Experiences from Pilot Studies in Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism: A synopsis for policy makers

This report aims to showcase the excellent work conducted by pilot countries in advancing the implementation of Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST), and to encourage other countries and destinations to join this important effort. If interested in becoming an MST pilot, please contact the UNWTO’s Statistics Department at sttc@unwto.org.

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What is MST?

UNWTO, in collaboration with the UN Statistics Division, is propelling the development of the MST program to provide all countries in the world with a common framework to measure the impacts and contributions of tourism on their economy, society and the environment.

What are the MST Pilot Studies?

As of August 2020, a total of 11 MST pilot studies were conducted in Austria, Canada, Fiji, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, Philippines, Saudi Arabia, Sweden and Thailand. In addition, Samoa and Vietnam have undertaken projects aimed at measuring the sustainability of tourism using tools that are in line with the SF-MST.

The report covers 11 of the 13 available MST pilot studies and related initiatives:

• Austria: A pilot study that culminated in a Master-plan in Tourism
• Fiji: A roadmap to measuring the sustainability of tourism
• Germany: A new “Tourism-Sustainability Satellite Account” (TSSA)
• Italy: Measuring the impact of tourism-related air emissions
• Mexico: Identifying areas of influence for measuring the sustainability of tourism
• Philippines: Estimating water and energy consumption in tourism
• Samoa: An extended Tourism Satellite Account (TSA) pilot exercise
• Saudi Arabia: Estimating the environmental effects of tourism
• Sweden: A method for estimating GHG emissions in tourism
• Thailand: A regional pilot that resulted in a National TSA-SEEA System of Accounts
• Vietnam: Land-based pollution in the Quang Ninh province