The United Nations has identified mountain tourism as a bright spot for local communities as it has the potential to boost their revenue and help preserve their natural resources and culture if managed sustainably.
However, a lack of data and knowledge on the subject have been identified as factors hindering the exploitation of such opportunities.
This is according to a report titled “understanding and quantifying mountain tourism,’’published recently by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and the Mountain Partnership (MP) that seeks to address such gaps in order to reach a better understanding of the subject.
“As the sector recovers from the unprecedented impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, there is an opportunity to rethink mountain tourism and its impact on natural resources and livelihoods, but also to manage it better and to harness its contribution towards a more resilient, inclusive, and sustainable future,” the report said.
According to the report, mountains are home to around 1.1 billion people, some of them among the poorest and most isolated in the world. At the same time, mountains have long drawn walking, climbing and winter sports fanatics. They also attract visitors for their spectacular scenery, rich biodiversity and vibrant local cultures.
It also noted that in 2019, the most recent year for which figures are available, the 10 most mountainous countries in terms of average height above sea level received only eight per cent of international tourist arrivals worldwide.
The publication therefore provides a set of recommendations to advance the measurement of mountain tourism, including progress on official tourism statistics and the use of big data and new technologies.
“Measuring the volume of visitors to mountains is the first vital step we need to take. With the right data, we can better control the dispersal of visitor flows, support adequate planning, improve knowledge on visitor patterns, build sustainable products in line with consumer needs, and create suitable policies that will foster sustainable development and make sure tourism activities benefit local communities,” QU Dongyu, FAO director general and Zurab Pololikashvili, UNWTO secretary general wrote in the report’s foreword.
The report noted that effective planning and management of mountain tourism requires a better understanding of its size and economic, social and environmental impacts, which the data available is very limited.
In light of the above, the study seeks to address the challenges by developing a new methodology and providing as clear a picture as possible, based on available data and tailor-made surveys, of trends in mountain tourism globally and at regional level for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East.
According to the report, the scarcity of data related to domestic tourism did not make it possible to estimate the contribution of this important segment.
The report, therefore, provides innovative approaches to measuring mountain tourism and planning and managing its impacts.
It recommends a collective effort, involving public and private stakeholders across the value chain, to improve data collection, standardisation and delivery to gain a more comprehensive assessment of mountain tourism in terms of volumes and impacts, so that it can be better understood and developed to align with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). .
The report also calls for concerted work to help raise awareness of the socio-economic importance of tourism in mountains and targeted policies to create jobs, support small and medium sized businesses and attract green investments in infrastructure and digitalisation of tourism services.
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