ICTP takes SUN Program to WTTC Summit

ICTP USE THIS ONE - Copy_4
ICTP USE THIS ONE - Copy_4
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Written by Linda Hohnholz

The President of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP), Geoffrey Lipman, is attending the WTTC (World Travel & Tourism) Summit in Madrid with two messages.

The President of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP), Geoffrey Lipman, is attending the WTTC (World Travel & Tourism) Summit in Madrid with two messages.

The first is that itโ€™s time to start putting an impact number against all the coordinated growth numbers… in fact, it should become a must for so-called responsible or sustainable tourism advocates. And a new mantra – โ€œGrowth & Impact Togetherโ€. This will mean assessment of waste, water, energy, carbon, and community services impacts at the same time as growth benefits are advanced.

The second is to promote the SUN program which is designed to put in place a community-focused, renewable energy (solar) powered, interactive, international green growth network, driven by prefabricated Sun Ark monitoring centers, connected by a cloud-based knowledge platform from Civic Resources Group International, and supported by experts from the Strong University Network to encourage local green growth transformation. There will also be tools for destination climate resilience mapping, certification from GreenGrowth 2050, and project investment from Gate Global Impact (linked to Microsoft 4Afrika and the Global Compacts action hubs).

Lipman said: “The first objective should have been done years ago with just a portion of the research funds spent by WTTC, UNWTO, IATA [International Air Transport Association] and others practicing aligned growth messaging. The second is a practical contribution to the green growth transformation needed in the coming years to respond above all to keeping global temperatures stable, handling a massive resource-consuming population growth, conserving biodiversity, and dealing with climate resilience to make travelism (the travel & tourism supply and value chains) responsive and a key element of community adaptation.”

Professor Lipman added, โ€œSUN is a multi-year open public/private partnership change program that is looking for interested supporters, sponsors, and partners.โ€ He invited interested parties to contact him, profiling particularly universities interested in joining the community-capacity building work of the Strong University Network.

Lipman is the former Executive Director at IATA, Assistant Secretary General of UNWTO, and President of WTTC for its first decade. He is now the President of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP).

About the author

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Linda Hohnholz

Editor in chief for eTurboNews based in the eTN HQ.

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