What does the UN 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism mean for the event industry?

The UN has named 2017 as the UN 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development, making this an exciting year when the focus of not only the tourism industry, but all other sectors, will be on sustainability. This month, as part of our monthly interview series, we will be exploring the theme:

What does the UN 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism mean for the event industry?

Looking forward 

With the UN leading the way and making sustainability a focal point of 2017, next year will witness a significant increase in conversation around sustainability, with the sharing of sustainability initiatives and championing of companies making efforts towards being more sustainable. This crucial year will set the cogs in motion to improve sustainability on a global scale across all sectors, by working towards a specific set of 17 Sustainable Development Goals, which will set the precedent of action and discussion for years to follow. We at Positive Impact know first hand the power the event industry has to lead global change, so we are excited to be leading the event industry's role in this amazing year and see what the ongoing impacts of our work will be.

Background

We chose this month's theme, as we wanted to emphasise that whilst the UN have placed the focus on sustainable tourism, this is a sector in which events are heavily involved, and so we wanted to highlight the significance of The UN 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism for the event industry specifically. 

Events have the power to bring people from all walks of life together, encourage creativity and lead to collaboration. They are also a vital tool for carrying messages and delivering a vision to wide audiences, all benefits which make the event industry integral to encouraging participation and leading large scale change. We are therefore keen to explore the role the event industry will play in the UN 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism and, in turn, canvas opinion on what this year will mean for the industry.

Interview with Edward Perotti from VMware

This month, we interviewed Edward Perotti, the Senior Director for Global Meetings, Event and Travel at VMware and encouraged him to share his thoughts on the power of the event community to lead change in 2017. 
       In the following interview, Ed discusses what he expects the legacy of The UN 2017 International Year of Sustainable Tourism will be for the event industry, how he thinks event planners can get involved in this exciting year, the potential the global community of event professionals has to "literally change the world" and tips for event professionals wanting to become more sustainable in 2017.