Biodiversity in Tourism Policies: Nature yes – Protection no?

UN Tourism reviewed 80 national tourism strategies – with sobering results. While 95 percent of countries define nature as a key tourism asset and two-thirds explicitly refer to biodiversity, only 43 percent include concrete measures for its protection. Environmentally responsible visitor management, protected area planning and financial incentives for sustainable tourism remain the exception. Particularly concerning: three-quarters of the strategies lack biodiversity-related monitoring indicators. The study highlights that for tourism to support biodiversity conservation, sustainability must be more firmly anchored in national tourism policy frameworks.