This chapter covers trends in tourism and associated developments in tourism governance and policy. It is based on responses to a policy and statistical survey of OECD member and partner countries. The chapter takes stock of the strong but uneven recovery and the outlook for the future as new challenges emerge. The role of government in supporting a more sustainable, resilient, and inclusive tourism in this environment is set out. Tourism policy priorities, reforms and developments are analysed with examples of country practices highlighted.
OECD Tourism Trends and Policies 2024
OECD Tourism Trends and Policies
Abstract
Tourism has rebounded strongly following sharp declines in 2020-21 triggered by the COVID‑19 pandemic. Full recovery to pre-pandemic levels is anticipated by the end of 2024, with continued growth expected over the long term. However, while well advanced in many countries, the recovery is uneven and slow economic growth, rising geopolitical tensions, cost-of-living pressures, natural disasters, and extreme weather events have brought new challenges. At the same time, new and existing weaknesses in tourism development models and the wider tourism economy have been exposed.
Governments took exceptional measures to support the sector through recent crises, and these policies have paid off. Tourism demand has proven resilient. The strong recovery is providing a wakeup call for destinations struggling to manage demand and its impacts on the environment and local communities. At the same time tourism provides significant but still untapped potential and opportunities for many people, businesses, and places. As tourism navigates these challenges, large-scale social, economic, political, environmental, and technical trends continue to impact the sector.
Active, forward-looking tourism policies are needed to respond and build momentum for a more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive future for tourism. While the sector’s role as a driver of economic prosperity and well-being has been elevated to the highest levels of government in recent years, tourism risks slipping down national policy agendas as the sector returns to pre-pandemic levels and growth paths.
Strong tourism rebound supporting wider economic growth
Tourism remains an important driver of economic growth, and plays a key role in stimulating economic activity, creating jobs, generating income and foreign exchange, promoting regional development, and supporting local communities. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the tourism sector directly contributed 4.4% of GDP and 6.9% of employment, and tourism generated 20.4% of service ‑related exports in OECD countries, on average. The unprecedented shock from COVID-19 saw the average direct contribution of tourism to GDP fall to 2.5% in 2020 across OECD countries with data available, with knock-on consequences for the wider economy. By 2022, this figure had returned to 3.9% on average across this same set of countries, with four countries returning to pre-pandemic levels or above (Figure 1.1). UN Tourism reports that globally, direct tourism GDP recovered to pre-pandemic levels in 2023 (UN Tourism, 2024[1]).
This strong recovery in the tourism economy is supporting wider economic activity, including in countries where the sector has been particularly dynamic, such as Greece, Portugal, Switzerland, and Türkiye (OECD, 2024[2]). In a few countries the relative size of the tourism economy expanded as the sector has outperformed wider economy growth. In Portugal, for example, tourism directly contributed 8.9% of GVA in 2022, compared with 8.1% in 2019. This is before the significant indirect impacts of tourism are considered, reflecting the breadth and depth of linkages between tourism and other sectors (e.g. food production, agriculture, transport). These indirect impacts account for more than one-third of value added generated in the domestic economy through tourism.
Tourism is a labour-intensive sector and labour shortages and skills gaps have constrained the sector's recovery amid tight labour markets. Employment in the accommodation and food services sector remained down 5.3% in 2022 across the OECD, while job vacancy rates were higher on average than in other parts of the economy in many countries in 2023. While not all jobs in accommodation and food services are tourism jobs, the sector accounts for around a half of tourism employment and provides a partial but useful proxy. While labour markets are now easing, persistent challenges to attract, retain and develop the tourism workforce remain. The need to address these issues is discussed further in Chapter 2 – Strengthening the tourism workforce.
Note: Tourism Direct GDP is the preferred indicator.
Only countries with 2019 and 2022 data available are shown.
1. Tourism GDP post COVID refers to 2023.
Tourism Direct GVA is used for Canada, Colombia, Finland, Greece, Israel, Lithuania, Netherlands, New Zealand, Portugal, Switzerland, Türkiye, United States.
Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).
Tourism demand has proven resilient, but recovery is uneven and challenges remain
International tourism flows have bounced back strongly and are projected to fully recover by the end of 2024. However, the recovery is uneven, and challenges remain. After falling by 68.3% in 2020 – slightly below the drop of 72.3% globally – by the end of 2022 international tourist arrivals to OECD countries had recovered to 77.3% of 2019 levels – ahead of 66.6% globally. OECD countries accounted for 65% of international tourism arrivals in 2022, up from 56% in 2019, highlighting the stronger performance compared to non-OECD countries since the pandemic. A breakdown of international tourist arrivals to OECD member countries and selected partner economies is provided in Table 1.1.
This recovery momentum has continued, driven by strong tourism demand that has proven surprisingly resilient. Globally, an estimated 1.3 billion international tourists were recorded in destinations worldwide in 2023, a recovery to 89% of pre-pandemic levels, and this is projected to reach 1.5 billion by the end of 2024 (UN Tourism, 2024[3]).
International tourist arrivals exceeded pre-pandemic levels in some OECD countries in 2023, with countries in Europe leading the way. Portugal welcomed a record 19.4 million international tourists, 12.1% more than in 2019. Other countries that saw arrivals reach or exceed pre-pandemic levels include Colombia (up 34%), Luxembourg (2.1%), Netherlands (1.4%), Norway (1.2%) and Spain (2.0%). Figure 1.2 presents the available data on international tourist arrivals to selected OECD member countries and partner economies in 2023 compared to arrivals in 2019. Countries in Europe benefited from significant intra-regional travel, while a strong US dollar boosted outbound travel from the United States to Europe.
Level in 2023 compared to 2019, %
Note: *Data from supply side surveys.
Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database), Eurostat, National Websites and Country Profiles.
However, the road to recovery is longer for other countries. In the Asia Pacific region, this reflects in part the later opening of borders, as well as the pre-pandemic reliance on visitors from often distant source markets and the slower than anticipated return of the important People’s Republic of China outbound market. This is the case as international tourist arrivals in 2023 remained below pre-pandemic levels, for example, in Australia (by 24.1%), Japan (21.4%) and New Zealand (24.0%). The pace of recovery in the region has picked up more recently, as outbound travel from China has stepped up and air capacity and connectivity has expanded to meet demand. The historically weak yen is also stimulating tourist inflows to Japan. Recovery has also picked up in other countries in the region. A continued revival of international tourism in Thailand, for example, is underpinning a steady economic recovery in the country, supported by the lifting of visa requirements for Chinese travellers (OECD, 2024[2]).
Geopolitical conflicts and tensions are also impacting tourism flows and the wider tourism economy, including Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and evolving conflicts in the Middle East. International tourism remains down on pre-pandemic levels in Finland (by 22.3% at the end of 2023) and other countries neighbouring Russia and Ukraine. The terrorist attacks and the subsequent war have hit Israel’s tourism economy hard, significantly reducing inbound tourism (down 33.9% in 2023). This is impacting service exports and economic growth in the country more widely (OECD, 2024[2]). Uncertainty about the evolution of these and other geopolitical conflicts and tensions risk impacting tourism in surrounding areas as well as denting traveller confidence more broadly, as safety and security are key conditions for tourism.
Notes: For more information, please see the country profiles.
Tourists: International tourist arrivals (excluding same-day visitors).
Visitors: International visitor arrivals (including same-day visitors).
1. Data from supply side surveys.
2. UN Tourism data (World Tourism Barometer, May 2024).
Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).
The top tourism destinations and markets continue to evolve as tourism recovers. France and Spain maintain their pre-pandemic positions as most visited countries in the world in 2022, the United States returned to third position as inbound travel to the US picked up after dropping back in 2021. Türkiye takes fourth place as inbound tourism continues to perform strongly, followed by Italy. Together, these five destinations welcomed just under a third (32.0%) of global tourist arrivals in 2022 (UN Tourism, 2024[3]).
In Asia Pacific, the recovery of the tourism sector is different. While outbound travel from China has picked up and domestic tourism is expanding, inbound tourism remains significantly down on pre-pandemic levels and is constraining wider economic recovery in China (OECD, 2024[4]). China has extended visa‑free travel for 11 European countries and Australia, New Zealand and Malaysia until the end of 2025. While this initiative aims to boost tourism and international ties, the availability of air capacity and ongoing flight restrictions linked with Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine may limit the uptake and impact. Outbound travel from India is emerging as a future growth engine for global tourism, with the rapid expansion of the middle classes and scaling up of air connectivity across the country.
The strong rebound in international tourist flows has been outpaced by an increase in tourism receipts in current prices, though this should be interpreted with caution given the strong inflationary pressures over the same period. International travel receipts in OECD countries had recovered to 82.3% of 2019 levels by the end of 2022, ahead of the arrivals recovery (77.3%), and accounting for 67.1% of international travel receipts in 2022, up from 61.4% in 2019 (compared with 65% and 56% of international tourism arrivals).
Table 1.2 provides a summary of international travel receipts (exports), expenditure (imports), and the travel balance for OECD and selected partner economies. Countries recording the strongest performance include Türkiye (up 39.9% on 2019 in current prices), the Netherlands (21.9%), Mexico (14.0%), Ireland (8.7%), and the United Kingdom (7.9%). Recovery was weakest in Japan (down 79.9%) and New Zealand (95.3%) where borders were closed to international tourist flows for longer.
Million USD
Notes: For more information, please see the country profiles.
1. UN Tourism data (World Tourism Barometer, May 2024).
Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).
Tourism’s share of services exports across OECD countries reached 14.8% in 2022, having fallen to 10.0% in 2020 and 9.7% in 2021, down from 20.4% in 2019 (Figure 1.3). UN Tourism reports that in 2023 export revenues from tourism reached 96% of 2019 levels in real terms (UN Tourism, 2024[1]). Continued recovery in international travel has helped support overall services trade (OECD, 2024[4]).
Source: OECD Trade in services by partner country (Database), extracted April 2024.
Source: OECD Tourism Statistics (Database).
Domestic demand helped sustain the sector during the pandemic, and domestic overnight trips recovered to 90.5% of 2019 levels in 2022 among OECD countries with data1. However, its importance and the extent to which domestic tourism is helping to support recovery varies considerably by country. Some countries recorded an overall increase in domestic tourism expenditure during the pandemic, as international travel was restricted. This was the case in 2021 in Denmark (up 12.0% compared to 2019), New Zealand (12.8%), Lithuania (7.9%), Australia (6.2%), and Sweden (6.0%). In contrast, domestic tourism consumption contracted in the Slovak Republic (down 52.1% compared to 2019), Colombia (44.4%), Austria (37.4%), Hungary (27.7%), Canada (25.9%) and the Netherlands (24.6%). Figure 1.4 shows the domestic share of tourism expenditure was higher than before the pandemic in several OECD countries in 2022.
Outlook brings new challenges to adapt and manage tourism for sustainable outcomes
Looking ahead, tourism demand is expected to remain buoyant as supply and demand imbalances unwind. In the near term, the sector continues to navigate uncertainties, while unchecked longer term growth, could bring challenges for the sustainability and future of the sector.
The global economic outlook has started to brighten, though growth remains modest and the outlook differs across countries. The OECD projects steady global GDP growth of 3.1% in 2024, followed by a slight pick-up to 3.2% in 2025. Weaker outcomes are expected in many advanced economies, especially in Europe, and may dampen tourism flows from these origin countries. This may be offset by strong growth in the United States and many emerging economies. Geopolitical tensions remain a significant near-term risk, although demand growth could prove stronger than expected, if households and firms draw more fully on the savings accumulated during COVID-19 (OECD, 2024[4]).
Inflation is falling faster than initially projected, including for energy and food prices which impact strongly on transport, accommodation and hospitality costs for tourists. Real incomes are rising in many OECD countries as inflation moderates and private sector confidence is improving, which may further stimulate tourism demand. Supply and demand imbalances in labour markets are easing, with unemployment remaining at or close to record lows. This should ease the labour shortages faced by tourism businesses, but challenges remain to attract and build a strong and sustainable workforce.
Positive traveller and business sentiment points to continued strong growth momentum for tourism. Confidence levels are high among European accommodation providers with demand expected to stabilise at as pent-up demand from the pandemic dissipates (Booking.com and Statista.com, 2024[5]). Forward-bookings for flights to Europe point to a full return to pre-pandemic levels with some notable shifts in traveller preferences toward nature and city destinations. Intra-European travel is expected to remain strong, while outbound travel to Asia Pacific has picked up as European travellers venture further afield, due in part to improved connectivity, visa waivers for Europeans entering China, and the favourable euro to yen exchange rate (ForwardKeys, 2024[6]). This follows strong air passenger travel growth in Asia Pacific this year and a return to profitability across the airline industry in all regions, led by North America (IATA, 2024[7]).
The strong tourism rebound is providing a wakeup call to governments and the sector as a whole, as some destinations struggle to manage demand and its impacts on local communities and the environment. This has been exacerbated as supply has struggled to keep pace with demand. In some destinations, these capacity constraints are expected to limit further growth (OECD, 2024[4]). In other destinations, the social licence for tourism is increasingly challenged as tourism exceeds critical thresholds and is putting pressure on infrastructure, the environment and the local community, as well as on other economic sectors and the tourist experience.
Due to its strong local dimension, tourism can play a key role in fostering economic development that creates decent jobs, enhances social cohesion, and contributes to the shared interests of tourists, residents, and businesses. However, the impacts of tourism development are often economically, socially, and environmentally unbalanced. More needs to be done to manage the social impacts of tourism, particularly those cause by unplanned growth, and maximise the sector’s potential to enhance well-being and promote social progress and inclusion, in traditional and emerging destinations.
As tourism resumes it growth trajectory, some popular tourism destinations are again feeling the pressures from increased visitor numbers on the local infrastructure, the environment and the host community. This has led to growing calls for more proactive policies and government action to better manage tourism development, across all levels of government, as well as a strong voice for local communities in the development of tourism. This includes taking action to diversify and diffuse the impacts of tourism temporally and spatially, and balance trade-offs to achieve more sustainable outcomes. It also involves anticipating when tourism in a destination could reach or surpass optimal levels, with detrimental impacts.
Diversifying the tourism offer and attracting new markets to emerging destinations and at different times of the year underpins wider strategies to build a strong, sustainable tourism economy. Considerable resources are devoted to developing business tourism in the form of meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibitions (MICE), in part to tackle seasonality and spread the benefits of tourism beyond traditional tourism hubs. Hosting major events can also provide a unique opportunity to rethink or reposition a destination in a period of changing global tourism dynamics. Hosting such events can help to facilitate the development of modern infrastructure (e.g. sporting and other facilities, transport, and accommodation), with mega events, such as the Olympics and Football World Cups, tending to have the longest legacy period. The Paris Olympics 2024 is looking to leverage this further with the associated Cultural Olympiad.
Accelerated climate change is impacting tourism. This has implications for structural shifts destinations and travel patterns. Warmer winters are shortening the ski season in mountain destinations, while heatwaves may reduce the attractiveness of destinations during traditional peak periods but encourage visitation at other times. Tourism businesses and destinations are adjusting the offer in response, for example by no longer scheduling hiking tours during periods when temperatures peak, while expanding the offer during traditional shoulder season periods.
The sector must also play an active role in delivering on climate goals. Wildfires, floods and heatwaves have the ability to directly impact visitors, businesses and local communities, both by the initial shock, and also from the loss of infrastructure and time it takes for tourism to recover. The world experienced unprecedented climate change impacts in 2023, and as these climate-related weather events become more extreme, losses are increasing (OECD, 2023[8]). Climate change is also expected to make incidents of severe turbulence more common for air travel.
Digital technologies, including generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), extended reality (XR) and blockchain, are fundamentally reshaping tourism and represent a powerful catalyst for innovation in the sector. Technology is changing the nature of work, business operations and service delivery, and is facilitating the adoption of innovative business models, and the shift to more sustainable tourism practices. It is also changing the way tourists plan travel and experience destinations. Digital technologies present not only an opportunity to respond to the evolving needs and desires of travellers, but also reach new consumers with novel tourism products and services (McKinsey & Company, 2024[9]). The current uptake and use of new technologies varies across countries, sectors and businesses. Small tourism enterprises with low-tech business practices face particular challenges to benefit from digital opportunities and prevent the gap widening between them and technology driven, globally connected tourism businesses.
These issues are high on the agenda of governments and the private sector and require coherent, evidence-based responses. Governments and destinations face significant challenges to access the data and information needed to understand the impacts of tourism. Such data allows policy makers to take informed decisions to rebalance the impacts of tourism, understand the trade-offs and manage tourism sustainably, so that the benefits outweigh the costs for host communities, businesses, the environment, and tourists. These issues are further discussed in Chapter 3 – Building the evidence base for sustainable tourism policies.
Government, at all levels, has a role to play in shaping tourism development to deliver better outcomes and shift to a more sustainable and inclusive growth path. Achieving this requires strong institutional structures, effective governance practices and co-ordinated policy action. As the world navigates successive shocks and recalibrates to moderate economic growth and geopolitical uncertainty, tourism requires integrated, adaptive, and effective governance across and between all levels of government, with the close involvement of the private sector and other stakeholders, to respond to challenges and capitalise on opportunities.
Tourism policy making is increasingly complex and highly context specific. National institutional frameworks for tourism vary from country to country, in part reflecting the different systems of government, the importance placed on the sector, and the cross-cutting nature of tourism policy. Responsibility for tourism is largely positioned within ministries responsible for economic development, trade, or industry, or in a dedicated ministry for tourism. In some countries tourism is integrated into labour or regional development ministries or alongside relevant policy sectors such as culture, sport, and transport.
While the exact institutional arrangements may differ, effective governance practices are needed to enable the planning and co-ordination of actions by key players, along with the availability of sufficient funding for their implementation. The cross-cutting nature of the sector, together with the differing national contexts, means that there is no one optimal location for tourism to be situated in national government structures.
Setting a strategic, forward-looking agenda to transform tourism post-pandemic
The OECD has long highlighted the importance for countries and destinations to develop long‑term and sustainable visions for tourism, supported by forward-looking strategies and action plans. Many countries have updated or developed tourism strategies to reflect the post-pandemic context and priorities, with new strategic approaches needed to adapt to an increasingly dynamic environment and build broad stakeholder engagement around a common vision for the future of the sector. In most cases these strategies seek to balance the need to consolidate the recovery of the sector, while looking to make progress on long term priorities facing the sector.
There is evidence of sustainability being mainstreamed into the strategic direction of tourism, with an enhanced focus on developing and managing tourism sustainably. Most strategies continue to include targets to bolster visitor numbers, with 2019 considered a reference point to measure the recovery from recent shocks. However, there is a growing emphasis on the need for sustainable tourism growth and outcomes, with fewer negative externalities and greater benefits for destinations and local communities. This is reflected in the broadening of the goals and targets set out in tourism strategies and plans beyond the well-established metrics of visitor volume and expenditure to include a wider set of metrics to monitor progress and measure success differently (Box 1.1).
Strategies frequently set out concrete actions to provide future steps to meet the strategic goals and targets. A new Roadmap for the Tourism Industry in Norway, for example, aims to create a more profitable, greener and locally sustainable tourism sector. Launched in 2024, the Roadmap includes 43 actions to increase value creation through tourism, reduce the sector’s climate and environmental footprint, create year-round jobs and position Norway as a competitive and sustainable destination. Initiatives range from the implementation of pilot projects to benefit from visitor contributions and support for sustainable management of natural attractions such as walking trails, to the promotion of sustainable indigenous tourism and Sámi culture.
Canada: The National Tourism Strategy, Canada 365: Welcoming the World, Every Day (launched in 2023) sets goals and actions to reduce the environmental impacts of tourism, support the sustainable development goals, enhance the sector’s diversity through support to Indigenous tourism and advance Canada’s gender-based analysis. Through this, Canada also aims to increase tourism GDP to CAD 61 billion and tourism-related jobs to a total of 790 000 by 2030, up from CAD 43.6 billion in GDP and 704 100 jobs in 2019.
Costa Rica: The National Tourism Development Plan 2022-27 is based on three pillars - sustainability, innovation and inclusiveness. The Plan aims to achieve a better balance between tourism development, the protection of natural resources and the distribution of profits throughout the country, so that local communities can benefit from an improved quality of life.
Czechia: The Tourism Development Strategy 2021-30 sets out a structural reform agenda focusing on sustainable tourism and the better management of tourist flows. Progress is tracked through Czechia’s position in the WEF Travel and Tourism Development Index.
Iceland: The Leading in Sustainable Development, Icelandic Tourism 2030 policy framework was updated in 2023 to better align with post-pandemic priorities for the tourism sector. The updated framework has the overall ambition for tourism to enhance the quality of life and prosperity in Iceland, as a destination known for sustainable development, quality and a unique visitor experience. An increased focus on objectives for the environment and local communities is interlinked with economic ambitions to increase productivity, value creation and competitiveness, and enhance innovation, product development and the use of technology.
Italy: The Strategic Plan for Tourism 2023-27 encourages responsible travel behaviour, cultural heritage preservation, community involvement and diversification of the tourism offer to spread the impacts of tourism across the territory and across the year. It aims to promote tourism as a sustainable driver of economic development, while delivering better outcomes for destinations, local communities and the environment.
European Union: The European Agenda for Tourism 2030 sets a strategic framework for developing a sustainable, resilient, and competitive tourism sector in Europe, focusing on the green and digital transitions, enhancing the sector's resilience to crises, and fostering innovation and skills development. The Agenda calls for co-ordinated efforts among EU member states, stakeholders, and international partners to achieve these objectives and ensure the long-term sustainability and growth of European tourism. Following the Council’s Conclusions calling for a European Tourism Agenda 2030-50, this document sets out potential policies and actions to meet the requirements of the Transition Pathway for Tourism. It contains a multi-year workplan for this purpose.
Increasing awareness of the social benefits of tourism has seen strategies prioritise inclusion, community involvement and regional development, and include a focus on spreading the benefits of tourism to communities throughout the territory. Colombia’s Sectoral Tourism Plan 2022-26 aims to foster economic development, social inclusion, environmental protection, and peacebuilding through tourism. To achieve this goal, Colombia is increasing community-based and ethnic tourism, community protection, and the preservation of cultural heritage and values. Other countries have integrated similar objectives as central elements of their national tourism strategies, including Costa Rica, Italy, Korea, Mexico, Portugal, and the United States.
The tourism workforce has long been an area of focus for the tourism sector, but recent crises deepened labour shortages and heightening the need for co-ordinated action to address both short-term and long-term weaknesses. Morocco’s Roadmap for Tourism 2023-26 aims to strengthen the tourism workforce through a training and management programme to offer better career prospects for young people in tourism. Recruiting and retaining skilled workers is one of four pillars of Germany’s National Tourism Strategy which is currently under further development.
Digital transformation is another area of strategic emphasis, to increase efficiency, streamline operations, boost productivity, adapt to tourists’ needs, and improve data-driven decision making. Countries like Costa Rica, Germany, Italy, Korea, Poland and Türkiye aim to modernise the tourism sector, foster innovation, and improve the overall visitor experience, by embedding digital transformation in their strategies.
As countries look to move beyond the recent crises and prepare long-term tourism strategies, they are increasingly embracing forward-looking approaches including strategic foresight and scenario planning. Such approaches recognise the dynamic and uncertain environment and different possible futures that policy makers need to consider and can inform more agile and flexible responses to future shocks and challenges. Estonia is employing strategic foresight approaches to prepare a new long-term vision for tourism to 2035, which brings together key stakeholders from across the sector to identify and analyse various potential scenarios for tourism development in the next decade (Box 1.2).
France used future-oriented techniques as part of a Horizons 2040 study to outline four potential future scenarios for the sector. These scenarios are designed to inform tourism policy development and provide useful insights for tourism stakeholders. The initiative aims to develop forward ‑looking approaches and strategic thinking to better anticipate factors transforming tourism and contribute to delivering the sustainable tourism goals set out in Destination France Plan 2030.
Estonia is preparing a long-term vision to 2035 for tourism, to support the digitalisation and sustainable development of the sector. Recognising the cross-cutting nature of tourism and inter-connections with other sectors, a multi-level approach is being used to increase stakeholder engagement in the process, including through workshops, surveys, interviews, and validation seminars. Strategic foresight approaches have been adopted to better anticipate and prepare for potential futures and to understand the opportunities and challenges they may present. Tools employed include the STEEPLE analysis framework – Social, Technological, Economic, Environmental, Political, Legal, and Ethical factors – to help public and private sector stakeholders assess how external factors can impact tourism, and how tourism products and services should respond. Estonia plans to launch its long-term vision for tourism to 2035 in the first quarter of 2025.
Given the cross-cutting nature of tourism and need to co-ordinate across policy areas, integrating tourism as a pillar in wider national economic development plans and strategies can support a whole-of-government approach to tourism. In Lithuania, tourism is now part of a wider whole-of-economy Economic Transformation and Competitiveness Development programme, which replaces individual sectoral strategies. In addition, the tourism sector is supported by a separate National Tourism Pathway 2023, which further facilitates co-ordination across the public and private sector to deliver on tourism policy objectives.
The Council of the European Union has adopted a new European Agenda for Tourism 2030, based on its Transition Pathway for Tourism. With these initiatives, the Commission, member states and stakeholders are jointly supporting the tourism sector to navigate the green and digital transition and ensure its long-term resilience across countries in the European Union.
Furthermore, the global tourism agenda continues to be shaped by the work of a growing number of international institutions and multilateral fora. The tourism agenda of Brazil’s 2024 G20 Presidency is focused on leveraging the potential of tourism to build a just and sustainable planet, while tourism is for the first time an official G7 workstream, under Italy's 2024 Presidency. Under Italy's leadership, the work will focus particularly on optimising the socio-economic impacts of tourism, human capital, employment and skills, and the implications of artificial intelligence for tourism.
Also in 2024, the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Tourism Ministers issued a joint statement on innovating pathways for sustainable tourism growth, while the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Tourism Ministers endorsed the Action Roadmap for Sustainable Tourism Development. International organisations and financing institutions have also expanded their activities on tourism. The Development Bank of Latin America and the Caribbean (CAF), for example, has developed a tourism strategy to promote sustainable and regenerative tourism development and strengthen regional integration and regional co-operation through tourism.
These examples build on the increased attention and expansion of activities seen in other international for a in recent years, including the OECD, UN Tourism and the World Bank. Maintaining the momentum of tourism work streams may support co-ordinated action and in turn help to keep tourism high on national policy agendas. However, ensuring strong collaboration across these fora is needed to best make use of resources and collectively advance work to build a more resilient and sustainable global tourism ecosystem.
Co-ordinating action for effective implementation of tourism plans and policies
Tourism strategies can help mobilise public and private stakeholders around a common vision and agreed goals but need to be underpinned by concrete action plans and resources, together with robust co-ordination and engagement of key stakeholders and supportive legal and regulatory frameworks to be effective. There is also a need to monitor progress and adjust policy measures where necessary, while maintaining the agility and flexibility to adapt to changes in the wider policy environment.
Countries have reported strong engagement across policy areas and levels of government, including from the private sector, to update and develop new strategies and plans since the pandemic. Maintaining this strong engagement is key to deliver on agreed actions and aspirations. However, as the sector bounces back, there is a risk that this engagement falls away as tourism slips down the list of national policy priorities, even as the strong rebound brings new challenges.
Multi-phased action plans provide one mechanism to maintain momentum and ongoing engagement for national tourism strategies. Australia’s 10-year national strategy for the long-term sustainable growth of the visitor economy, THRIVE 2030, is broken down into three phases – recovery, consolidation, and acceleration. Each phase is complemented by a short-term action plan with clear targets against which progress is reviewed. Now in the consolidation phase, the focus has shifted away from driving visitation and addressing supply side issues, towards diversifying markets, investing in new products, and improving business practices and workforce capability. Implementation is further supported by an industry consultation round and institutional forums which regularly bring together tourism ministers from the Federal, State and Territory governments, as well as other relevant federal and state departments, to discuss tourism policies that can impact different sectors.
The Tourism Strategy of the Swiss Confederation presents the long-term vision for tourism in Switzerland. The main objectives are to improve the framework conditions, promote entrepreneurship, take advantage of opportunities offered by digitalisation, and enhance the attractiveness of tourism products and Switzerland's market presence. Published in 2021, each objective is supplemented by three action items, which are not final and are amended and extended as needed. This approach aims to ensure that the Strategy is agile and capable of both action and reaction.
Collaboration mechanisms help maintain a whole-of-government approach to tourism policy from strategy development to implementation phase. Canada for example has introduced a Ministerial Tourism Council to better co-ordinate efforts on tourism across the Federal Government. The Council brings together federal ministers whose responsibilities directly impact tourism (e.g. employment and skills, regional and national economic development, parks, transportation, immigration, border services, and housing). Collaboration across government can also occur to tackle specific issues. In Finland, a taskforce composed of representatives from the ministries of Economic Affairs and Employment, Justice, the Environment and Finance is working together to update and improve short-term rental legislation.
Effective tourism policy implementation requires the engagement of the private sector and other stakeholders. This includes maintaining an active and consistent voice for the private sector in government fora as well as ensuring the private sector is engaged and plays its part implementing actions and plans to deliver on a common vision for tourism. However, this can be challenging due to the fragmented nature of the sector. Some countries have created new mechanisms to encourage engagement with the private sector, also building on the legacy from the pandemic response.
Mexico launched the Mexican Tourism Planning System to enhance collaboration from public and private actors and support the Ministry of Tourism to analyse current policy programmes, identify actions that require immediate attention and propose data-driven recommendations. Germany has established a National Platform on the Future of Tourism which brings together tourism-related stakeholders, including industry representative associations, and provides a single forum for strategic dialogue with a focus on the four priority areas of climate neutrality and nature protection, recruiting and securing skilled labour, digitalisation and competitiveness.
Croatia adopted a new comprehensive Tourism Act in 2024. The law aims to drive tourism reforms and provide a supporting framework for sustainable tourism development and improved tourism management. The Act defines the institutional framework, data monitoring, analysis system and tools to preserve resources and space, and to guarantee tourist satisfaction and quality of life for local communities in tourist destinations, while ensuring the competitiveness of Croatian tourism on the international market. The Tourism Act, in co-ordination with Croatia’s Sustainable Tourism Development Strategy 2030, the National Plan for the Development of Sustainable Tourism 2027 and the Action Plan for the Implementation of the National Plan 2025, sets out initiatives and approaches to encourage a more sustainable development of tourism and tackle overcrowding in destinations. They focus on promoting year-round, regionally balanced tourism, and increasing the resilience of tourism to external influences. These measures also aim to address problems associated with short-term rentals, protect the marine environment, and preserve cultural heritage sites. In addition, Croatia is working on improving the institutional and operating framework for destination management organisations to further enhance the tourism governance landscape.
Several countries have also taken steps to modernise the regulatory and legislative frameworks for tourism, to better align with the new strategies and plans and support a shift in focus to promote sustainable models of tourism development. In Greece, a new 2021 Law on Destination Management and Marketing Organisations and Model Tourism Destinations of Integrated Management has been established. It aims to advance optimal destination management through the creation of a stable co-operation framework between the public and private sectors. This legislation also acknowledges unique destination characteristics that may necessitate tailored planning and monitoring support.
Croatia modernised its legal framework, adopting a new Tourism Act in 2024 as part of a wider reform agenda to shift to a more sustainable and inclusive tourism economy. Developed in line with the national Sustainable Tourism Strategy launched in 2023, the Law establishes a structured framework for tourism development (Box 1.3).
Enhancing governance and management of tourism at regional and local level
Regional and local governments are increasingly important in developing and implementing tourism strategies and plans. Local action, guided by an overarching national vision for the future of tourism can help drive momentum for change. The regional and local dimension is also important to harness tourism’s potential as a driver of economic and social development and to effectively manage tourism on the ground. Effective co-ordination across different levels of government enhances the overall impact of tourism policies, helping to align goals, use resources effectively and foster a unified approach to tourism development. It also empowers regional and local tourism bodies to create and promote tourism products and services that are bespoke and meet the economic, social, and environmental needs of places while better managing stakeholder interest for more sustainable and inclusive outcomes.
Actively involving local and regional bodies in the development of national tourism strategies helps incorporate place-based considerations and support the adaptation of actions to local needs. In Chile, for example, regional and local bodies have been involved in the development of the National Tourism Strategy 2035 through a series of regional workshops. This bottom-up participatory approach helps regional and local governments set relevant and coherent objectives while also ensuring that local needs and conditions are reflected in national strategies, and can in turn support effective implementation at destination level.
Advancing reforms to enhance co-ordination between national, regional, and local governments and strengthen destination management structures is an area of focus in many countries. Approaches vary depending on the system of government and the extent to which regional and local authorities have competence and are active on tourism development. However, there is widespread recognition of the importance of involving sub-national stakeholders, who play a key role in achieving broader tourism goals.
Streamlining and reforming destination governance structures can help to empower destinations in the strategic process of tourism development, as the focus continues to shift from marketing to management to better respond to the issues facing destinations. For example, Croatia, Estonia, Greece, Romania, and the United Kingdom have recently conducted extensive reviews of the destination governance structures and operating framework for destination management organisations, as part of wider reform agendas (Box 1.4).
Transformative destination development means destinations need to face the challenge of becoming an agent of change. As the role of destination management organisations (DMOs) continues to evolve and expand, new skills, capacities, and resources are required. DMOs are increasingly performing in similar ways as national bodies, including to address longstanding issues of seasonality by promoting the geographic and seasonal spread of tourists, however, human and financial capacity and resources are often constrained.
In Norway, as part of the National Tourism Strategy 2030, an official report on destination development and visitor management recommended that destination management teams be embedded in each region to provide strategic advice and delivery of sustainable visitor management. The aim is to help tourism develop in a more attractive manner to local communities, residents, and visitors. New Zealand has provided support for all 29 tourism destinations to develop tailored destination management plans which empower tourism stakeholders to determine the scope and approach that best serves the destination’s interests and aspirations.
Destination management organisations are often better placed to more effectively partner and mobilise tourism businesses and reach a larger number of tourism SMEs in a smaller geographic footprint. Other benefits of regional and local planning include the creation of a stable and accessible co-operation framework for government and SMEs, co-ordination of activities and investments to promote tourism development, and closer integration with wider regional and local economic development policies. It can also help cross-sector initiatives that increasingly impact tourism at national level.
Estonia: A programme has been undertaken to reform and rationalise destination management structures to make DMOs more competitive, facilitate sharing of knowledge and best practice, reduce overlap and duplication, deliver national priorities around product development and address the growing performance gap between the capital city Tallinn and the rest of the country. In 2019, Estonia had approximately 40 DMOs, each employing an average of 1.5 people. By 2024, these had been consolidated into 7 DMOs capable of strategically leading the visitor economy in their areas. Long-term funding from the Government provides DMO staff with security of tenure and supports tourism development actions, but regions are expected to contribute at least half of all costs through co-financing.
Greece: A new operational framework was presented in 2023, following the passing of a Tourism Law for the establishment of destination management and marketing organisations. The operating framework aims to support local and regional authorities to develop and manage tourism sustainably, including establishing tourism observatories to enhance evidence-based policies. Key considerations have included the need to foster enhanced collaboration, ensure quality standards, and promote sustainable tourism development.
New Zealand: Collaborative Destination Management Plans (DMPs) were created to empower tourism stakeholders to determine the scope and approach to tourism that best serves each destination’s interests and aspirations. The 29 DMPs aim to maintain a positive social license and establish robust local agendas for destination management. Each DMP is developed by building consensus among tourism businesses, local communities (including Māori communities), local government, and other stakeholders. The preparation of the DMPs was funded by central government, and implementation will be undertaken locally (including resourcing). Destination Management Guidelines were prepared to support stakeholders in their efforts to develop the Plans and provide suggestions on components that could be included and questions to stimulate discussion and identify gaps, opportunities, and areas for further investigation.
Resources to support sustainable tourism development
The tourism sector benefited from significant government support during the pandemic and its aftermath. This support was vital in helping the tourism sector weather the crisis and recover. Reflecting this, many countries reported an increase in the operating budget for tourism during the pandemic, while the sector also benefited from wider economic support measures not captured by tourism budgets. Many of these supports have been withdrawn as the recovery advanced, with countries reporting tourism budgets returning to similar or lower than pre-pandemic levels in 2023 and 2024.
While the withdrawal of the exceptional financial supports introduced during the pandemic is to be expected, this comes at a time when countries are setting out ambitious strategies and plans to develop and manage tourism more sustainably. Effectively implementing these strategies and delivering on anticipated policy outcomes requires sufficient resources – financial and human. However, few strategies and action plans include details on the resourcing requirements or commitments to deliver on the ambitions set out, and successfully meet the evolving demands of the sector.
Recognising this challenge, the Danish Government has allocated an additional DKK 100 million to the sector for the period 2024-27, or DKK 25 million annually, to deliver on sustainable tourism goals in the country. In Poland, tourism was allocated PLN 110.3 million, including PLN 84.5 million for the Polish Tourism Organisation, a total increase of 53% compared to 2022 to support the development of a new long-term strategy for tourism. The supplementary tourism budget in fiscal year 2023 in Japan increased to JPY 68.9 billion, which included JPY 18.4 billion to attract international visitors to local regions, JPY 20 billion to add value to tourist destinations and tourism industries, and JPY 30.5 billion to better manage tourism flows and promote sustainable tourism growth.
Significant investments are also required to reduce the environmental impact of tourism activities, while adapting to the impacts from climate change. Tourism destinations and businesses also need support to keep pace with rapid technological developments, while resources are also required to develop the infrastructure and mechanisms needed to better manage tourism development. This needs to be understood within the broader budgetary context and priorities of countries. Securing the necessary support will require a clear demonstration of the impact and effectiveness of tourism measures to promote economic growth while meeting wider policy goals and ambitions.
While national tourism budgets can serve as a practical indicator to measure the level of government support to tourism, the sector also benefits significantly from funding from other governmental bodies, including for infrastructure, transport and other tourism-related projects, and contributions can also be made to regional and local tourism authorities. Funding from international or supra-national institutions also supports tourism development. In the European Union, funds from a variety of funding sources support tourism development across member states, including through the EU Technical Support Instrument, and the European Regional Development Fund.
Recognition of the need for tourism to transition towards more sustainable and resilient models of development has grown in recent years. Co-ordinated policy action across all levels of government is needed to address structural weaknesses that have impeded the sector in the past, not least to address issues linked with unbalanced tourism development and ensure jobs, resident well-being, and other benefits from tourism flow to local communities. However, preparing for the future will require accelerating mitigation and adaption measures so tourism can play its part in the low carbon transition, as well as continued progress to support digital uptake by businesses, and particularly SMEs.
Rethinking the tourism system and preparing for future shocks, while addressing long-term priorities and moving to more balanced and sustainable models of tourism development require policy makers to seize new opportunities to deploy transversal approaches that achieve multiple objectives. More granular, timely and robust evidence is needed to inform policy and business decisions, and to manage and track progress on potential trade-offs, determine ‘what works’, and identify emerging policy impacts and risks, as well as the costs of inaction.
Boosting the role of tourism in climate action to deliver on net zero targets
Urgent and transformative action is needed across all sectors, including tourism, if countries are to reach the target of net zero emissions by 2050 - or earlier in the case of countries that have set more ambitious targets. Tourism has an important role to play in delivering on these ambitions. Accurately estimating tourism’s carbon footprint is challenging. However, a 2023 assessment of progress and gaps in critical dimensions of tourism climate action attributed 8 to 10% of global greenhouse gas emissions to tourism (Tourism Panel on Climate Change, 2023[10]). This aligns with previous estimates, with high-income countries responsible for most of these tourism-related emissions.
Tourism is also heavily exposed to multiple and often cumulative climate impacts, as evidenced in recent years with the wildfires, heatwaves, floods, and other weather events which have impacted visitors, businesses and local communities in countries around the world – both by the initial impact, but also from the loss of infrastructure and time it takes for tourism to recover.
Previous OECD Tourism Committee work has highlighted the need to accelerate the transition to a greener tourism economy, to translate commitments into real actions and outcomes, and embed environmental objectives into tourism policies and programmes. This includes promoting greener business models and destinations, encouraging consumers to make more sustainable travel choices, and the adoption of mitigation and adaptation measures along the tourism value chain. Co-ordinated action with other policy areas (e.g. transport, investment, infrastructure, skills) and across levels of government is also required to maximise the positive outcomes for tourism, while minimising unintended consequences.
Despite this widely acknowledged urgency, tourism policies to address climate mitigation and adaptation remain limited, and more needs to be done to translate net zero ambitions and related policies into action. Setting and monitoring against specific targets for tourism – or specific parts of the tourism economy – and then monitoring progress, would help to mobilise and guide action to manage and reduce the sector’s carbon footprint. The complex nature of tourism, which is composed of many different sub-sectors and global value chains, makes this process challenging. challenging. Allocating emissions from international tourism, and in particular from transport, is challenging. Indicators or estimates of emissions, such as those reported in New Zealand's regular national greenhouse gas inventory, or air travel emissions in the EU Tourism Dashboard, provide guidance at the national level.
Many countries are yet to set tourism-specific greenhouse gas reduction targets and related emission budgets, even though tourism must follow national regulations and contribute to Nationally Determined Contributions to reach international targets set out in the Paris Climate Agreement. Tourism is instead often assigned to the transport or service sector. However, signatories to the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism commit to taking action to reduce emissions by 50% by 2030, and to reach net zero as soon as possible before 2050. This is supported by practical recommendations on how to get started with climate action (UN Tourism, 2024[11])
In recognition of tourism's contribution to the climate crisis and the need deliver on these commitments and ambitions, climate action is increasingly being integrated into national tourism strategies and plans, as shown for example by Greece, New Zealand, Norway and Slovenia. In a few cases, these strategies and plans set out specific targets to guide and monitor progress. For example, in Belgium, Visit Flanders launched a sustainability plan in 2022 to reduce emissions from tourist accommodation by 50% and tourism operators primary energy consumption by 35%, by 2030. Slovenia aims to reduce the carbon footprint of Slovenian tourism per overnight stay from 39.9 to 30.3 kgCO2eq/night, a reduction of 33% by 2028.
Beyond economy-wide climate action plans, several countries have developed tourism specific roadmaps and action plans setting out how the sector can play a more active role in achieving net zero ambitions and mobilising stakeholders to take action, including Chile, Ireland and the Netherlands (Box 1.5). These roadmaps and action plans cover a wide range of measures, including inter-ministerial and cross-sectoral workshops to build climate literacy, the launch of carbon calculators for tourists and tourism businesses, the reduction of dependence on air transport by strengthening rail infrastructure, the introduction of renewable energy programmes, climate risk analyses or the development of technical guidelines on mitigation.
Climate action roadmaps and plans recognise the role of businesses and propose concrete actions for and at the interface of different stakeholders. This includes initiating a shift in consumer behaviour away from high-emitting tourist activities, while education and climate capacity building for the tourism workforce are necessary to drive change in the sector.
Chile: The Plan for Adaptation to Climate Change in the Tourism Sector was jointly developed through extensive inter-ministerial co-ordination and adopted in 2020 to increase the resilience and sustainability of the tourism sector. It identifies tourist areas most at risk from climate change by analysing climate indicators and defining potential impacts on the tourism sector, such as changes in biodiversity and extreme weather events. Based on this assessment, the Plan sets out concrete objectives to develop the capacity and conditions to adapt and cope with the current and future impacts of climate change. The lines of action include increasing the capacity of the National Tourism Service, SERNATUR, to integrate climate change into tourism planning, public-private co-ordination, information management and communication. An update of the Plan is being undertaken in 2024 to reflect the Climate Change Framework Law.
Netherlands: Launched in 2022, the Road to Climate Neutral Tourism supports the broader Government goal for the Netherlands to be climate-neutral by 2030. With expertise from the scientific community and tourism professionals, the Roadmap outlines strategies to take action in line with the pillars of the Glasgow Declaration: measurement and research; reducing emissions; strengthening ecosystems; funding and support; and co-operation and leadership. For each measure, the Roadmap lists actions for government, businesses, branch organisations, knowledge institutes and destination management organisations. The lines of action include for example: reduce dependence on aviation, faster rollout of charging infrastructure for bicycles and cars, decrease dependence on the sea cruise industry, labels and certifications or climate neutral business as the norm.
Ireland: The National Tourism Development Agency, Fáilte Ireland, developed a Climate Action Roadmap in 2022, to help tourism and hospitality businesses reduce carbon emissions and contribute to national net zero targets. The Roadmap sets out 8 steps in the climate action journey for businesses, and provides climate action guides on water, waste and energy management, as well as carbon offsetting, biodiversity, meetings and events and festivals.
Countries also have initiatives to support tourism businesses, and SMEs in particular, to adapt and meet climate commitments, including through knowledge exchange, communication, networking and representation of specific interests in the greening of the tourism sector. SMEs as critical actors as drivers of technological change and adopters of green business models and practices to reduce their environmental footprint (OECD, 2024[12]).
In Ireland a Climate Action Programme complements Fáilte Ireland's Climate Action Roadmap and offers dedicated mentoring and investment advice to help tourism businesses reduce carbon emissions and develop tailored action plans to become more sustainable. The Programme has been oversubscribed since it was launched, reflecting strong demand from tourism businesses.
In Switzerland, the Competence Centre for Sustainability in Swiss Tourism aims to make Swiss tourism a leader in sustainability, by initiating and implementing projects and providing a central contact point for sustainability issues. It was launched in 2022 by the Swiss Tourism Federation, as part of Switzerland’s Tourism Strategy. The Swiss Parliament will soon decide on a new Law for tourist accommodation that will be implemented by the Swiss Association for Hotel Credit, to support the renovation of accommodation facilities in the Alpine region and seasonal tourist areas, with a focus on energy efficiency.
The German Climate Fund for Tourism as part of the National Climate Initiative pursues three goals: to establish an industry-wide greenhouse gas inventory, to develop climate protection measure and to develop a financing model for climate protection activities. In addition, the German association Klimalink works on the transparent presentation of the carbon footprint of travel, which has recently been joined by the tour operator association as well as companies from Austria and Switzerland. Germany has also increasingly promoting environmentally friendly tourism, including through a campaign to encourage travellers to “stay a little bit longer” as part the German National Tourist Board’s sustainability strategy.
As decarbonisation measures are frequently linked to cost-intensive infrastructure improvements, various national programmes provide incentives or funding. In addition to the programmes above, Austria and Germany are among the countries with targeted support and programmes for tourism SMEs, including funding, to lead green transition initiatives and comply with climate neutrality goals (Box 1.6).
Austria: New funding guidelines have been launched to support investments by family-run and owner-managed tourism SMEs to strengthen sustainability and financial resilience. The scheme includes subsidised loans and guarantees, as well as a 7% sustainability bonus for investment costs up to a maximum of EUR 350 000. Eligible costs can be related to ecological, staff, regional, and digitalisation investments.
Germany: The LIFT Transformation funding is aimed at activating tourism SMEs and destinations to deal with relevant issues for the future of tourism, in line with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The aim is to develop future-proof, applicable solutions on how tourism can be made sustainable and contribute to sustainable development. In addition, the recently established Centre of Excellence for the Green Transition of Tourism aims to support the tourism sector on its way to climate neutrality and sustainable transformation by communicating knowledge on climate-friendly and resource-saving innovations.
Balancing tourism flows with support of sustainable transport and infrastructure
The shift in focus towards more sustainable tourism development has led to a greater awareness of the role of tourism flows in destinations. Diversifying tourism to better manage the movement of visitors, both spatially and temporally, provides opportunities to strengthen destinations, build resilience to future shocks, while optimising the economic benefits and balancing the environmental and social impacts.
Efforts to sustainably disperse visitors and better spread the benefits of tourism both within and across destinations are becoming more common and are increasingly part of the strategic agenda for tourism, as is the integration of tourism into wider national and regional development agendas.
Portugal’s Tourism Agenda for the Inland Territory, for example, aims to boost the tourism sector in inland Portugal to act as a catalyst for the cohesion and economic development of low-density territories. Launched in 2023, this Agenda consists of initiatives and measures aimed at connecting territories, enhancing resources, and investing in companies and the tourism offer, with a budget of around EUR 200 million.
In the United States, the Recreation Economy for Rural Communities programme has supported 25 small and rural communities in 17 states to develop strategies to increase outdoor recreation economies, help establish vibrant town centres, conserve natural resources and attract more visitors to rural areas, a key objective of the National Travel and Tourism Strategy.
Many initiatives focus on shifting tourists beyond well-established destinations to less visited or populated areas. In Korea, for example, the Digital Tourism Card initiative aims to attract Korean residents to regions facing population decline, encourage longer stays in regional areas, and foster economic growth by providing discounts on accommodation, meals, experiences, and other tourism services.
Japan’s Tourism Nation Promotion Basic Plan 2023-25 focuses on attracting longer-staying and higher-spending visitors and fostering regional revitalisation by developing more offerings for high-end travellers, and funding events, tourist accommodation and facilities beyond the main tourist destinations. In 2023, 11 Model Tourist Destinations for creating Luxury Inbound Tourist Destinations were designated in regional areas with the aim of encouraging international tourists to explore Japan beyond its main cities and to attract travellers to rural areas where tourists can experience nature, history and unique culture.
The development of a more diverse tourism offer requires investments in tourism and community infrastructure to support increased visitation. Successfully encouraging tourists to visit new destinations can have significant economic and social benefits for local communities, if supported by adequate planning and resources. Hungary reintroduced the Tourism Development Contribution in 2023 to collect revenue from catering and commercial accommodation with the aim of financing new infrastructure projects to support tourism. In Iceland, the Tourist Site Protection Fund and the Icelandic Route Development Fund are both essential to support destination development and distribute tourists more evenly throughout the country. This approach aims to ease the strain on popular tourist destinations, while benefitting the sector and local communities.
The focus on balancing tourism flows has brought a renewed emphasis on the concept of carrying capacity in destinations. While the there is no clear approach or methodology for determining the carrying capacity of tourism destinations, the sector can learn from the extensive work and experience on managing visitor flows in protected areas. Improved access to data and communication with local communities can also help better understand destination capacities, balance trade-offs, and determine critical thresholds, which may differ for visitors and residents. Countries are now working with attractions, destinations, and local governments to better identify the critical thresholds for tourism.
France launched the National Strategy for Managing Tourist Flows in 2023, which includes the creation of a national Observatory for major tourist sites. The Observatory will measure the perceptions of tourist flows among locals and raise awareness about the positive and negative impacts of tourism, targeting tourists, locals and travel influencers. In Austria, the Find the Right Balance Guide supports regional decision makers to deal with imbalances in tourism and is supported by a funding call to develop tailor-made solutions to address the challenges of impacted regions.
Connecting destinations in a sustainable and accessible way is key to dispersing the benefits of tourism. The nature of tourism makes transport an integral part of the sector and creating easy-to-use and environmentally friendly transport options are typically high on the tourism policy agenda. Transport in tourism is often synonymous with aviation, which is a significant and growing contributor to global greenhouse gas emissions. The decarbonisation of air travel is therefore a priority if tourism is to have a viable and sustainable future.
At the national level, countries are working to advance sustainable aviation agendas. Australia and the United Kingdom have each convened Jet-zero councils to address sustainable aviation issues, particularly related to SAF. Air New Zealand, which is 51% owned by the Government is taking a multifaceted approach to deliver on carbon neutral by 2050 commitments, including investing in SAF, new aircraft technology and the renewal of the existing fleet, and reducing emission in ground operations.
At international level, the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) Air Transport Action Group has set the ambitious target of achieving net-zero carbon emissions by 2050, however significant progress is needed to achieve this goal. The International Transport Forum (ITF) at the OECD is actively supporting this agenda, including by convening a common interest group bringing together government, private sector and other stakeholders to explore opportunities to advance policies to decarbonise aviation. One area of focus is the opportunity presented by increased use of sustainable aviation fuels (SAF). As part of this work the ITF is exploring the consequences of decarbonising aviation on travel patterns and tourism.
While the aviation sector plays an important role in the tourism sector, particularly for remote and island destinations, ground transport to and around destinations remains essential for most tourists. Reflecting this, Italy’s Sustainable Tourism Fund identifies intermodal routes that leverage the use of electric means of transport with aims to mitigate overcrowding, create innovative itineraries and de-seasonalise destinations. The Fund also provides support to accommodation facilities and tourism businesses to obtain sustainability certifications, with funding of EUR 10 million available in 2024 and in 2025. Australia meanwhile is leveraging the National Electric Vehicle Strategy to give tourists more sustainable transport options, recognising the lack of a comprehensive rail system outside of capital cities.
Morocco's high-speed train has significantly impacted the tourism sector by reducing travel time between Tangier and Casablanca, making it more convenient for domestic and international tourists to travel within the country. This improvement in infrastructure, which transported over 5 million passengers in 2023, also made lesser-known cities more accessible, helping to distribute tourism benefits more broadly across the region. In 2023, the national government committed to extending the high-speed train system to other tourist destinations, such as Marrakech and Agadir.
The Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme (THE PEP) is an initiative launched by the World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE). It aims to integrate environmental and health considerations into transport, mobility and urban planning to improve the quality of life for people across Europe. At the 5th THE PEP High-Level Meeting in Vienna in 2021, Ministers decided to launch a new THE PEP Partnership on Sustainable Tourism Mobility, supported by the Secretariats of UNECE and WHO. THE PEP Partnership on Sustainable Tourism Mobility, led by Austria, aims at bringing together the relevant national stakeholders responsible for mobility, climate action and tourism in a European platform in order to further promote sustainable tourism development in the pan-European region. The aim of the partnership is to raise awareness of sustainable multimodal mobility in tourism, strengthen co-operation between stakeholders and improve the institutional capacity of relevant organisations. The members of this European partnership work together on a document addressed to the national level including recommended actions and best practice examples in the following areas: foster institutional capacity, integrate sustainable tourism mobility in national strategies, understand mobility requirements of different user groups, mobility management at destinations, long-distance travel options, flexible transport systems, cycling and walking as part of the tourism experience, multimodal travel information as well as integration of sustainable mobility services into tourism packages, marketing and communication.
Sustainable mobility is becoming increasingly important as countries look to balance the need to provide adequate and diverse transport options to get to and around tourist destinations, with the need to decarbonise tourism activities themselves. Building the necessary infrastructure, reducing congestion through public transport, optimising routes and developing green transport options, like electric buses and vehicles, but also self-powered or soft mobility options such as bike-sharing programmes, and pedestrian-friendly pathways are important measures that improve the visitor experience and directly benefit local communities. In this context, the ministries responsible for climate, transport and tourism in Austria launched a pan-European partnership for sustainable tourism mobility in the framework of the Transport, Health and Environment Pan-European Programme (THE PEP) in 2021 which promotes sustainable and multimodal means of tourism mobility including public transport, active mobility (cycling, walking) and flexible transport systems (Box 1.7).
At destination level, countries are looking to promote carbon-free or low carbon transport. Luxembourg, for example, has introduced Velosummer to promote active tourism, restricting motorised transport on certain roads in August. In 2023, the initiative included 12 routes covering over 500 km, attracting almost 25 000 cyclists, and it not only reduced emissions from motorised vehicles but also encouraged greater dispersion of tourists in Luxembourg. In Italy, the Urban Trekking project in Grosseto is a regional venture to promote slow tourism, local art and history and aims to establish a network of walking and cycle paths connecting the entire province, inspiring green mobility and responsible exploration. Grosseto was awarded the 2024 European Green Pioneer of Smart Tourism.
Optimising the socio-economic value of tourism for local communities
Tourism has a key role to play to foster economic development that creates decent jobs, enhances well-being and social cohesion, and contributes to the shared interests of tourists, residents, and businesses. It also provides opportunities for SMEs to integrate into global tourism value chains. Tourism, when well-managed, can be a key driver of inclusive community development contributing to resiliency, inclusivity, and empowerment, while safeguarding natural and cultural resources (OECD, 2021[13]). However, existing models of tourism development often mean the impacts of tourism are unbalanced, with some destinations receiving visitor volumes that can place considerable strain on local communities while others seek more visitor spending to support their local economy.
Optimising the socio-economic value of tourism requires better planning, improved understanding and management of the trade-offs involved, and engagement with the local community to create a more inclusive sector where the benefits (and costs) are more widely shared. One area of increased focus is on measuring tourism acceptance, local sentiment, and the social aspect of tourism. Countries like Austria, Costa Rica, France, and New Zealand have implemented new survey approaches to measure social acceptance and the well-being of residents. This is explored in more depth in Chapter 3.
Accessibility and inclusion have become key areas of focus with countries looking to promote the potential tourism provides for inclusive growth, for tourists, the workforce, and communities (Box 1.8). This can be stimulated by enhancing accessibility for people with disabilities, providing access for vulnerable income groups, ensuring fair representation and opportunities for minority groups, and advancing gender equality in tourism-related employment and leadership.
Australia’s WELCOME Framework encourages tourism businesses to view accessibility and inclusivity as a universal approach to business. Developed in 2024, the Framework brings together important aspects for tourism operators to consider in making their products and services more accessible. It guides operators to understand the needs of, and promote their business to, the accessible tourism community.
Creating liveable destinations and ensuring that the local population benefits from tourism has become a policy focus for many destinations. The impact of tourism on local communities is increasingly being integrated into national tourism strategies. In 2023, Peru implemented the Community Tourism Strategy which is accompanied by the Law for Promotion and Development of Community Tourism. Through the Strategy and Law, Peru aims to generate socio-economic dynamism and improve the quality of life of local populations through tourism.
The Slovak Republic is finalising the National Sustainable Tourism Strategy for 2035, which aims to increase the competitiveness of tourism, better use its potential, balance regional disparities, and create new jobs. A key pillar under this Strategy is to create durable destinations which can provide quality stays for visitors and quality of life for residents.
Greece: Accessible tourism is a key component of the National Strategy 2024-30. In this frame, Greece introduced the Accessible Tourism Destination and Accessible Tourism Enterprise quality labels, aiming to promote accessible tourism in Greece through the implementation of accessibility standards in tourism installations and destinations.
Italy: The Tourist Accessibility Fund was launched to promote social inclusion and diversification of the tourist offer. Additional funds are available specifically targeted to small municipalities with a tourist vocation, to encourage innovations in accessibility. These funds support the international reputation of Italy as a safe and inclusive destination, through the proposition of a diversified, inclusive, resilient, and safe offer.
Japan: A survey was undertaken to assess the prevalence of accessible tourism, identify its challenges, and evaluate market size, with the objective of promoting inclusive travel accessible to all individuals, including older people and those with a disability. Addressing the travel needs of these groups, for whom there is substantial potential demand, is crucial for stimulating travel activity and revitalising the economy with a forward-looking perspective.
United Kingdom: Actions are focused on building on existing best practice and toolkits on accessibility and inclusion, such as the National Accessible Scheme, and examining the access limitations of tourism services, based on different needs. These have been undertaken with consultation through the Tourism Industry Council Working Group on Inclusivity and Accessibility, the Disability and Accessibility Ambassador, England’s Inclusive Tourism Action Group, and other stakeholders.
United States: Accessibility, diversity and inclusion is a pillar of the US National Travel and Tourism Strategy. For its implementation, the Federal Government has engaged with the Travel and Tourism Advisory Board, by installing a Private Sector Advisory Body to the Secretary of Commerce who provide recommendations on Accessibility, Sustainability, Infrastructure, and promoting diverse tourism products.
Participatory approaches which involve local communities in tourism planning and development decisions can support more balanced outcomes for residents, and in turn lead to greater acceptance of tourism. In Mexico, the Kuxatur programme aims to create sustainable tourism development zones, and integrate local communities into tourism policy development, with a focus on capacity building, so that residents can implement actions to achieve sustainable tourism targets.
Tourism can also be a catalyst for regional development, especially in rural and remote areas, and thereby increase well-being and liveability. In Korea, the Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism has launched an initiative to address rural and population decline in some parts of the country. Tourism plays a pivotal role to help regions realise their potential and under this initiative projects have started to stimulate digital nomadism and workcations in these areas.
Housing affordability is a well-documented issue for tourism destinations, at a time when real house purchase and rental prices have risen faster than inflation and incomes in recent decades and have disproportionately affected poorer and younger households (OECD, 2022[14]). The rise of online accommodation booking platforms and short-term rentals, second home tourism and unplanned tourism growth in some destinations have also contributed to greater housing demand, sometimes resulting in situations with residents and seasonal workers are unable to secure affordable housing. In 2024, the Council of the European Union adopted a new regulation on data collection and sharing for short-term accommodation rental services. These new obligations are not intended to regulate access to the market on these activities, but to increase transparency and support local authorities in Europe to develop and enforce policies for vacation rentals, while keeping housing accessible for residents (Box 1.9).
In March 2024, the Council of the EU adopted a regulation on data collection and sharing for short-term accommodation rental services. It aims to help authorities produce reliable statistics and take well-informed regulatory measures to address key issues like housing affordability. The new rules introduce harmonised registration requirements for hosts and short-term rental properties, including the granting of a unique registration number to be displayed on property websites and online platforms. Local authorities and short-term rental platforms have 24 months to comply with the regulation.
Hosts need to submit simple information to obtain this registration number, which will be required to provide short-term accommodation rental services. Online platforms will be required to regularly provide information on the rental activities of their hosts (for example, number of nights sold, number of guests, address, registration number) to a single digital entry point in relevant member states.
This regulation is not intended to regulate access to the market, but rather increase transparency on these activities. Online platforms will need to ensure host information is reliable and complete, and that the registration number is clearly visible on each listing. They will also be required to conduct random information checks on hosts. Local authorities will be able to suspend registration numbers, request platforms to delete illegal listings, and sanction non-compliant platforms or hosts.
Supporting tourism SMEs to innovate with rapid technological change
Digital technologies are reshaping processes in tourism and represent a powerful catalyst for innovation in the sector. New technologies, including generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), extended reality (XR) and blockchain, are changing the way people plan and experience travel, and present opportunities to not only reach new consumers with novel tourism products and services, but also improve business operations and performance, and accelerate the transition to greener, more sustainable business models.
Despite potential benefits, SMEs lag behind larger firms in their adoption of digital technologies, and digital adoption by SMEs is to a large extent still confined to basic services, including in the tourism sector (OECD, 2021[15]). Addressing these adoption gaps, as technologies become more sophisticated, is important to a widening of the digital divide between SMEs and large, technology-driven businesses. Small tourism businesses require support to overcome key barriers to digital uptake, including a lack of digital skills, hardware costs, infrastructure gaps or adequate privacy protection (OECD, 2024[16]).
National policies can play a pivotal role in shaping the digital landscape for tourism and ensuring tourism businesses can implement new technological solutions to improve internal operations and innovate tourism services. Digital tourism strategies and plans are now being developed by countries, either dedicated to tourism, or as part of wider national digitalisation strategies and plans. These initiatives often include a tourism data space, and strategies to improve the tourist experience and digitise business models.
In Slovenia, the Digital Transformation of Slovenian Tourism 2022-‑26 plan aims to boost tourism competitiveness, sustainability and worker skills, through the implementation of a National Market Intelligence Hub and introduction of smart business solutions or competence vouchers. The Spain Digital 2026 Strategy includes an initiative building on a modular platform to implement the Digital Transformation Plan for Tourist Destinations. This is complemented by the development of new tools for the Network of Smart Tourist Destinations, and a Tourism Intelligence System to integrate sources of tourism information and provide analytical services.
Tourism-specific strategies and economy-wide plans can set the strategic direction for the sector, but these need to be complemented by targeted programmes and initiatives to support SMEs through digital transformation. This includes providing support to access finance and capacity building and improving the awareness of available tools, as well as opportunities to use the data generated by tools to better tailor product and marketing strategies for tourists.
The awareness of the transformative role that AI and other technologies may have on the tourism sector is still developing. The implications of AI for tourism and tourism policymaking is a key area of focus for the G7 Tourism Working Group, under Italy’s 2024 G7 Presidency. Policymakers face the challenge of keeping pace with the rapid rate of change, and to support tourism businesses to overcome barriers to the use and uptake of AI, while managing the new risks and challenges it brings for all businesses.
Countries are starting to support research and development for AI in tourism. In 2022, Spain implemented initiatives to promote AI in tourism businesses (EUR 45 million) and to foster digital development of tourism destinations (EUR 115 million) over a three-year period. As part of this funding, Spain has developed a Digitisation and Intelligence Programme for destinations and tourism businesses to develop smart destination platforms. This aims to make interoperable public and private services available to tourists.
France has encouraged tourism companies to integrate digital technology into the tourism value chain by supporting travel tech startups based on technological building blocks, including for example AI, blockchain, Internet of Things and 5G. The programme aims to support innovative start-ups and promote further innovation in the tourism sector. France has also commissioned a study on the impact and implications of AI for tourism. Korea also provides digital transformation programmes to tourism businesses including through the introduction of Innovation Vouchers for tourism SMEs (Box 1.10).
To enhance the competitiveness of Korean tourism in a rapidly changing digital world, the Korean Government assists tourism businesses to embrace digital innovation. The comprehensive digital transformation programme supports tourism businesses through different stages of their lifecycle. This includes the establishment of digital infrastructure, skills enhancement for companies and workers and access to financial aid for tourism SMEs and start-ups.
Innovation Vouchers plays a key role in accelerating the digital transformation of the tourism sector. In 2024, over 150 SMEs received a voucher for digital services. Beneficiaries of the programme can access an online platform with 242 providers offering specific solutions for digitalisation, such as building a website, improving user experience, creating AI chatbots, online promotion using ads, etc.
In support of the programme, the Korea Tourism Data Lab website provides access to tourism statistics and private data, promoting granular analysis for customised tourism products and addressing issues like overcrowding.
As the digital transformation advances, there is a need to build the skills and capacity to adopt and use these technologies. Many countries have developed programmes that promote digital literacy, including through workshops, mentoring, assessment of digital maturity or concrete technical support. In Estonia, the Tourism Digital Mentoring Alongside Digitalisation Roadmap aims to increase digital literacy and uptake within tourism businesses through mentoring, which requires businesses to contribute 10% of the cost of the mentoring over a five-month period. In return, businesses receive training in digital resource management and a roadmap catered to their business needs to help achieve greater profitability and efficiency over a three-year period. Estonia also offers a support measure for tourism service providers that encourages the use of central digital solutions for resource management and makes interfaces between digital solutions in use.
In Ireland, the Digital that Delivers programme is designed to power digital transformation for visitor attractions, activity providers and day tours over a two-year period. The programme includes training and mentoring by leading digital experts and financial support, and helps businesses to become more promotable, searchable, and bookable online. The German Mittelstand-Digital Centre for Tourism provides practice-oriented knowledge on digital technologies, data systems and other digital solutions for SMEs along the entire tourism value chain. It connects businesses and digital solution providers and focuses on technology and future focused areas that are particularly relevant to the sector.
Centralised platforms can provide an entry-point for tourism businesses providing increased exposure, but also access to online tools to improve knowledge management, training and data visualisation. These initiatives often provide incentives for tourism SMEs to participate and actively use the online services but can also collect data for analysis and tailored policies. Italy has developed the Digital Tourism Hub to incentivise digital uptake. The Hub is an open and agile platform that facilitates content publication, destination promotion, and integration of public and private tourist offers. The platform helps tourists connect to the Italian tourism ecosystem better, increasing personalised experiences. The Hub has the potential, in the future, to provide the basis for strategic decision-making, informed by data processing and the incorporation of AI and machine learning.
Greece is developing My Digital Tourism, an online platform that aims to support businesses to create new products, streamline processes, and boost investment in the sector under the 2024 Action Plan. It aims to facilitate document submissions for licensing, manage tourist complaints, conduct business inspections, and gather statistical data on tourist accommodation, through a subsystem recording arrivals and departures. The platform is expected to be launched in early 2025 and benefit over 100 000 tourism businesses.
High-speed Internet access is crucial to leveraging social and economic opportunities of digitalisation, such as teleworking and new business processes and models. In 2022, on average in OECD countries people in metropolitan regions experience 40% faster Internet than those in regions far from metropolitan areas (OECD, 2022[17]). Implementing advanced technologies requires investment in the necessary digital infrastructure, particularly for tourism destinations, which are often outside of capital cities. In the United Kingdom, investments in digital connectivity across the country, such as full fibre and 5G, have helped to drive innovation in the visitor economy. This is because remaining globally competitive requires an innovative tourism sector to make full use of digital technology and data to enhance the visitor experience.
Strengthening data to guide and evaluate policy action for tourism
The rapid changes in the tourism sector have brought increased focus to the role of data in the policy-making process, and the types of data that are necessary to inform tourism decision making. As governments globally reshape their tourism strategies, and set shorter-term targets and metrics, the collection and dissemination of timely, granular, and comparable data is increasingly important to inform and evaluate tourism policy. This is particularly important to effectively navigate the dynamic and evolving landscape with often scarce resources.
The shift towards sustainable development in longer-term tourism strategies and plans has brought visibility to the lack of data beyond economic and financial measures. This requires new measures to implement and evaluate the effectiveness of efforts to shift towards more resilient, sustainable, and inclusive models of tourism. Internationally, efforts have focused on identifying potential measures, including through the recently endorsed Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (SF-MST), led by UN Tourism. International and country initiatives to improve the tourism evidence base for sustainable tourism policies is explored in depth in Chapter 3.
An enhanced focus has been placed on monitoring and evaluating the effectiveness of tourism policies, with the incorporation of more concrete targets, indicators and goals in new strategies and plans. However, the fragmented nature of the sector, the high number of SMEs and the lagging technical capability of tourism businesses render data collection on tourism more complex. The tourism recovery has also brought an increased awareness of the role of forecasts and nowcasts for more strategic policy setting. Portugal recently conducted a feasibility study to develop a new international tourist demand forecasting model to support better informed decisions on resource allocation, marketing, and tourism development, through more accurate demand forecasts.
As decision making increasingly shifts to the sub-national and local levels, aided by more collaborative and multilevel governance practices and the evolving role of DMOs, relevant data needs to be made available at more granular levels. In response, the Slovenian Tourist Board has implemented the National Information Centre for Tourism, a platform to collect and process local, national and international tourism data. While a collaborative approach has been adopted in Denmark, integrating multiple data sources into a national data hub, to facilitate more timely decision making for DMO’s and businesses (Box 1.11).
Slovenia: The National Tourism Information Centre aims to create a unique centralised data hub where local, national, and international tourism-relevant data will be collected and processed, to support data-driven decision-making. The focus of the Information Centre will be on acceleration of the green and digital transition and upgrading the Green Scheme of Slovenian tourism. The project covers two parallel phases:
Implementing a modern digital analytical tool for measuring the impacts of tourism on all leading Slovene tourism destinations, to foster the sector’s sustainable transition.
Measuring tourism flows and determining the carrying capacity of leading destinations and the geographical distribution of tourism development in a more sustainable way.
The prototype development phase was completed in 2023 and incorporated the analysis of data sources, preparation of functional specifications, and the implementation design and architectural scheme for the Information Centre., The implementation phase commenced in 2024. Due to the complexity of the project, experts on information technology, data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning, will participate in the implementation phase, which is expected to be completed by the end of 2025.
Denmark: A national data platform for tourism launched in 2023 aims to provide DMOs and partners with data and tools to support decision-making. By connecting various data sources and combining data, Danish tourism stakeholders can gain new insights into the behaviour of tourists and make better business decisions. The platform combines data from both public and commercials sources (e.g, Visa, telecom companies), providing DMOs with new data options, previously unavailable at this level, as well as data on the number of nights, attractions and visitor numbers. In the long run, this platform will enable DMOs to draw on the experiences of other destinations and compare local results with new relevant benchmarks. The platform also enables DMOs to store their data securely. By the end of 2023, all Danish DMOs were connected to the platform, with companies expected to connect by 2024.
The German National Tourist Board’s new Data Dashboard for Sustainable Travel Trends supports users with detailed information regarding inbound consumers sentiment towards sustainability, climate protection and interest in sustainable travel. It also provides data on perceptions of Germany as a destination, and current travel behaviour from a sustainability perspective, including the relevance of multi-destination trips, length of stay, tourism density, and CO2-equivalent emissions for transport.
The need to better monitor tourism policies and quantify results continues to prompt greater demand for alternative data sources. Traditional statistics adhere to internationally agreed methodologies and processes, ensuring cross-country comparability. However, these statistics are often released with a significant time lag and may lack detailed granularity. Conversely, alternative data sources, such as transaction and mobile positioning data, although not adhering to these same rigorous statistical standards, offer more timely and detailed insights into tourism flows and expenditure. This enables policymakers to respond more swiftly to emerging trends and developments, particularly when used to complement official statistics.
Digitalisation has opened new opportunities to obtain more granular, timely data. However, this requires policymakers to clearly communicate their data needs, and in return, data users and data makers need to clearly communicate data and insights to policymakers. This includes promoting automation to improve efficiency and reduce costs, which will require political buy-in through the allocation of resources to build and run the systems. Sweden is leading a Nordic collaboration project to integrate transaction data into the compilation of national Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA). This method should provide more precise estimation and granularity of tourism data and allows for a shorter delivery time at a lower cost. The project, launched in 2022, is funded until the end of 2024, with hopes to secure further Nordic funding until 2025 so that the new TSA model can be fully operational in Nordic countries by 2026.
While new data sources provide new opportunities, data demand should not focus on increasing the overall volume of data collected but instead on collecting the right data, at the right time, and getting this information to decision-makers in a timely manner and in a format that is easy to understand.
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← 1. Australia, Belgium, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Türkiye, United Kingdom.