Resource Center

Tourism can act as a powerful tool for poverty alleviation, sustainable economic development, community empowerment and environmental conservation. Nonetheless, tourism also poses several challenges to destinations across the world. The Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) co-developed this online course, supported by Expedia Group, to help build the capacity of tourism and hospitality businesses towards plastic waste reduction and community empowerment. The course guides readers through the steps for minimising the sourcing and consumption of single-use plastics as well as the importance of businesses to sign the UNESCO Sustainable Travel Pledge. The self-paced course is available open-sourced in two languages, English and Thai, and covers both the necessary process to implement a plastic waste reduction strategy and concrete measures needed to reduce single-use plastics in tourism businesses. Moreover, it sheds light on the UNESCO Sustainable Travel Pledge and covers tips on how local knowledge and products can help fight plastic waste. By the end of the course, participants will be able to implement the necessary process for single-use plastics reduction, to develop an action plan for plastic waste reduction for their business' context, and to identify what types of products and materials can be locally sourced to replace single-use plastics.