Observatory on Sustainable Tourism under the auspices of the World Tourism Organization

(UNWTO)

Provisional Rules for the Operation and Management of Observatories (as of September 2015)

I. Introduction

1) The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has been promoting the use of sustainable tourism
indicators since the early 1990s as essential instruments for policymaking, planning and
management processes at destinations. The present document aims to inform the Executive
Council about the progress achieved in the establishment of Observatories (Part II), including
an updated framework for the operation and management of a network of Observatories (Part
III).

II. Observatories on Sustainable Tourism: Background & History

2) The International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO), previously referred to

as the Global Observatories on Sustainable Tourism (GOST)1, is an initiative addressed to
policy makers, planners and tourism managers in order to strengthen institutional capacities for
information management and monitoring in support of decision and policy making. The initiative
intends to facilitate the establishment of a network of Observatories, through the systematic
application of monitoring, evaluation and information management techniques, as key tools for
the formulation and implementation of sustainable tourism policies, strategies, plans and
management processes.

3) Since 2004, various Observatories have been established in China, in Greece, in the Danube
region as well as in Mexico. They were set up collectively with local stakeholders as sustainable
tourism monitoring systems.

4) The United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in
2012 (Rio+20) highlighted for the first time the importance of obtaining more reliable, relevant
and timely data in areas related to the three dimensions of sustainable development and
acknowledged the potential of tourism to make a significant contribution in this regard. The
tourism sector is also committed to providing more evidence-based information in order to
support the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), also an outcome of Rio+20.

5) More recently at the sixty-ninth session of the United Nations General Assembly in September
2014, resolution A/RES/69/233 entitled “Promotion of sustainable tourism, including ecotourism,
for poverty eradication and environment protection” was adopted and endorsed by 107 Member
States. The resolution invited Governments and other stakeholders to join INSTO in order to

1
As a result of feedback from international discussions with Observatories and in order to facilitate cross-cultural reference, the name is henceforth
changed from GOST to The International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO).

Please recycle
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 support better informed sustainable policy around the world, placing sustainable tourism firmly
on the UN post-2015 development agenda.

6) Recently, the UNWTO Secretariat received several requests from established Observatories to
join the network. The principles of the present document allow now also for those already
established Observatories to join INSTO.

7) The expected impact of INSTO initiative is to generate reliable evidence-based data on

sustainability, which can increase destination resilience by identifying early warning signs
relative to risks to the sector and its destinations, document and warn of the impact of
unsustainable practices and assist the sector to learn from incidences of good or poor practice.

III. The International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO), Proposed Baseline
Issues for Monitoring, Reporting and Information Sharing

8) At the ninety-fifth session of the UNWTO Executive Council held in 2013, the Report of the
UNWTO Secretary-General (CE/95/3(III)(b) Add.) on the implementation of the general
programme of work, section three (III) of the addendum, “Setting up Observatories of
Sustainable Tourism under the auspices of UNWTO” outlined the steps to establish an
Observatory of Sustainable Tourism. Based on the experience outlined in the above-mentioned
addendum and subsequent activities2, the following additional actions are identified in order to
set-up, operationalise and manage INSTO:

Baseline Issues for Monitoring

a. As from the time of application, all Observatories shall provide UNWTO with a precise
geographic definition of the monitored destination and its overall population size to indicate
the scope of the area.

b. Each member Observatory shall monitor at least a standard set of baseline issues.3
Based on the over 40 issue areas published in UNWTO´s ‘Indicators of Sustainable
Development for Tourism Destinations: A Guidebook’4, which are closely in line with the
key issues defined by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), the following nine
baseline issues have been identified as “mandatory” issue areas to be monitored:

1. Local satisfaction with tourism

2. Destination economic benefits
3. Employment
4. Tourism seasonality
5. Energy management
6. Water management
7. Sewage treatment
8. Solid waste management
9. Development control

2 Including the discussion paper Global Observatories of Sustainable Tourism: Programme Operations and Management, 2014 that was presented and
discussed at the 3rd Annual Meeting of UNWTO Sustainable Tourism Observatories in China.
3 General reporting and data collection shall comply with the International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008, as approved by the United Nations

Statistical Commission. United Nations (2010), International Recommendations for Tourism Statistics 2008, UN, New York, available:
http://unstats.un.org/unsd/publication/SeriesM/seriesm_83rev1e.pdf
4 World Tourism Organization, (2004), Indicators of Sustainable Development for Tourism Destination: A Guidebook, UNWTO, Madrid.

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 Besides covering the above-mentioned nine baseline issues, Observatories may monitor
further issue areas which are most relevant for their destination5.

Reporting

c. After joining the Network, each Observatory will have a two year period to meet the
requirements of reporting on all the mandatory issue areas (as listed in clause b.) In the
first year, new Observatories are expected to report on as many of the nine core issues
areas as possible.

d. An annual report on the baseline issues and monitoring results shall be provided in
English to UNWTO by each Observatory. It shall cover the calendar year and not exceed
15 pages. If there is a Regional Coordinator (RC), Observatories in that region will provide
their annual reports to them, so it can be aggregated into one report for the UNWTO
Secretariat.

e. Observatories that provide the UNWTO insufficient annual reports or do not submit
annual reports for two consecutive years will be considered inactive. Their Observatory
status will consequently be revoked. Prior written notice will be given to an Observatory
after they fail to submit an annual report.

f. In each of the UNWTO regions, with five or more Observatories, unless other
agreements are in place, an Observatory or other Institution shall be chosen by the
observatories in the region to be the Regional Coordinator (RC) that reports for all
Observatories in the region to UNWTO. The term of the RC shall last two years and can be
renewed, unless other agreements are in place. The functions of the RC include the
following:

1. Ensure regular reporting.

2. Analyse results and reports collected from the other Observatories in the
region, with the aim of sharing lessons identified and learned with all regional
Observatories.
3. Prepare and submit an annual regional report, in English, to the UNWTO
Secretariat, including the findings from all Observatories in the region.
4. Advise the UNWTO Secretariat when an Observatory in the region has not
complied with clause e. above, on the submission of annual reports, as
agreed.
5. Convene an annual regional meeting to share experiences, early warnings,
new emerging trends, challenges, and other relevant issues as well as to identify
national/regional information needs.

g. An annual international INSTO Conference will be held, within the framework of one
of the Annual Regional INSTO Meetings (as per clause 5, above), on a rotational basis
regionally, where experiences are exchanged and issues related to monitoring,
standards for data collection and analysis, trends, emerging warning signals and best
practices (studies and methods) are discussed amongst Observatories members of
INSTO.

5
For sub-national measurements refer to the UNWTO-INRoute Initiative (2013) ‘A Closer Look at Tourism: Sub-national Measurement and Analysis –
Towards a Set of UNWTO Guidelines’, available online at: http://dtxtq4w60xqpw.cloudfront.net/sites/all/files/towards_set_unwto_guidelines.pdf

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 h. Observatories are encouraged to participate in other regional and international
meetings of Tourism Observatories, outside of the UNWTO INSTO Conference,
although they are not obliged to do so, to further strengthen the economic development
across tourism and to share results obtained.

Information sharing

i. Each Observatory will collect and document success stories and examples of best
practices. They can disseminate these stories nationally, regionally and to UNWTO in
order to highlight success in the sector and to foster replication.

j. Each Observatory shall share monitoring results with Observatories, the RC, if
existent, and with other destinations as well as upwards to national/regional and
international levels of government, where applicable, to serve decision-makers’ needs
at different levels supporting planning and management as well as responses to global
issues.

k. UNWTO will support the sharing of information among destinations and Member
States and will support high level interventions where applicable by providing available
aggregated information, national satellite accounts and documentation of success
stories from Observatories to support sustainable tourism development.

IV. Approval Mechanism for New Member Observatories of INSTO

9) All Observatories should be committed to the long-term monitoring of issue areas through
indicators and other measurement techniques to enhance the sustainability of tourism in
destinations.

10) Key operational factors for the acceptance of an Observatory as a new member of INSTO
include the following:

i. Agreement to monitor a selected set of mandatory baseline issues (see clause

b.).
ii. Agreement to commit to maintain the same indicators for monitoring the nine
mandatory (and possible further) issue areas in order to ensure continuity and
comparability over time.
iii. Agreement to report monitoring findings on a regular schedule to UNWTO
Secretariat and/or to the RC, if available.
iv. Agreement to produce and share success stories with UNWTO Secretariat.

11) The procedure for the admission of a new or existing Observatory that would like to become a
member of INSTO is as follows:

v. Submission of the Observatory Membership Application Form, including the

acceptance of the Statutes of UNWTO and the commitment to the principles of
the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism.
vi. Completion and submission of a Destination Profile, providing basic data
about the destination so that UNWTO can gain a better understanding of its
characteristics.
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 vii. Submission of a Preliminary Study/Report not older than 12 months of the
date of application, which can demonstrate how the Observatory is currently
monitoring or propose to monitor sustainable tourism issues. The report or
study should include key sustainability issues for the destination, current
monitoring processes, data availability, sources, gaps and needs as well as
recommendations for the structure of the Observatory.
viii. Request ‘Letter(s) of Support’ from relevant stakeholders such as e.g. the
national tourism authority/ies where the Observatory is to be established. In
case of cross-border destinations, the letter shall be signed by all the relevant
authorities involved. The letter must be written on official stationary bearing the
letterhead and seal of the governmental authority, and be sent directly to the
UNWTO Secretariat to the above-mentioned address.
ix. Send these four above documents (templates are available, as applicable) to
the UNWTO Secretariat via mail, fax, or electronic mail preferably in MS Word.

Sustainable Development of Tourism Programme

World Tourism Organization (UNWTO)
C/ Capitán Haya 42, 28020 Madrid, Spain
Email: sdt@unwto.org
Tel: +34 91 567 81 00 Fax: 91 571 37 33

x. Conduct, where applicable, a Stakeholders’ Workshop to validate the

findings of the preliminary study/report, to discuss issue areas and indicators
that the Observatory shall monitor and to agree on the implementation plan for
the Observatory.6
xi. Upon receipt and positive assessment by UNWTO of all submitted documents,
the Observatory will be officially accepted as a new member of INSTO. A
Letter of Acceptance will be sent to the Observatory, confirming the approval
of the application as well as the supporting documents and granting
observatory status, which implies the immediate recognition and coming into
force, as per the date of transmission of this official communication, of all the
rights and obligations of an INSTO member.

6 Already existing Observatories may not be required to conduct this Stakeholders’ Workshop.

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