Tourists on tour
Copyright©GIZ/Joe Kageni
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Tourism offers great opportunities for emerging economies and developing countries. It creates jobs, strengthens the local economy, contributes to local infrastructure development and can help to conserve the natural environment and cultural assets and traditions, and to reduce poverty and inequality. This can be achieved, in particular, if local people are able to benefit from the income opportunities arising from tourism.
The COVID-19 pandemic brought severe restrictions for global travel, especially for travel to countries in the Global South. In 2020, many countries saw a temporary standstill in the tourism sector. The sector's contribution to global GDP dropped by nearly half, and more than 60 million jobs were lost.
Germany is therefore using its development cooperation to help its partner countries cope with the crisis and achieve a sustainable recovery. More generally, it works towards fostering the sustainable development of tourism at destinations, and it fosters cooperation with the tourism industry, always pursuing the goal of using tourism projects in order to contribute to sustainable development in its partner countries.
Hotel employee in Rwanda
Copyright©GIZ/ADMA
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German activitiesCOVID-19 Response Measures for TourismInternal link
The BMZ has launched COVID-19 Response Measures for Tourism geared towards using the tourism sector to foster crisis management, recovery and resilience. Through that measures, it is responding to the challenges which the COVID-19 pandemic has created for tourism in its partner countries.
Recycling and circular economy at a hotel
Copyright©GIZ/Djulian
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German activitiesCooperation with the tourism industryInternal link
In order to make tourism in developing countries and emerging economies more sustainable and more crisis-resilient, there needs to be close cooperation between the tourism industry, academia, and the development community. The BMZ therefore supports exchange and transfer of knowledge between the various stakeholders.
The BMZ's approachSustainability and responsibility in the tourism sector
Farmer in a greenhouse in South Africa
Copyright©GIZ/Ilan Godfrey
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Sustainable tourism is based on a long-term perspective. It adheres to ethical principles and is geared towards social justice, respect for cultural differences, environmental responsibility, and economic benefits.
The BMZ supports projects and initiatives to foster the sustainable development of tourism in the countries of the Global South.
It considers tourism an important tool for development policy. In other words, tourism is used mainly as a lever for fostering local and regional economic development in line with the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Activities focus, for example, on creating jobs and income, fostering human rights and gender equality, and protecting the natural environment, biodiversity and cultural assets and traditions within the tourism sector and beyond.
In order to achieve these goals, the BMZ is pursuing more than 100 projects in its partner countries that are related to tourism. Examples of projects can be found in the following countries and regions:
Logo: Tourism for SDGs
Copyright©Tourism for SDGs
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T4SDGTourism for SDGs External link
Platform of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) for exchange on the implementation of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals in the tourism industry
Project examples
Hiking in southern Tunisia
Copyright©Paula Hogrebe
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Tunisia: Developing sustainable tourism options Internal link
The tourism sector is one of Tunisia's most important industries. However, tourism has so far concentrated mainly on the coastal regions. Through its development cooperation, Germany is supporting the development of tourism products in adjacent and economically less successful regions of the country.
At Goshavank Monastery in Tavush Province in north-eastern Armenia, audio guides are available for visitors.
Copyright©GIZ
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Armenia: Innovative approaches to strengthen the private tourism industry Internal link
Armenia is not yet tapping its potential for tourism to the full. Germany is assisting the country in developing its tourism sector in a sustainable, forward-looking way.
Training for Desert Kayak Trail, Namibia
Copyright©Paul Sutton
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Southern Africa: Fostering cross-border nature tourism Internal link
In order to conserve biodiversity, the Southern African Development Community (SADC) supports the establishment of transboundary protected areas in the region and helps to develop programmes and strategies for their sustainable management.
Economic significance of tourism
Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, tourism had for decades been one of the fastest-growing industries. While the number of international tourist arrivals in 1950 was only 25 million, it had risen to 674 million by 2000 and to 1.5 billion by 2019. Domestic tourism has also become more and more important.
As the number of tourists has grown, so has the economic significance of tourism. In 2019, tourism accounted for about ten per cent of global GDP (gross domestic product). One in ten jobs worldwide is directly related to tourism.
Over the past few decades, the importance of tourist destinations in the Global South has risen continuously as well. While in 1995 the share of international arrivals in developing countries and emerging economies was only 26 per cent, it was already as much as 38 per cent by 2010. More than half of all Germans (52 per cent) have already visited an emerging or developing country.
Opportunities involved in tourism development
Tourism can contribute to sustainable development in a variety of sectors.
Economic growth. Tourism generates income and creates easily accessible training opportunities and jobs, as well as sales markets for services and local products.
Infrastructure. Revenue from tourism can be used to expand important transport, energy and other infrastructure, and for waste and wastewater management, for example.
Environmental protection and nature conservation. Tourism companies and local communities get involved in environmental protection once they realise that this will help preserve the basis for tourism.
Culture. Travelers are interested in local cultures. So tourism can contribute, among other things, towards protecting and reviving the cultural heritage and increasing the value which people attach to it.
Risks involved in tourism development
Uncontrolled growth of the tourism sector gives rise to a number of risks.
Environment. Uncontrolled growth of the tourism sector puts a strain on natural resources, for example through greatly increased demand for water and energy, increased volumes of waste, and damage to – or even the destruction of – ecosystems.
Human rights. If local people's right to have a say in local affairs is disregarded, or if social standards are not met, the development of tourism can lead to conflicts within the society of the destination country. For example, most workers in the tourism industry, especially women, have informal jobs with very limited career advancement opportunities. Tourism development can also lead to increased sexual exploitation of women and children, and increased child labour.
Economy. Economies that rely one-sidedly on tourism can become economically dependent on that single industry. Seasonal fluctuation of tourist flows can lead to insecure job and income situations.
Crowding-out effect. The construction of tourism infrastructure and the increase of prices in a given region as a result of tourism can crowd out local people from their home areas or local labour and other markets.
Further information
- Tourism in Development CooperationPublication of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), 2018External link
- COVID-19 Response Measures for TourismFor Crisis Response, Recovery and ResilienceFile typePDF|Date of status07/2022|File size6 MB,Pages44Pages|AccessibilityAccessible
- Inclusion and Tourism. Analysis and practical approaches for development cooperation projectsPublication of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), 2021External link
- The tourism value chain. Analysis and practical approaches for development cooperation projectsPublication of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), 2020External link
- Destination management in developing and emerging countries. Handbook and guidelines for building sustainable destination management organizationsPublication of Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), 2019External link
- Global Report on Women in Tourism – Second EditionPublication of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), 2019External link
- Get startedRisk analysis tool to identify human rights risks and integrate measures to protect human rights in operations and along the value chain | Roundtable Human Righs in TourismExternal link
- The CodeIs your business child safe?External link
As at: 25/05/2022