Report: Germany, France Top Sustainable Destinations

In no country is sustainable tourism policy sufficiently integrated between national, local and regional levels say experts

The Economist Intelligence Unit has published an index rating 10 countries on their commitment to develop and promote sustainable practices in tourism.

The report is based on an index composed of 19 quantitative and qualitative indicators. These fall into five thematic categories: political and regulatory environment; environmental sustainability; socio-cultural sustainability; economic sustainability; and travel and tourism industry.

Each of the ten countries in the index is scored across these five categories.

European countries lead the index overall and in most domains. The index indicates that of the ten countries included in the index, only France and Germany have taken concerted and sustained action at the national level to develop policy, set targets and monitor results.

Even in these countries implementation is patchy. Meanwhile, the scores of developing countries are weighed down by the dearth of both policy and coordination, although India, China and Brazil score comparatively well in a small number of areas, including the economic sustainability of their tourism industries.

China and India, index leaders in travel and tourism industry growth, are poised to make a huge impact on sustainability if they can complement their robust tourism sectors with comprehensive environmental- and cultural-protection policies.

Japan leads the socio-cultural sustainability category of the index, but ranks at the bottom for economic sustainability, which gauges the economic importance of tourism to a country.

The index is the first of its kind to compare countries on their commitment to develop and promote sustainable practices in tourism. The findings were released in a EIU white paper The Sustainable Tourism Index it features interviews with 11 global experts in the field.

It finds that while sustainable practices are taking hold around the world, fragmentation reigns even in high-scoring countries, with implementation and monitoring split between different government bodies.

In no country, say experts interviewed for the study, is sustainable tourism policy sufficiently integrated between national, local and regional levels.

Here are the countries scores:

·      France – 73.9

·      Germany – 71.7

·      UK – 62.4

·      U.S. – 53.1

·      Japan – 46.0

·      India – 36.9

·      Brazil – 34.6

·      China – 30.8

·      Indonesia – 27.1

·      Egypt – 26.5

Download the full report here: 

Valere Tjolle

@ValereTjolle