UNEP launches
Green Passport campaign at Berlin Tourism
Fair
Berlin/Nairobi, 7 March 2008 – Green travel
tips for the world's growing number of international
tourists were launched today by the United
Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
The internet-based campaign,
"Green Passport", aims to raise
tourists' awareness of their potential to
contribute to sustainable development by
making responsible holiday choices.
Achim Steiner, UN-Under
Secretary General and UNEP Executive Director,
said: "Tourism, the world's biggest
industry is booming. By 2020, the number
of international arrivals by air and by
sea could reach 1.6 billion annually.
"This growth brings
the prospect of income and economic development
to countless tourist destinations in rich
and poor countries alike. The challenge
is to manage this growth sustainably. Governments
have a key role to play, but so too do individuals
and families when planning and going on
holiday," he said.
"Many consumers
are now making green domestic choices from
sourcing electricity from renewable sources
and choosing eco-friendly investments up
to buying leaner and greener cars. Packing
a Green Passport along with airline tickets,
the swimming costume and the sun lotion
means tourists no longer need to leave their
green credentials at home but can make them
part of the holiday of a life-time,"
added Mr Steiner.
Stefanos Fotiou, head
of UNEP's tourism unit, said: "By browsing
the Green Passport web site consumers will
be able to find practical tips to help them
reduce their environmental and social footprint
while they are on vacations. Tourists will
discover that traveling green is not as
hard as they imagined.
In 2007, international
tourist arrivals reached nearly 900 million
and by the end of the decade this number
is expected to reach more than one billion.
As tourist numbers grow, so will their demand
for energy, water, and natural resources
to support their holidays.
"There are some
encouraging signs in terms of market response
to the problem. Tourists are increasingly
expressing concern about the quality of
the environment at their holiday destinations,"
said Fotiou. "However, there is clearly
a gap to fill in order to shift from discussions
on responsible holidays to concrete actions."
The new UNEP campaign
will provide information to tourists to
help them prevent some of their impacts
by avoiding certain behaviors that greatly
affect the environment and the society.
The green travel tips are addressing all
the holiday's cycle, from travel planning
and packaging to the way back home. For
example, the campaign encourages tourists
to:
• Choose responsible
service providers
• Reduce the consumption of energy while
on the road or in their hotel
• Buy locally made and environmentally friendly
souvenirs
The Campaign has been
launched by UNEP, jointly with and the French
Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development
and Spatial Planning and the Brazilian Ministries
of Environment and Tourism. It is an initiative
of the International Task Force on Sustainable
Tourism Development, firmly rooted in the
move to accelerate a global shift towards
sustainable consumption and production (SCP)
that emerged from the World Summit on Sustainable
Development (WSSD), held in Johannesburg
in 2002.
The Green Passport web
site is one outcome of this process. The
web site, developed in English, Portuguese
and French, together with additional communication
tools (website and leaflet/brochure), is
now available for dissemination by new partners
to raise awareness in the tourism community.
For more information please visit: www.unep.fr/greenpassport
and contact:
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson/Head of
Media
Anne-France White, Associate Information
Officer
Robert Bisset, UNEP Spokesperson in Europe
