Modelling a Sustainable Future for Tourism in East Africa under the 2017 theme “Sustainable Tourism & SDGs” will be on the agenda of the 3rd Annual Green Tourism Summit, convened and hosted by Sustainable Travel & Tourism Agenda (STTA Kenya). The regional meeting will take place in Nairobi, Kenya from 13th until the 15th of June and is designed to be a multi-stakeholder platform inspiring action towards a sustainable tourism sector in East Africa.
The 2017 Summit is inspired by the declaration of 2017 as International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development by UNWTO with hashtags set as #IYSTD #IY2017.
It also incorporates the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals, the UN 17 SDGs that need urgent attention and the ranking of the East Africa states in the Global SDG Index.
The East Africa Community states are currently ranked between number 120 to 128 in the Global SDG Index. For all these states, tourism is a key economic driver. Therefore, tourism must engage and get involved in the SDG dialogue as it provides an opportunity to improve the regions ranking.
“We need more than 120 reasons/actions/solutions to move the region upward in SDG index ranking. Any formidable response from tourism will take concerted efforts and deliberate commitments by all, to make changes,” said Ms. Judy Kepher-Gona, Summit Host and Founder of STTA Kenya.
The purpose of 2017 Green Tourism Summit is to identify key actions that will put tourism on track to meet the agenda of the SDGs. In order to do this, the Summit will seek to answer the following key questions:
· What can tourism contribute towards realizing the 5ps of SDGs
· How can achievements be accelerated and challenges/risks minimized or mitigated
· Who needs to be involved?
Tourism Associations, NGOs dealing with conservation and best global sustainable practices, government departments and of course tourism, travel and conservation stakeholders are invited to participate in the summit and sign up as soon as possible.
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