Tourism Leading Other Global Sectors in Advancing Gender Equality

The World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO) welcomed more than 100 experts to its global annual meeting in Madrid, gathering observatories from all around the world as well as other stakeholders from the public, private and academic field to discuss the latest experiences in monitoring tourism impacts at destination level through the application of traditional and non-traditional data sources.

For the fourth time, UNWTO hosted the global INSTO meeting at its headquarters, offering the participants a diverse programme including the

traditional mentoring breakfast for new and interested destinations, keynotes

on different topics such as Location Intelligence, Composite Indexes, Resource

Management and Dynamic Flow Analytics.

Observatories and industry experts d latest techniques and experiences with the measurement of the mandatory issue areas (local

satisfaction with tourism, destination economic benefits, employment, tourism

seasonality, energy and water management, sewage management, solid waste
management, governance) as well as the measurement of CO2 emissions and accessibility at destination level.

With the recognition of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Observatory (BC, Canada)

during the meeting, a total of 5 new destinations joined the INSTO network in
2019: the Navarre Tourism Observatory (Spain), the Tourism Observatory of the
City of Buenos Aires (Argentina), The Antigua Guatemala Sustainable Tourism
Observatory (Guatemala), the Australia’s South West Tourism Observatory
(Australia) and the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Observatory (Canada).

Glenn Mandziuk, President Chief Executive Officer, Thompson
Okanagan Tourism Region said: “We are honoured to be selected as Canada’s first
destination to join a network of leading organizations from around the world as part of the the UNWTO‘s INSTO program that will help us , measure, and

understand the economic, social and cultural implications of tourism.  We

believe this important announcement continues to showcase our Region’s strong

commitment to developing tourism in responsible and sustainable manner.”

Lisa Beare, British Columbia Minister of Tourism, Arts and Culture,
added: “This international recognition of the Thompson Okanagan Tourism
Association showcases years of innovative work towards sustainable tourism
management. Our vision for tourism in British Columbia is one of responsible
growth, where the benefits of tourism are d with everyone. Successful
tourism practices have evolved beyond focusing solely on economic returns, and today also consider the social, cultural and environmental impacts as well. Congratulations to everyone involved in achieving this designation in the

Thompson Okanagan, and thank you for your leadership.”