ECLAC presents Pillars for Sustainable Tourism
Havana, Jul. 24 (RHC) The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) distributed a communiqué in Havana today, highlighting its pillars for sustainable tourism.
It consists of five pillars to promote a territorial approach to the issue. The communiqué, released in Havana, points out that in 2023 Mexico will be the country in Latin America and the Caribbean that receives the most tourists and money from visits, and could improve its performance by addressing the challenges in the economic, environmental, social, cultural and governance areas.
They pointed out that although in Mexico and in Latin America and the Caribbean tourism is a sector that represents high rates of foreign direct investment, employment and economic outflow, ECLAC has identified challenges to the sustainability of the sector in the economic, environmental, social, cultural and governance areas.
For the aforementioned year, Mexico stood out as the country in the region with the most visitors, with a total of 42 million tourists out of the 76 million that visited Latin America and the Caribbean, and of the total 118 billion dollars that came in, this nation received 30 billion 680 million dollars, 26 percent of the total.
The head of the Agricultural Development and Climate Change Unit of ECLAC's subregional headquarters in Mexico, Leda Peralta, pointed out that it is estimated that tourism contributes to 10 percent of employment in Latin America and 35 percent in the Caribbean.
Despite their importance in employment, about 52 percent of workers are employed in informal conditions. The Covid-19 pandemic underscored some of the persistent challenges facing tourism, such as the high concentration of economic activity in some communities and countries in the tourism sector, the limited response to the seasonality that characterizes it, the precariousness and feminization of jobs, and the general lack of resilience.
This lack of resilience can be seen in the impact of disasters, climate change and other social, political and economic shocks.
In addition, the pandemic has created new challenges that could affect the competitiveness and sustainability of the sector, such as the deepening of the digital divide between developing countries (destinations) and developed countries (tourists), between population groups (women, the elderly, indigenous or Afro-descendant communities) and between territories.
Peralta explained that in order to promote sustainable tourism as a pillar for transformative recovery of the countries, proposals have been prepared in a study entitled Tourism Sustainability from a Territorial Perspective: Studies in Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic.
The experts also pointed out that this work presents proposals for the analysis of tourism sustainability from a territorial approach and the results obtained on 12 tourist destinations. The document serves as a guide for the analysis of tourist destinations and the opportunities and challenges they face for their sustainability.
The United Nations official added that despite its economic dynamism, the contribution of tourism to the development of countries, especially to local development, is less than half that of tourism.
The UN official added that despite its economic dynamism, the contribution of tourism to the development of countries, especially to local development, is mixed: although it contributes to exports, is a source of investment and employment, and has a high participation of micro, small and medium-sized enterprises (MSMEs), the development model followed in Latin America and the Caribbean faces multiple pitfalls in its productive structure, inclusiveness, environmental balance and institutional capacity to address these challenges, the statement concludes. (Source: Prensa Latina)
