The Kanas Lake Nature Reserve in the extreme north-west of China and the city of Chengdu, one of China's most populous cities, are the locations of two new UNWTO Sustainable Tourism Observatories designed to monitor the environmental, social and economic impacts of tourism.

The Chengdu and Kanas Observatories join UNWTO's network of tourism observatories which gather and report data based on UNWTO's sustainable tourism indicators and assist policy makers to ensure more sustainable tourism growth.

"UNWTO's Sustainable Tourism Observatories are providing decision makers with the information they need to make more responsible tourism decisions," said UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai. "The establishment of the Chengdu and Kanas Observatories will allow these destinations to better understand the impact of their many visitors, evaluate the impacts of existing sustainable tourism initiatives and ensure tourism benefits both the people and environment of the surrounding areas for years to come."

The city of Chengdu receives tens of millions of domestic tourists each year and an increasing share of international tourists. These tourists generate over 8% of the city's GNP and an estimated 600,000 direct jobs. The Kanas Lake Nature Reserve receives close to one million domestic tourists, supporting jobs and income among the local population. UNWTO's Sustainable Tourism Observatories in China are managed and monitored by a Monitoring Centre at Sun Yet-Sen University in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province.

Relevant links:

UNWTO Sustainable Tourism Indicators

About UN Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Our Priorities

Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.

Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.

Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.

Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members' competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.

Advancing tourism's contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.

Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.

Our Structure

Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.

Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.

Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism's 500 plus Affiliate members.

Rut Gómez Sobrino
Principal Media Officer
(+34) 91 567 81 60
UN Tourism