Page 288 - Special Topic Session (STS) - Volume 1

STS429 Igor C. et al.
2. Methodology
2.1 Sustainable tourism and employment
According to the UNWTO, sustainable tourism takes full account of its
current and future economic, social and environmental impacts,
addressing the needs of host communities, visitors, the environment and
the industry. It should generate local prosperity, decent work, promote
environmental awareness, conserve and protect the environment, respect
wildlife, flora, biodiversity, ecosystems and cultural diversity, and improve
the welfare and livelihoods of local communities, including those of
women, by supporting their local economies and the human and natural
environment as a whole, UNWTO and UNEP (2005).
An important element in the UNWTO definition of sustainable tourism
is the fact that tourism is about addressing not only environmental issues,
but also to ensure inclusive economic growth and social development.
Consequently, the social dimension is a key element in tourism planning
and management: poverty, employment, wages, education, skills, changes
in host populations, living conditions, characteristics of tourism
employees’ households, are relevant issues for tourism sustainability.
Stemming from the above, the social dimension of sustainable tourism
embraces employment. One more important element is directly
associated with the above definition: decent work.
Decent work sums up the aspirations of people in their working lives.
It involves opportunities for work that is productive and delivers a fair
income, security in the workplace and social protection for families, better
prospects for personal development and social integration, freedom for
people to express their concerns, organize and participate in the decisions
that affect their lives and equality of opportunity and treatment for all
women and men (ILOb).

2.2 Green jobs and the ILO
Statistics on green jobs is of interest to a wide variety of users: the
general public, media and civil society, decision and policy makers
concerned with economic growth, job creation, environmental protection,
climate change and sustainability, as well as analysts, experts and advisors,
academics, training institutions, government officials and international
agencies.
In order to provide a clear statistical definition of green jobs that would
facilitate the production of internationally comparable data, the
Guidelines concerning statistical definition of employment in the
th
environmental sector and green jobs were endorsed by the 19 ICLS, ILO
(2013).

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