In partnership with the European Commission, UNIDO and the Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development and Technology brought together more than 60 senior participants from governments, institutions and enterprises as well as leading circular economy experts to discuss opportunities and challenges for the transition to a circular economy in tourism.
The conference emphasized the importance of applying the principles of circular economy to the tourism sector in South-East Europe, and the need to support policy dialogue and capacity-building, including by facilitating the development of pilot projects on circular economy as well as by fostering networking and establishing regional partnerships.
“The quality of the environment is essential to tourism,” said UNIDO Deputy to the Director General, Hiroshi Kuniyoshi, in his opening statement. “Conventional tourism can put enormous pressure on the environment, and circular economy activities have the potential to address a significant number of challenges,” he added.
“More than 180,000 direct jobs can be created in the EU by 2030,” said State Secretary of the Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development and Technology, Aleš Cantarutti. “In addition, over 400,000 jobs that will be created by the implementation of the existing waste legislation. Circular tourism is therefore a major opportunity for our countries.”
The future developments were also discussed by other high-level government representatives, including State Secretary Eva Štravs Podlogar of the Slovenian Ministry of Economic Development and Technology; Deputy Minister Renata Pindzo of the Serbian Ministry of Trade, Tourism and Telecommunications; Secretary General Adrian Kamenica of the Albanian Ministry of Tourism and Environment; Secretary of State Damir Davidović of the Montenegrin Ministry of Sustainable Development and Tourism, Montenegro; and State Counsellor Shovket Hazari of the Ministry of Economy, FYR of Macedonia.
Discussions also covered supply chain management, business models, circular practices in tourism as a contributor to sustainable cities, sustainable waste management, and challenges and opportunities for circular economy in tourism. The Conference concluded on a broad recognition of the benefits of circular economy, and the strong intention to explore and identify areas for collaboration on circular economy in different sectors to substantially achieve inclusive and sustainable industrial development in South-East Europe.