Tourism2030 - August2018-08-21T13:40:38Ztag:root.destinet.eu,2018-08-21:/demo-design/News/2018/8http://root.destinet.eu/demo-design/misc_/EnviroWindows/Site.gifECOTRANSTourism2030Copernicus climate data boosts Europe's tourism sectortag:root.destinet.eu,2018-12-10:/demo-design/News/2018/8/copernicus-climate-data-boosts-europe-s-tourism-sector2018-12-10T10:26:15ZHerbert HameleHerbert Hamele<p><strong><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) has commissioned a demonstrator project that will show the European tourism sector how to adapt to shifting trends in holiday travel due to the changing climate. Through the new Climate Data Store, a free operational service will ultimately deliver an interactive Web interface with pan-European data that allows users to find information on subjects ranging from forest-fire risk to locational suitability for a summer vacation.</span></strong></p>
<div id="mainwrapper" class="wrapper clearfix ">
<div id="maincontainer" class="container">
<div id="main">
<div class="row-fluid">
<div class="region region-content col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-md-8 col-lg-8">
<div class="row-fluid">
<div id="block-system-main" class="block block-system col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-md-12 col-lg-12 clearfix">
<div id="node-1293" class="node node-news news-landscape clearfix">
<div class="row">
<div class="xcol-sm-12 col-md-12">
<div class="field field-name-body field-type-text-with-summary field-label-hidden">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item even">
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Climate plays an important role in the global tourism industry. Environmental factors are already affecting visitor flows and behaviour, particularly in coastal areas where beach holidays are most sensitive to changing weather patterns. Numerous studies have shown that tourists are primarily motivated by weather conditions – including wind, air temperature and rainfall – when choosing both their destination and time of travel. These trends also have an effect on the competitiveness of businesses that are active in the sector.</span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Changes in the weather patterns and climate may have an impact on the suitability of tourist locations,” says <strong>Carlo Buontempo</strong>, Sectoral Information System Manager for the ECMWF-run Copernicus Climate Change Service. “It is clear that having an environment where you feel comfortable affects the likelihood of you travelling there.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Through its data collection, monitoring and analysis activities, the Copernicus programme supports the tourism industry by providing critical indicators and indexes for the assessment and planning of seasonal activities. This includes the monitoring of snow cover for skiing holidays and ocean water quality for beach vacations. Copernicus also supplies forecast data for forest fires, which can have a devastating effect on tourism and national economies.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img style="width: 400px; height: 200px; margin: 0px 0px; vertical-align: undefined;" src="/images/wildfires2_0.jpg" width="400" height="200" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>Wildfires have wreaked havoc across Europe during the recent heatwave.</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“We have seen what happened with forest fires in Portugal last year, in Russia a few years ago, not to mention the current wildfires in Greece and Scandinavia,” Buontempo says. “It is difficult to predict where fires will occur, but you can have an educated guess at the likelihood of a fire becoming significant. In that sense, there are pockets of predictability in Europe that can be exploited.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Last year, C3S commissioned Marseille-based TEC Conseil to develop the C3S European Tourism service with 12 institutional partners from 11 European countries. TEC Conseil engaged with the tourism sector to assess its needs with regard to climate impact indicators, essential climate variables and socio-economic data. By March 2019, it will provide a user-driven climate information system for intermediaries, tourism companies, policy makers and other users, based on information from the Climate Data Store.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“We are now in the second stage of the contract,” says <strong>Adeline Cauchy</strong>, project manager at TEC Conseil. “We are developing the components of the demonstrator – tourism applications, case studies and training material – in constant interaction with our set of users.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The French company is assessing the risk of forest fires in Europe with the help of the Fire Weather Index (FWI), the most widely used meteorology-based indicator for estimating fire danger. Developed in Canada, it takes into account the moisture content of the available fuel (litter and organic substances, for instance), and fire-behaviour indices that reflect the spread rate, fuel consumption and intensity of a fire if it were to start. The European Commission’s Global Wildfire Information System, jointly produced with ECMWF, provides global FWI forecasts and includes historical FWI calculations based on observations and climate models.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Climate models indicate an increase in fire risk and an elongation of the fire season,” says <strong>Christos Giannakopoulos</strong>, research director at the National Observatory of Athens (NOA), which manages and supplies data for the FWI in Europe. “It will be important for the tourism industry to plan for the long term, taking into account this elevated future risk.”</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><img style="width: 400px; height: 344px; margin: 0px 0px; vertical-align: undefined; " src="/images/fwi2_0.jpg" width="400" height="344" /></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><em>The Fire Weather Index (FWI) gives an indication of the risk of a wildfire starting in a certain area based on observations and climate models. (Credit: Copernicus Climate Change Service, ECMWF.)</em></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">NOA’s task is to apply this index to Europe both using seasonal weather forecasts and longer-term climate model projections, according to Giannakopoulos. NOA’s case studies will mainly focus on Portugal and the Greek island of Crete.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">TEC Conseil is also applying the Holiday Climate Index (HCI) throughout Europe to help the tourism sector shape marketing strategies and plan future investments or seasonal events. Taking into account the varying requirements for two main tourism segments – urban and beach – the HCI uses daily data to estimate the probability of preferred and unacceptable conditions. The index, which has both long-term (climate) and short-term (seasonal) versions, combines factors such as temperature, relative humidity, precipitation, cloud cover and wind.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For more information on sectoral engagement with C3S, please click on the following link:</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="https://climate.copernicus.eu/secteur">https://climate.copernicus.eu/secteur</a>.</span></p>UNWTO platform to achieve SDGstag:root.destinet.eu,2018-08-09:/demo-design/News/2018/8/unwto-platform-to-achieve-sdgs2018-08-09T09:45:56ZHerbert HameleHerbert Hamele<div class="container">
<div class="row">
<div class="col-xs-12 col-sm-12 col-md-12 col-lg-12">
<div class="news-detail-title"><span style="font-size: 18pt;">UNWTO launches an online Platform to Achieve SDGs through Tourism</span></div>
<div class="txt">
<div class="field field-introduction-press-release">
<div class="field-items">
<div class="field-item odd">
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><strong>Madrid, Spain, 23 July 2018 – Promoting a greater engagement of the tourism sector with sustainable development is the main objective of the Tourism for SDGs Platform. The online tool is designed to advance the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals through tourism, and was developed by the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) with the support of Switzerland’s State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO).</strong></span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) constitute an ambitious global agenda for people, planet, prosperity and peace through partnerships. The SDGs aim to end poverty, fight inequality and injustice, and solve climate change by 2030. The economic relevance of tourism, representing up to 10% of the world’s GDP and employment, makes harnessing its full potential essential for the advancement of the SDGs.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;"><a href="http://www.tourism4sdgs.org/">Tourism4SDGs.org</a> is a co-creation space that allows users to access a wide range of resources, add their own initiatives, findings and projects, motivate discussion and collaboration, and share content related to tourism and sustainable development.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">“Tourism plays a vital role in many, if not all, of the 17 Goals”, said UNWTO Secretary-General Zurab Pololikashvili. “Tourism has come of age as a cross-cutting economic activity with deep social ramifications, and the Tourism for SDGs Platform is providing the global tourism community with a space to co-create and engage to realize the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”, he added.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">For full article, <a href="http://media.unwto.org/press-release/2018-07-23/unwto-launches-online-platform-achieve-sdgs-through-tourism">click here</a>.</span></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
</div>SDGs: poor implementation in rich countriestag:root.destinet.eu,2018-08-21:/demo-design/News/2018/8/sdgs-poor-implementation-in-rich-countries2018-08-21T14:27:06ZHerbert HameleHerbert Hamele<p><span style="font-size: 18pt;">Rich countries risk achievement of the global goals</span></p>
<article class="article article--post"><small class="small post-meta"> </small>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"Three years after adoption of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by all UN member states, new and improved data provide insights into countries’ challenges and the steps they are taking to pursue the SDGs. So far only few G20 countries have taken decisive action to meet the goals. Many countries are making rapid progress, but overall the world risks falling short of achieving the goals by 2030." (source: <a href="http://www.sdgindex.org/news/">http://www.sdgindex.org/news/</a> )</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>OECD countries</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">"The SDG Dashboard for OECD member countries suggests that every rich country faces major challenges in meeting several SDGs, and that no OECD country is on track to achieving all of the SDGs. In particular, available data on <strong>SDG 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production), 13 (Climate Action), 14 (Life below Water) and 15 (Life on Land) suggest that OECD countries are far from reaching these goals and that many are stagnating or experiencing a deterioration.</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">This is partly driven by the relatively high spillover effects embodied in trade that are generated by OECD countries. The inclusion of additional metrics on “Leave no one behind”, in particular for SDG 3 (Health and Well-Being), 4 (Quality Education) and 10 (Reduced Inequalities), highlights shortcomings in a number of OECD countries that were not apparent using more aggregated data. Low current scores and weak trends on SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) are driven by unsustainable agriculture and high and rising obesity rates in most OECD countries. On balance, OECD countries face major challenges in meeting the environmental objectives as well as in realizing the Agenda 2030 ambition to “leave no one behind”.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">(Source: <a href="http://www.sdgindex.org/assets/files/2018/01%20SDGS%20GLOBAL%20EDITION%20WEB%20V9%20180718.pdf">http://www.sdgindex.org/assets/files/2018/01%20SDGS%20GLOBAL%20EDITION%20WEB%20V9%20180718.pdf</a> , P.24)</span></p>
<article class="article article--post">
<p><span style="font-size: 14pt;"><strong>What are the achievements and risks falling short in YOUR country?</strong></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Download the report with dashboards per country on </span><a href="http://www.sdgindex.org/reports/2018/"><span style="font-size: 12pt;">http://www.sdgindex.org/reports/2018/</span></a> <br /></p>
</article>
</article>