The impact of the pandemic on sustainability in tourism

The Observatory, which is based at the Center for Advanced Studies of Eurac Research, has supported this process of repositioning in its third year of operation by introducing several monitoring tools. In order to measure how sustainable tourism in South Tyrol is and to make changes visible, a series of indicators were defined with the aim of monitoring them in the long term. Those indicators include the number of visitors, the distribution of tourists over the year, as well as energy consumption, waste generation, employment figures, and guest satisfaction. The analysis also considered how tourism impacts the society, environment, economy, health, and local culture. Secondary data for the analysis was provided by the Regional Institute for Statistics ASTAT and the Office for Regional Planning and Cartography, among others.

The research further aims at quickly evaluating the recovery phase in tourism and assessing the impact of Covid-19 in economic terms, but also in terms of product and process innovation in accommodation facilities. Besides the monitoring of thirteen issue areas, which since 2021 also include culture, five surveys were conducted. Three of them focus on the impact of Covid-19 on tourism. One survey was directed at village chroniclers, assessing the dynamics between local culture and tourism in South Tyrolean communities. Another survey focused on the consideration of nature conservation in South Tyrolean tourism organizations.

As Anna Scuttari and Felix Windegger, Project Managers of the Observatory emphasize: “Tourism is changing and the main goal of STOST is to understand its new shape and to support smart policy decisions.” The involvement of all stakeholders, especially the local population, is crucial.

On December 11, people around the world are celebrating International Mountain Day (IMD). This day draws attention to the special importance of mountain areas for life on earth. This year, the United Nations have chosen to place a particular emphasis on sustainability in mountain tourism. The Observatory for Sustainable Tourism in South Tyrol has teamed up with GLOMOS (Global Mountain Safeguard Research) to create a short video for this special occasion, which showcases the most important findings of the Observatory’s Third Annual Progress Report in a nutshell.

The Observatory for Sustainable Tourism in South Tyrol (STOST) is part of the International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). It monitors the economic, environmental, and social impact of tourism at the regional level. The initiative is based on UNWTO's long-standing commitment to sustainable and resilient growth of the industry through measurement and monitoring to support evidence-based tourism management.