Andalucia Lab will host from 19 to 20 September 2023 the fourth meeting of the Expert Group on Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism. The Expert Group on MST is a multidisciplinary and multistakeholder group created by UNWTO, in partnership with leading countries, the International Labour Organization and the United Nations Statistics Division to guide the development of a Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism.
Andalucía is working actively in this field through two main initiatives: Smart.data and the Tourism of Tomorrow Lab.
Please notice that this is a private event organized by the UNWTO, for more information visit: UNWTO
Provisional Programme (as of 08/08/2023)
Tuesday 19 September
09:00 – 09:30 Registration
09:30 – 10:00 1. Official Opening
- Ms. Zoritsa Urosevic, Executive Director, UNWTO
- Ms. Elena Manzanera, President, National Statistics Institute, Spain
- Representative from Andalucía (tbc)
- Mr. Peter Laimer, Chair of the Expert Group on MST and co-Chair of the UNWTO Committee on Statistics, Statistics Austria.
10:00 – 10:30 2. Setting the scene
2.1 MST: progress and objectives
Ms. Clara van der Pol, Director a.i., Statistics Department, UNWTO
2.2 Briefing on the MST Editorial Board
Mr. Michel Dubreuil, Destination Canada
10:30 – 11:00 3. SF-MST Introduction and key features (chapters 1 and 2)
3.1 Main updates on chapters 1 and 2, Mr. Michel Dubreuil, Destination Canada
3.2 The delineation of sub-national spatial areas (Chapter 2), Mr. Raul Hernandez, La Laguna University,
Spain, and lead author of the MST research group on sub-national measurement
Documents: Chapter 1, Chapter 2, Expert Group consultation: summary of comments
11:00 – 11:30 Group photo + coffee break
11:30 – 13:30 4. Measuring economic sustainability (chapter 3)
4.1 Main updates on chapter 3, Ms Leandry Moreno, Officer, Statistics Department, UNWTO
4.2 Brief from the Research Team on Tourism Occupations, Mr. Manpreet Singh, Australian Bureau of
Statistics and lead author of the MST Research group on tourism occupations
Group discussion
Documents: Chapter 3; Expert Group consultation: summary of comments, Paper on tourism occupations
13:30 – 15:00 Lunch
15:00 – 16:00 5. Measuring environmental sustainability (chapter 4)
5.1 Main updates on chapter 4, Mr. Arturo de la Fuente, Eurostat
5.2 Attribution of environmental flows to tourism, Mr. Calvin Jones, Cardiff Business School and lead author of the MST research group on environmental flows
5.3 UNCEEA review including accounting for ecosystems services, Mr. Julian Chow, Statistician, UNSD
5.4 Nature and sustainable tourism for the Kunming-Montreal biodiversity framework, advances in the
Mexican agenda, Raúl Figueroa Diaz, Director of Satellite Accounts, INEGI, Mexico
Group discussion
Documents: Chapter 4, Expert Group consultation: summary of comments
16:00 – 16:30 Coffee break
16:30 – 18:00 6. Measuring social sustainability (Chapter 5)
6.1 Rationale on the new structure of the chapter, Mr. Nico Heerschap, former Statistics Netherlands and lead author of the MST Research group on the social dimension
6.2 Insights from a statistical perspective, Ms. Apolonija Oblak Flander, National Statistical Office, Slovenia (tbc)
6.3 Measuring visitor perceptions and the link to sustainability, Mr. Julio López Astor, Turespaña
6.4 Addressing decent work in tourism, Ms Valentina Stoevska, Senior Statistician, ILO (tbc)
Group discussion
Documents: Chapter 5, Expert Group consultation: summary of comments
20:30 – 22:30 Welcome dinner
Wednesday 20 September
10:00– 11:15 7. Towards a core set of MST indicators
7.1 Initial set of core indicators based on SF-MST and process, Mr. Carl Obst, UNWTO Expert and Ms.
Leandry Moreno, Officer, Statistics, UNWTO
7.2 Developing a coherent system of indicators at regional level, Ms. Ana Moniche, European Projects
and International Networks, Junta de Andalucía
Group discussion
Document: paper on SF-MST indicators
11:15 – 11:45 Coffee break
11:45 – 12:45 8. A harmonized ESG framework for tourism businesses
8.1 Progress and next steps, Ms. Clara van der Pol, Director a.i, Statistics Department, UNWTO
8.2 Findings from the companies’ pilots, Ms. Laura Ballerini and Ms. Amy Booth, Oxford University SDG
Impact Lab
8.3 Insights from leading companies
Group discussion
12:45– 13:15 9. Way forward
9.1 Summary of the meeting, next steps and research agenda, Mr. Peter Laimer, Chair of the Expert Group on MST and Statistics Austria
9.2 Advocacy strategy for MST approval by the UN Statistical Commission, Ms. Clara van der Pol, Director a.i., Statistics Department, UNWTO
Group discussion
13:15 – 13:30 10. Closing
- Mr. Peter Laimer, Chair of the Expert Group on MST and Statistics Austria
- Ms. Zoritsa Urosevic, Executive Director, UNWTO
13:30 – 15:00 Lunch
13:30 – 15:00 Meeting of the MST Editorial Board (members only)
17:00 – 20:00 Technical tour (time tbc)
