The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) launched a major new report dubbed “Towards Destination Stewardship: Achieving Destination Stewardship through scenarios & a Governance Diagnostics framework.” It reveals how destinations can grow responsibly using the Destination Stewardship model. It lays out how destinations can balance the needs of visitors and residents, with the involvement of both the public and private sector.
Destination Stewardship is based on the responsible use of shared or “common pool” resources, which provide diminished benefits if each individual participant or group pursues their own self-interest.
The WTTC report offers scenarios and ways forward for organizations, such as tourism ministries and destination management organizations that seek to better understand how changes in governance structures could support greater destination stewardship.
It presents four Destination Stewardship scenarios, based on varying levels of engagement from the public and private sector, which show how differing levels of support can produce different outcomes, with the aim of creating a road map toward greater stewardship.
These new models of collaboration must deliver on market expectations while also supporting the needs of host communities.
The report lists the most important triggers of Destination Stewardship, from managing supply and demand, destination governance, sustainability, the evolving visitor economy and resilience to social inclusion.
The report was launched in partnership with the Travel Foundation and the European Tourism Futures Institute (ETFI) at NHL Stenden University in the Netherlands.
