Study of Trends and Best Practices
2026, July 16th
Multilateralism, Humanitarian Action, Solidarity and Development Cooperation: How to Change the World With and Through Tourism
This report analyses how tourism can be both a sector to be transformed and a global infrastructure to be mobilized in support of multilateralism, humanitarian action, solidarity, science, the environment and development cooperation. It does not advocate creating “humanitarian tourism” or “multilateral tourism”: it explains how each organization can, on the one hand, address tourism-related issues falling within its mandate and, on the other hand, use the jobs, procurement, infrastructure, data, markets and revenue generated by tourism to fulfil its missions more effectively.
Tourism does not concern travel stakeholders alone: it constitutes a global infrastructure that moves people, capital, skills, data, narratives and economic opportunities into the very territories where NGOs, United Nations agencies, companies and funders operate.
An organization active in health, education, employment, human rights, biodiversity, water, climate, refugee reception, peace or local development can therefore use tourism as a distribution market, a source of recurring revenue, a mobilization and training tool, a data-collection infrastructure, a lever for job creation or a means of sustainably financing its operations.
The aim is not to turn every organization into a tourism operator, but to intelligently integrate tourism flows, skills and economic models into its own missions, or to help the tourism sector become a partner in fulfilling them.
This study shows how to move beyond travel as a product to be consumed toward governed, measurable and financeable mechanisms, in the form of income-generating activities, capable of producing knowledge, strengthening communities, restoring ecosystems and addressing both immediate emergencies and their root causes.
Part 1 — Executive Summary, Methodology, Strategic Diagnosis and Trends
- Framing assumptions
- Executive summary
- Methodology
- Table 1 — Sources analysed
- Detailed analysis of the approaches studied
- Cross-cutting synthesis
- Strategic overview of the subject
- Table 2 — Identified trends
- Initial analysis of ongoing transformations
- Table 6 — Priority recommendations, initial version
Part 2 — Technical, Economic and Regulatory Dimensions
- 1. The overall architecture: two entry points, one shared infrastructure
- 2. The seven layers of a complete system
- 3. Mapping the value chain before designing a solution
- 4. Defining roles without confusing them
- 5. Technical and digital architecture
- 6. Artificial intelligence and automation
- 7. Cybersecurity and business continuity
- 8. Data, indicators and impact measurement
- 9. Operational process: eight decision gates
- 10. Participant journey
- 11. Local partner journey
- 12. Safety, duty of care and the do-no-harm principle
- 13. Legal and regulatory framework
- 14. Standards, frameworks and certifications
- 15. Economic models
- 16. Building prices and margins
- 17. Layered financing
- 18. Investment readiness
- 19. Governance and legal vehicles
- 20. Essential contracts
- 21. Scaling up
- 22. Limits to scaling up
- 23. Poor practices and mistakes to avoid
- Table 3 — Best practices
- 24. Twelve-month operational action plan
- 25. Validation questions before any launch
- Conclusion of Part 2
Part 3 — Humanities and Social Sciences, Stakeholders and Audiences
- 1. Tourism as a total social fact
- 2. Psychology of travel and human motivations
- 3. Cognitive biases and behavioural economics
- 4. Sociology of uses and inequalities
- 5. Power relations and governance
- 6. Anthropology of travel, encounters and authenticity
- 7. Intercultural communication
- 8. Political science, multilateralism and diplomacy
- 9. Humanitarian action, vulnerability and resilience
- 10. Education sciences and experiential learning
- 11. Service design and user experience
- 12. Ethics, dignity and consent
- 13. Communication, semiotics and narratives
- 14. Stakeholder analysis
- 15. Audience analysis and personas
- 16. Adoption pathways for organizations
- 17. Common objections and responses
- 18. Main controversies
- 19. Human and social indicators
- 20. Best practices in the humanities and social sciences
- 21. Table — Best practices in the humanities and social sciences
- 22. Ten-step social co-design method
- 23. User and stakeholder research plan
- 24. Communication governance
- 25. Human conditions for scaling up
- 26. Priority recommendations from Part 3
- 27. Social validation questions before any launch
- Conclusion of Part 3
Part 4 — International Benchmark, Risks, Foresight and Roadmap
- 1. Benchmarking method
- 2. Detailed international benchmark
- 3. Table 4 — Inspiring cases and transferable mechanisms
- 4. Cross-cutting lessons from the benchmark
- 5. Overall risk mapping
- 6. Table 5 — Risk register
- 7. Non-negotiable red lines
- 8. Risk governance
- 9. Foresight: forces of transformation toward 2035
- 10. Three foresight scenarios
- 11. Signals to monitor
- 12. Roadmap for 6–12 months
- 13. Roadmap for 2–3 years
- 14. Roadmap for 5–10 years
- 15. Strategy for the 2027 International Year
- 16. Recommended portfolio architecture
- 17. Common evaluation system
- 18. Table 6 — Consolidated final recommendations
- 19. Priority decisions for the different stakeholders
- 20. Consolidated indicative bibliography
- General conclusion of Part 4
Conclusion — Changing the World With and Through Tourism
- 1. Tourism is not separate from the world’s major challenges
- 2. The aim is not to turn missions into tourism products
- 3. The decisive issue is not travel, but the architecture surrounding it
- 4. The strongest initiatives transform rights, flows and incentives
- 5. Communities must become rights holders, not merely beneficiaries
- 6. Vulnerability must never become an attraction
- 7. The participant experience must not become the primary measure of success
- 8. Engagement must be desirable without becoming manipulative
- 9. Tourism can produce knowledge, provided that it begins with a genuine scientific need
- 10. Income-generating activities are a central lever, but not a guarantee of impact
- 11. Financing must reflect the nature of the expected results
- 12. Dependence on tourism remains a major risk
- 13. Technology can pool capacities, but it can also centralize power
- 14. Evidence must replace promises alone
- 15. Growth is not always the right form of scaling up
- 16. The decisive role of multilateralism
- 17. The 2027 window must be used to build, not merely to make declarations
- 18. The recommended architecture
- 19. The ten conditions for a legitimate contribution
- 20. What each stakeholder can do now
- 21. Final conclusion
In this sectoral report:
- 4 main parts, supplemented by a general conclusion;
- 23 major, emerging, weak or contestable trends;
- 5 levels of transformation, ranging from the do-no-harm principle to the transformation of systems;
- 7 building blocks for constructing a complete project architecture;
- 8 decision gates between identifying the need and deployment;
- 20 international cases analysed;
- 35 social, economic, humanitarian, environmental, legal or technological risks;
- 3 foresight scenarios;
- 3 implementation horizons: 6 to 12 months, 2 to 3 years and 5 to 10 years;
- 30 final recommendations;
- 10 conditions defining a legitimate contribution through tourism.
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Part 1 — Executive Summary, Methodology, Strategic Diagnosis and Trends
Framing Assumptions
The study adopts the following assumptions:
- Global scope, with particular attention paid to the multilateral system, International Geneva, Europe, French-speaking countries and territories where tourism flows can support or undermine local development.
- Priority audiences: international organizations, United Nations agencies, NGOs, foundations, donors, impact investors, public authorities, companies, destinations, universities, field operators and local communities.
- Use of the deliverable: strategy, project design, fundraising, consortium building, development of income-generating activities, advocacy and scaling up.
- Broad definition of tourism: leisure travel, educational and scientific travel, business tourism, academic mobility, events, professional visits, thematic stays and experiences involving temporary accommodation away from one’s usual place of residence.
- Guiding principle: distinguish between two complementary approaches:
- addressing tourism, meaning dealing with the social, humanitarian, economic, ecological, health, political or cultural issues that it creates, amplifies or reveals;
- putting tourism at the service of a mission, by using its flows, infrastructure, skills, revenue, markets and mobilization capacities to contribute to its fulfilment.
- Precautionary principle: the fact that an activity uses tourism to support a cause is not sufficient to make it useful, responsible or legitimate. Every initiative must demonstrate its genuine usefulness, safety, additionality, governance and the equitable distribution of the value created.
Executive Summary
1. Tourism Must Be Considered a Global Infrastructure, Not Merely an Industry
Tourism simultaneously organizes flows of people, money, data, images, skills, produc
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