ECLAC unveils its five pillars for more sustainable tourism

The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) has identified challenges to the sustainability of tourism in the economic, environmental, social, cultural and governance spheres in Latin American and Caribbean countries.

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 10% of employment in Latin America and 35% in the Caribbean. Despite its importance in employment, around 52% of those employed are in informal conditions. Women occupy around 58% of jobs in accommodation and food, while young people up to 24 years of age occupy 21%.

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 approach to the seasonality that characterizes it, the precariousness and feminization of jobs and, in general, the low resilience to the impacts of disasters, climate change and other social, political and economic shocks.

In addition, the pandemic 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, senior citizens, indigenous or Afro-descendant communities) and between territories (urban, peri-urban and rural areas).

Peralta explained that in order to promote sustainable tourism as a pillar for a transformative recovery of the countries, proposals were developed in the study “Tourism sustainability from a territorial perspective: in Costa Rica, Panama and the Dominican Republic” to measure the sustainability of tourism from a territorial approach of tourist destinations or poles. “This work presents proposals for the analysis of tourism sustainability from a territorial approach and the results obtained on 12 tourist destinations. The document functions as a guide for the analysis of tourist destinations and the opportunities and challenges they face for their sustainability,” he said.

He said that, despite its economic dynamism, the contribution of tourism to the development of countries, especially to local development, has been 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 capacities to address the challenges,” he emphasized.