Since 2013 we have released an annual report, The Case for Responsible Travel: Trends and Statistics. Our reports highlight general consumer, business, and destination trends that support the case for a sustainable tourism approach, and focus around a pressing theme for that year.
Trends and Statistics 2021: The 2021 report reflects on the tourism industry’s initial crisis response and its transition into the recovery and resilience phase. In addition to general consumer, business, and destination trends, our ninth edition highlights tangible actions that practitioners, destination managers, and travelers themselves have implemented to build a better future.
Trends and Statistics 2020: CREST’s 2020 report has a special focus on the two major crises facing our world today: climate change and COVID-19. Sharing cutting-edge research and examples, the report describes how travelers, tourism businesses, and destinations are implementing workable, sustainable solutions to support our planet and its people. Prepared in collaboration with more than 30 organizations, the report also provides an overview of what consumers, businesses, and destinations are experiencing during COVID-19 and offers sustainable solutions that can help the tourism industry on the road to responsible recovery.
Trends and Statistics 2019: CREST’s 2019 edition of our annual Trends & Statistics report includes a special focus on impact tourism, providing cutting-edge examples of how tourism businesses, travelers, and organizations are making strategic contributions of time, talent, and treasure to social and environmental projects in destinations. The report was prepared in collaboration with more than 30 leading organizations and institutions.
Trends and Statistics 2018: CREST’s 2018 report considers overtourism trends in five distinct types of destinations and concludes that the principles of responsible travel and visitor education provide a vital framework for effectively addressing the issue. It also highlights growing consumer demand for authentic and meaningful travel experiences and analyzes the role of tourism businesses in mainstreaming responsible travel. The report was prepared in collaboration with 30 leading tourism organizations and institutions.
Trends and Statistics 2017: CREST’s 2017 annual meta-analysis is a special edition, structured around the UNWTO’s five pillars of the UN’s International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development: 1) inclusive and sustainable economic growth; 2) social inclusiveness, employment, and poverty reduction; 3) resource efficiency, environmental protection, and climate change adaptation and mitigation; 4) respect for cultural values, diversity, and heritage; and 5) mutual understanding, peace, and security. The report highlights the need for success of tourism to be measured in increased retention of tourism revenue in the destination and the equitable distribution of tourism earnings to better economic, social, and environmental conditions. The report was prepared in collaboration with 25 leading tourism organizations and institutions.
Trends and Statistics 2016: This 2016 version of CREST’s annual study demonstrates that the growth of responsible tourism continues to outpace the growth of the tourism industry as a whole. In addition, it concludes that “the social and environmental imperative for responsible travel” is being spurred, in part, by the twin crises of wealth inequality and climate change. “Doing sustainable tourism business in the era of climate change is not just politically correct, it is a comparative advantage,” states to the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). The report was prepared in collaboration with 16 leading tourism organizations and institutions, including UNEP, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, IUCN, and the Global Wellness Institute.
Trends and Statistics 2015: The 2015 version of CREST’s annual study includes a meta-analysis of consumer and industry demand for responsible tourism, drawn from surveys, polls, and market studies over the last five years. It is endorsed by the following leading tourism organizations and institutions: United Nations Environment Programme, Global Sustainable Tourism Council, International Institute for Peace through Tourism, The George Washington University International Institute for Tourism Studies, Tourism Cares, The Ocean Foundation, Rainforest Alliance, International Ecotourism Club, The International Ecotourism Society, The Travel Foundation, and Sustainable Travel International.
Trends and Statistics 2014: This second edition of our annual report, which reviews a wide range of surveys and studies from the previous five years, was endorsed by the United Nations World Tourism Organization, Global Sustainable Tourism Council, and eight other leading tourism organizations.
Trends and Statistics 2013: This first edition makes a case for why responsible travel should be a priority for both businesses and destinations alike. This widely used publication which is endorsed by eight leading international tourism organizations, including the United Nations World Tourism Organization, examines scores of surveys and studies done in the past five years to assess commitment to responsible travel.