UN Tourism has made a major move to improve how the industry is measured on a global scale. At the recent 57th session of the United Nations Statistical Commission, the body worked to update the way tourism is tracked within the world economic system. The aim is to help both governments and private firms use clearer data that can be compared across different borders.

The sector supports hundreds of millions of jobs and moves billions of people each year. However, officials noted that data has often failed to keep up with how quickly the industry is changing. To fix this, the Commission backed the Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services 2026. UN Tourism helped develop this updated framework, which makes it easier for countries to see exactly how tourism functions as a traded service.

The Commission also highlighted the Statistical Framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST). This model is the first of its kind to be recognised by the UN General Assembly for measuring more than just traditional GDP. It looks at the social and environmental effects of travel alongside the economic ones.

Secretary-General of UN Tourism, Shaikha Al Nuwais said: “Tourism is one of the world’s most dynamic economic sectors, and it deserves data systems that reflect its true scale and impact. Strengthening global tourism statistics and linking them with business sustainability reporting helps ensure that decisions across the sector are grounded in reliable, comparable evidence.”

A special event was held on 4 March to discuss how to connect company-level sustainability reports with national statistics. This approach is intended to help small businesses by making reporting less complicated. The event was supported by major brands including Booking.com and easyJet holidays, alongside the Kingdom of the Netherlands and Statistics Netherlands.