In order to accelerate their adoption of sustainability, five Mexican states have signed Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism, promoted by the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO).

At the Sustainable Social Tourism Summit that was held from August 30 to September 2 at León in Spain, the United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) announced five new signatories to the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism.

In a press statement, UNWTO says that the Secretariats of State for Tourism of Ciudad de Mexico, Queretaro, Guerrero, Quintana Roo, Nuevo Leon, all signed up to the landmark declaration, designed to guide tourism to Net-Zero emissions by 2050 at the latest. They join the Secretariat of State of Tourism of Guanajuato which signed up at the COP27 United Nations climate change conference in Sharm El Sheikh, Egypt.

Secretary of State of Tourism of Guanajuato Juan José Álvarez Brunel heads the Sustainability Coordination of the National Association of Secretaries of tourism of Mexico AC (ASETUR) and led the discussion of climate action in tourism at sub-national level since becoming a signatory.

“I greatly appreciate the assistance of my counterparts working for national tourism and the commitment to undertake climate change actions through the Glasgow Declaration. We have the honour to have the support of the UNWTO in this important event,” says Juan José Álvarez Brunel.

A Circular Economy of Plastics in Focus

The UNWTO adds that during the summit, a new round of private sector stakeholders were also welcomed as signatories of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative (GTPI), another lighthouse initiative led by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and UNWTO within the framework of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme.

The UN body says that  signature reflects one of the outcomes of the Project Caribe Circular, led by the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) in collaboration with Sustentur. This joint effort brought the total of the GTPI signatories to 200 organisations.

UNWTO says that the new signatories hail from many nations in Latin America, such as Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Panama, Dominican Republic, El Salvador and Belize and include hotel chains, independent hotels and tour operators.

UNWTO is leading the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme and cooperates closely with UNEP and to accelerate the implementation of SDG 12, in line with the Global Strategy on Sustainable Consumption and Production 2030 which highlights the importance of collective approaches at national and sub-national level.