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Starting Project Sustainable Island Mauritius Creates Positive Impact Through Tourism by Addressing Sustainability Challenges

Billions of people travel domestically and internationally every year. The value created by these travellers makes up 10.4% of global GDP and accounts for 313 million jobs – 1 in every 10 jobs worldwide. 1 in 5 of all jobs created in 2017* were created in the tourism sector. As the same time, however, tourism contributes to 5% of global greenhouse gas emissions**.

As the tourism sector grows, more concerns are raised on its negative impacts (e.g. over-tourism and alienated local residents). It is also credited for its potential to bring innovative solutions to societal-economic challenges (e.g. economic opportunities in places that have few others, improving cultural understanding and reducing prejudice). Our goal is not to balance the negative impacts with positive impact in tourism, but to improve its handprint while reducing its footprint. Sustainable tourism should drive value creation for the company and customers by addressing sustainability challenges.

The CSCP aims to make sustainable tourism mainstream for the mass market. Sustainable tourism should address the needs of the key market segments to the destination, appealing to the majority of the travellers. Towards this end, the CSCP has been working on the Pro-handprint Innovation (PHI) Framework. It is a tool guiding businesses to target, manage, measure and communicate the positive impacts of tourism. As tourism relies on local resources (e.g. local work force, natural resource etc.), the PHI Framework provides an inspirational tool that supports the creation and implementation of innovative ideas, guiding business on creating value by addressing the local challenges. This brings sustaining solutions to the local communities while also future-proofing their business.

The PHI framework is based on the handprint methodology, which was created in the Handprint project. The project jointly developed with Centre for Sustainability Management der Leuphana-Universität Lüneburg, Universität Kassel and Zentrum für Nachhaltige Unternehmensführung at Witten/Herdecke University.

For further questions, please contact Kartika Anggraeni.

*WTTC. “Evaluation of Job Creation in G20 Countries Through Maximising Infrastructure Capacity Through Technology That Facilitates Travel and Integrates Security,” 2018. https://www.wttc.org/-/media/files/reports/2018/wttc–g20-jobs-creation-white-paper-en.pdf.

**“FAQ – Climate Change and Tourism | Sustainable Development of Tourism.” Accessed July 4, 2018. http://sdt.unwto.org/content/faq-climate-change-and-tourism.

Picture by Shutterstock / Ohrim

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