Global best practices and challenges in sustainable tourism: insights from the world tourism organization (UN Tourism) initiatives

Abstract

This paper takes a close look at the successfully completed project “Empowering Young Women: Sustainable Livelihoods through Tourism”, implemented by UN Tourism in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture of Moldova, Invest Moldova Agency, and Moldova State University, with funding from the Estonian Development Cooperation. The project takes a new approach to achieving the SDGS and its objectives are to raise awareness on the role and opportunities of sustainable tourism to promote gender equality, both among young women and public and private tourism sector stakeholders; and to increase the number of young female entrepreneurs with improved skills for the tourism sector. In its first stage, a rapid tourism training needs assessment was carried out through interviews, focus groups and surveys with a wide range of stakeholders’ groups. Based on this assessment, a multi-component training programme was devised and delivered during the second phase. The tourism skills training delivered to 256 female entrepreneurs across 11 rural villages has proven to be a valuable tool for women in the Republic of Moldova, providing them with the knowledge and skills necessary to successfully develop and manage businesses in this sector. The 2-day training-of-trainers course provided to 5 female gender equality experts created the desired ripple effect. This strategy aims to cultivate a self-sustaining cycle of mentorship and growth among female trainers in the country, paving the way for enduring professional development. The online gender equality training delivered to more than 60 tourism stakeholders had a substantive impact as it provided an important opportunity to gain valuable knowledge about the challenges and opportunities related to gender equality in tourism; and being part of the solution in creating a more equal and inclusive tourism industry, and economic empowerment for women in the Republic of Moldova.