as well as the natural environment. It urges tourism businesses to promote sustainable tourism through the lens of heritage conservation and community resilience. To achieve this, the Pledge revolves around five themes:
Community engagement;
Energy conservation;
Water conservation;
Waste reduction; and
Single-use plastics reduction.
Why is it important?
Even prior to COVID-19, destinations around the world have witnessed the impacts of unsustainable tourism on the economy, environment and local culture integrity. Ranging from overcrowding to waste pollution and over-dependency on tourists for income, the negative impacts of tourism need to be addressed promptly. Moreover, to prepare for future crises, tourism businesses and destinations need to enhance their resilience through sustainability to pave the future of tourism.
The five themes of the UNESCO Pledge reflect key areas where local tourism businesses can take actions to minimise the negative impacts of travel on destinations – and this applies to hotels and tourism businesses of any scale!
Why and how to sign the Pledge?
Hotels and tourism businesses can sign the Pledge via the UNESCO Sustainable Travel Pledge website and receive a certificate to display online and onsite. This helps travelers to identify accommodations that are committed to sustainability in their operations and to make greener choices when they travel. Plus, by signing this Pledge, businesses join a global network of over 4,200 changemakers who support sustainable travel and promote heritage conservation.
What does the course cover?
Targeting Zero Plastics in Hospitality and Tourism Businesses- with UNESCO, PATA & Expedia Group, developed by PATA with the support of UNESCO and Expedia Group, is a call-to-action for tourism service providers to reduce their single-use plastic waste and, at the same time, support local knowledge and products.
The self-paced course is available open-sourced on PATA’s website in two languages, English and Thai, and it cover the following topics:
What is the UNESCO Sustainable Travel Pledge?
What is the necessary process to implement a plastic waste reduction strategy?
What are the concrete measures needed to reduce single-use plastics in my business?
How can local knowledge and products help fight plastic waste?
How can I continue my journey towards plastic waste reduction?
Why is the course important?
The amount of plastics we currently produce, consume and dispose of is unsustainable, and tourism activities and hospitality businesses contribute largely to this issue. In the Mediterranean, for example, marine litter increases up to 40% during tourist peak season (One Planet, 2021), and this poses a threat to tourism destinations themselves.
Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic, besides causing extreme hardship in tourism destinations worldwide, also led to severe setbacks in their fight against plastic waste. Since 2020, over 25,000 tonnes of COVID-19 plastic waste have leaked into the oceans, and Asia is responsible for much of this number (PNAS, 2021).
It is essential therefore for hotels, restaurants, tour operators and all other tourism businesses to reduce the amount of plastics they generate and dispose of the unavoidable plastics responsibly if they wish to protect the very assets they rely on to attract customers.
What will you gain from the course?
By studying and completing the course, learners will be able to:
implement the necessary process for single-use plastics reduction to be applied by tourism and hospitality businesses;
identify what types of products and materials can be locally sourced to replace single-use plastics;
become more aware of the links between plastic waste reduction and cultural sustainability;
learn more about the benefits of supporting local knowledge, products and crafts to increase businesses’ long-term sustainability, competitiveness and resilience;
be better prepared to commit to UNESCO's Sustainable Travel Pledge to build a stronger industry-wide commitment towards tourism sustainability; and
receive a certificate to showcase your achievement.
How to enroll and start the course?
To enroll, visit PATA’s Sustainability Resource Centre website, choose a language to take the course in and register by clicking on the blue button as shown.
You can start learning once you are logged in. Complete all the lessons and test your knowledge at the end of the course with the final quiz (10 questions). You will also be awarded a Completion Certificate If you achieve a minimum of 80 percent on the final quiz.
Do you have any questions about the Targeting Zero Plastics in Hospitality and Tourism Businesses- with UNESCO, PATA & Expedia Group course? Get in touch with us at ssr@pata.org for questions, suggestions or support.
