Individual tour operators often have limited direct influence on human rights impacts or violations. Sector collaboration is an effective way to increase operators’ power to work against human rights violations. Many human rights risks appear somewhere in a tour operator’s value chain (see value chain risk analysis) and often especially small operators have limited direct influence on the potential human rights impacts of the industry. However, as those risks do appear in connection to their business operations, tour operators still have a responsibility to act and use their influence (leverage) to prevent or mitigate such negative impacts. In such cases, sector collaboration is an impactful way to raise awareness on human rights issues to find ways of addressing them jointly and therefore to increase leverage. In the context of sector collaboration, consider making joint public statements outlining the commitment to respect human rights and the expectations towards service providers in the industry, as well as tourism authorities and other key players who can positively influence the issue. In the tabs below, different forms of sector collaborations are explained. ⇒ Click here to identify your value chain-related human rights risks Multi-stakeholder initiativesBusiness associationsCross-sectoral collaborationLocal tourism planning initiativesPreviousNext PreviousMulti-stakeholder initiativesBusiness associationsCross-sectoral collaborationLocal tourism planning initiativesNext Multi-stakeholder initiativesVarious multi-stakeholder initiatives have brought together important players in the tourism industry in recent years. The initiatives all aim to address specific human rights-related issues in the sector by identifying opportunities for collaboration and joint action. Tour operators are encouraged to become members of initiatives that address issues identified in their human rights risk assessments (see value chain risk assessment on this website). Examples General human rights approach:Roundtable Human Rights in TourismChildren's rights: The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and TourismDiversity & Inclusion: Barrierefreie Schweiz (in German, French and Italian only)International Social Tourism Organisation (ISTO): Working Group on Accessible Tourism TravelAbility SummitTravel Unity Alliance Choice Hotels Owners African American Alliance: Choice Hotels Diversity Ownership InitiativeBlack Travel Alliance: Black Travel Scorecard Recommendations Become a member of the Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism and get engaged in concrete projects with an inspiring group of people.Business associationsMany business associations have put specific working groups in place to jointly work on issues related to responsible tourism. Some have already established human rights-specific programmes.Such activities can be found both in countries where tour operators are headquartered, as well as in the destinations. Tour operators are encouraged to join such working groups and be actively engaged on relevant human rights issues (see value chain risk assessment on this website). Examples National tourism industry assocations:ANVR (Netherlands)DRV (Germany) (in German only)ABTA (UK)SRV (Switzerland) (in German & French only)ÖRV (Austria) (in German only)International Tourism Partnership (ITP)Diversity & Inclusion:Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada (ITAC)International LGBTQ+ Travel Association (IGLTA)Travel Unity: Travel Industry Association DEI Working GroupTourism & Handicaps Association Resources British Travel Association ABTA: Advice on accessible travelIndigenous Tourism Association of Canada: 12 ways to better choose our words when we write about indigenous peoples (media style guide)WTTC: The Cancun Women's Initiative Declaration Supporting Women in Travel & Tourism (Global Declaration and Platform: Women's Equality and Leadership) Recommendations The listed tour operators’ associations are all members of the Roundtable Human Rights in Tourism – they welcome you to join their sustainability working groups.Cross-sectoral collaborationBesides many industry-specific collaborations, there are also cross-sectoral initiatives that aim to tackle overarching issues such as e.g. modern slavery. Examples General approach:UN Global CompactCSR EuropeMega-Sporting Events Platform for Human Rights (MSE Platform)Modern Slavery:The Shiva Foundation works across sectors to fight modern slavery. It has put in place a Hotel Industry Network "Stop Slavery" with the aim of mitigating the risk of Modern Slavery in the hotel industry.Diversity & Inclusion: CEO Action for Diversity & Inclusion™ Employers for Pay Equity:Pay Equity PrinciplesWomen's Empowerment Principles (WEPs) Resources Guidance, including sample SCoC by a cross-sectoral initiative: Shiva Foundation (2018): Framework for working with suppliers: Mitigating risk of modern slavery. Guidance concering Diversity & Inclusion: Open For Business (2020): Working Globally. Why LGBT+ Inclusion is Key to Competitiveness. Shift (2021): Beyond Pride. The Rights of LGBTI People and the Corporate Responsibility to Respect. Recommendations Often people think that the issues their industry is confronted with are unique and cannot be compared with other sectors. We can however learn a lot from each other!Local tourism planning initiativesGet involved in local destination and transport infrastructure development planning in emerging or growing tourist destinations and raise potential human rights-related issues (see value chain risk assessment on this website) and suggest measures to prevent negative human rights impacts linked to tourism development. Examples Getting involved in local destination development planning can result in opening up to new markets. In terms of LGBTQ tourism promotion and development, Turisme de Barcelona assists various key players (incl. the local gay business association ACEGAL) to get to know each other and understand their business; in particular connecting the city’s mainstream tourism suppliers with LGBTQ suppliers. In 2018, TAT (Tourism Authority of Thailand) has organised a B2B LGBTQ Travel Symposium in Bangkok in cooperation with OutThere magazine, which aims to educate Thai suppliers in being ready to welcome LGBTQ travellers. TAT’s overseas offices have coordinated to bring almost 80 LGBTQ specialist travel agents, media and influencers to participate in the event, which has been combined with a media fam trip.The Louisville Tourism marketing agency has announced several new initiatives such as the Black Tourism Advisory Council to address systemic racism and assess and improve racial and minority imbalances. The organization will also address organizational culture by conducting a thorough review of practices regarding diversity in hiring, employee education and developing ways to work with a more inclusive variety of vendors. Resources Swisscontact WISATA (2017): Comunity-based Tourism in Flores Impacts and Carrying Capacity. Endeva (2015): Destination mutual benefit: A guide to inclusive Business in Tourism. European Travel Commission (2018): Handbook on the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) travel segment GIZ (2021): Inclusion and tourism. Analysis and practical approaches for development cooperation projects.The World Bank Group (2017): Tourism for Development. Women and Tourism. Designing for Inclusion.PreviousNext Learn moreFind more information in the Resource Centre. Learn more