“Travel and tourism is one of the world’s largest industries and a high-stakes piece of the global sustainability puzzle,” said Sam Adams, Portland’s former Mayor and current director of the US Climate Change Initiative at the World Resources Institute. “It can be an important part of the solution, provided the industry comes together and works toward common goals.”
Adams delivered his inspiring words at our Travel and Tourism Collective Impact Summit, co-hosted by Travel Oregon, with additional support from Travel Portland. The summit—attended by 45 leaders from tourism destinations, major companies in travel and other industries, industry associations, NGOs and sustainability experts—provided a forum to discuss critical issues related to the travel sector’s global impacts, and to leverage opportunities for tourism to be a major contributor to achieving the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The group acknowledged that the time to act is now and that as an industry, we must create a new business norm for tourism. Participants also agreed that the most promising path forward is through collective impact, where governments, businesses and travelers all take responsibility for their impact on the places where they live, visit and do business and actively contribute toward change.
“As an industry, there is a business imperative behind the need to protect and build the communities we operate in, said Mary Cox from the Globus Family of Brands. “We appreciate the role Sustainable Travel International has played in bringing leaders to the table over the years and feel they are well positioned to lead the movement for change.”