Malcolm Bell
Head of
VisitCornwall
Background and Depth of The
Indicators
Influenced by:
• Concept of sustainable development based on 1992 Rio Declaration
on Environment and Development’s Agenda 21 - a comprehensive
plan of action adopted by 178 governments.
• EC reported on basic orientations for the sustainability of European
tourism (2003)
• UNWTO and UNEP identified an agenda of 12 aims for sustainable
tourism (2005)
• EU Sustainable Development Strategy (SDS) developed three key
objectives given above activities: economic prosperity; social equity
and cohesion; and environmental protection.
Work to Date
•
Tourism Sustainability Group (TSG) set up by EC (2004) to address:
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Importance of tourism
Aims to make tourism more sustainable & challenges to achieve aims
Recommended processes to overcome challenges
Create a framework for action (indicators) and initiatives to be taken
Mandate for action with stakeholders included providing guidance for local
Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) to use indicators and
monitoring systems
Considerable work into the development of the TSG indicators since 2007
Testing feasibility in NECSTouR and EDEN destinations (2010)
NECSTouR evaluation and report
EDEN evaluation and report by University of Barcelona
Improvements made by TSG
EC Tourism Sustainability
Group
• Established in 2004
• Representatives from Industry,
Stakeholders and Destinations
• 2004-2007 Development of Sustainable
and Competitive Tourism Report
• 2007 adoption at Algarve European Tourism
Forum
• 2009 Working Groups – W/G A Sustainable
Tourism Indictors
Indicators - The Challenges
• Gaining Agreement on which indicators are
core
• Ensure they cover all three pillars
• Establishing which are practical and
achievable
• Can procedures be developed for those
that do not exist yet
• Gaining partners to pilot
• Evaluating application and results etc
The Prize
• To set Destination level targets
• Use for Regional/National Bodies
• A Benchmarking system
• Measuring progress
• Trend analysis possible
• Assist in the justification of public
investment in tourism management
Sources of Data
• Official Statistics/source
• Visitor Surveys
• Business Surveys
• Host Community Surveys
• New techniques
The Indicators
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Tourism Volume and Value
Tourism Enterprise Performance
Customer Satisfaction
Community and Social Impact
Quantity and Quality of
Employment
6. Gender Equality
7. Equality and Accessibility
The Indicators
8. Reducing Transportation Impact
9. Climate Change
10.Sustainable Tourism Management
Practices
11.Solid Waste Management
12.Water Management
13.Energy Usage
The Indicators
14. Sewage Treatment
15. Landscape and Biodiversity
Protection
16. Light and Noise Management
17. Inclusive Management Practices
18. Development Control
19. Tourism Supply Chain
20. Protecting and enhancing local
cultural identity and assets
Study to assess the feasibility of a European Tourism
Indicator System for Sustainable Management at
Destination Level
The SUSTAIN System
SUStainable Tourism And INdicator system
St Ives 6th September 2012
Work to Date
•
Tourism Sustainability Group (TSG) set up by EC (2004) to address:
o
o
o
o
•
•
•
•
•
•
Importance of tourism
Aims to make tourism more sustainable & challenges to achieve aims
Recommended processes to overcome challenges
Create a framework for action (indicators) and initiatives to be taken
Mandate for action with stakeholders included providing guidance for local
Destination Management Organisations (DMOs) to use indicators and
monitoring systems
Considerable work into the development of the TSG indicators since 2007
Testing feasibility in NECSTouR and EDEN destinations (2010)
NECSTouR evaluation and report
EDEN evaluation and report by University of Barcelona
Improvements made by TSG
The purpose of this project
…is to investigate the feasibility of a Europe-wide
system of tourism indicators for the sustainable
management of destinations
and
To make recommendations to European stakeholders for
its implementation.
The importance of this project
This is a key element of the work of the European
Commission to promote an internationally competitive
tourism industry and to enhance the sustainability of
destinations across Europe.
Benefits to Your Destination
General
• Creates vision and guidelines for destination sustainable tourism development;
• Creates framework for benchmarking, communications & good practices learning exchange
Economic
• Identifies resource and financial savings (e.g. energy, waste, water, etc.)
• Identifies data supported resource reallocation needs based on destination goals
• Protects destination as a tourist attraction
• Develops opportunities for funding
• Enhances branding, marketing and communications
Social
• Improves quality life for locals; Improves relations between residents and tourists
• Supports LT well-being of residents by informing policy / management decisions (E.g. resource
reallocation for bringing tourists from resort to rural areas)
Environmental
• Preserves ecological integrity of destinations;
• Emphasises value and conservation of natural and cultural resources
The importance of the Workshops
Purpose :
• To introduce you to the SUSTAIN process and indicators
• To test the SUSTAIN system
• Part of an exclusive group of European pilot destinations
Outcomes:
• General stakeholder understanding of SUSTAIN and the process
• Generate feedback the project team can use to refine the system
• Launch a process that is ongoing and crucial for your destination
• Receive data response from destinations 2 weeks after workshop
To develop the SUSTAIN System
we have:
• Researched 35 indicator systems from across the world; Narrowed
down to 20 systems and analysed 8 in depth for EU relevance
• Included GSTC (future consideration)
• Assessed TSG indicators based on expert experience
• Assessed NECSTouR and EDEN feasibility reports
• Interviewed a sample of NECSTouR and EDEN DMOs
• Integrated lessons learned and made recommendations to EC (TSG)
based on above assessments for improvements and final Toolkit
• Result given significant destination support - a comprehensive
system including process and methodology rather that just list of
indicators - SUSTAIN
The SUSTAIN System – Key Principles
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Flexible
Inter-sectoral
Integrated approach
Comes with a toolkit
Simple - with a concise core of indicators
Driven by the Destination Management Organisation
(DMO) working with a group of stakeholders
SUSTAIN:
The 7 Steps
Step 1. Raise Awareness
Step 2. Create a Destination
Profile
Step 3. Bring together a
Stakeholder Working Group
Step 4. Allocate Roles and
Responsibilities
Step 5. Collect and Record
Data
Step 6. Results Analysis and
Benchmarking
Step 7. Ongoing Development
and Continuous improvement
“Destination” Definition
One of the first things your Stakeholder Working Group will need to do is
determine the geographical boundaries of your destination.
For the purposes of this study, a destination can be defined as:
•A geographic area that is currently or potentially attractive to visitors/tourists.
•A place/area which is recognised and can easily be defined as a visitor
destination and has a range of facilities and products in place for tourism
purposes.
•A place/area which is promoted as a destination and has management
processes for visitor related and tourism purposes.
•A place/area where it is possible to measure the supply of and demand for
tourism services i.e. the visitor economy.
•A place/area where the visitor management process usually includes a range of
public and private sector stakeholders together with the host community
The SUSTAIN Process Steps 1,2 & 3
STEP 1: Raise Awareness
• Get involved
• Spread the message
STEP 2: Create a Destination Profile
• Provides a snapshot of your destination
• An overview for you
• A summary for those less familiar
STEP 3: Bring together a Stakeholder Working Group (SWG)
• Invite stakeholders from relevant sectors
• Convene a participatory workshop
• Identify core issues and indicators
The SUSTAIN Indicators
Divided into 4 categories based on the Global Sustainable
Tourism Criteria (GSTC)
A - Sustainable destination management
B - Economic value
C - Social and cultural impacts
D - Environmental Impacts
Approach
• Clear and simple
• Tailor the System to your destination through selecting optional
indicators
• Start with what you can and build up. Lack of data for some
indicators is not a problem but shows where work is needed.
Some Examples of Core Indicators
Section A: Destination Management Core Indicators
A.1 Sustainable Tourism Public Policy
• Indicator A.1.1 Percentage of the destination with a sustainable tourism strategy/action
plan, with agreed monitoring, development control and evaluation arrangement
Section B: Economic Value Core Indicators
B.1 Tourism Flow (volume & value) at Destination
• Indicator B.1.1 Number of tourist nights per month
• Indicator B.1.2 Daily spending per tourist (accommodation, food and drinks, other
services)
Section C: Social and Cultural Impact Core Indicators
C.1 Community/Social Impact
• Indicator C.1.1 Number of tourists/visitors per 100 residents
Section D: Environmental Impact Core Indicators
D.1 Reducing Transport Impact
• Indicator D.1.1 Percentage of tourists and same day visitors using different modes of
transport (public/private and type)
Some Examples of Optional Indicators
Section C: Social and Cultural Impact
• Core Indicator: C.1.1 Number of tourists/visitors per 100 residents
• Reason for measuring The density of tourists/visitors in comparison to
residents offers a suitable indicator for understanding the social impact of
tourism on residents. This is referred to as the ‘penetration ratio’.
Optional Indicators you could also consider:
• Optional Indicator C.1.1.1 Percentage of residents who are satisfied with
tourism in the destination (per month/season)
• Optional Indicator: C.1.1.2 Number of beds available in commercial
accommodation per 100 residents
• Optional Indicator: C.1.1.3 Number of second/rental homes per 100
homes
Group Exercise
To start to form a picture of the indicators most relevant
to your destination, stakeholders will be dived into
groups and asked to undertake the following exercise:
1. Identify all the optional indicators relevant to your
destination
2. Of those identified as relevant, prioritise which you
would most like to see included
The 7 Steps (continued)
STEP 4: Establish Roles and Responsibilities
• Responsibility is shared so no one is over-burdened
• Members collect indicator data according to role
• DMO acts as central point of contact for data collation
STEP 5: Collect and Record Data
• Members have an allocated amount of time to obtain the data
for the indicator they are responsible for
• Feed data and any comments back to DMO
The 7 Steps (continued)
STEP 6: Results analysis and benchmarking
• Toolkit has built-in Dataset to collect and store results
• Results will show up areas of concern
• Agree priorities, benchmarks and a plan of action to achieve
them.
STEP 7: Ongoing Development and Continuous
Improvement
• Meet regularly to review progress against targets
• Make longer-term plans, with timelines and agree responsibilities
Next Steps…
• Responsibility for relevant data collection will be
allocated by DMO
• Data should then be collected and passed to DMO
• DMO collates and records data to generate results for
destination
• Stakeholder Working Group can meet again and set
benchmarks - aim for continuous improvement
• Feedback Form should also be returned to DMO
• Your collective feedback will be used to develop and
refine the final SUSTAIN system for a launch next year.
Thank You
Malcolm Bell
Malcolm.Bell@vistcornwall.com