Tourism

Tourism shapes how cities grow and connect to their natural and economic systems. Integrating sustainable tourism into urban planning can help protect ecosystems, activate public spaces, and support local economies while promoting low-impact, resource-efficient development.

Tourism is a key driver of urban economies and a strategic lever for advancing nature-positive, low-carbon, and circular urban development. It influences how cities manage natural assets, infrastructure, and resource flows, creating opportunities to align visitor economies with sustainability goals. When embedded in integrated urban planning, sustainable tourism can support the conservation of biodiversity, promote low-carbon mobility and infrastructure, and encourage circular practices in sectors such as hospitality, food systems, and waste management. By prioritizing responsible and regenerative tourism models, cities can attract investment, strengthen local livelihoods, and enhance resilience, ensuring that tourism contributes to long-term environmental sustainability, economic diversification, and inclusive urban development.

 

Explore more resources in the GPSC Knowledge Products, featuring case studies, toolkits, and technical guidance from cities around the world. Use the filters and categories to navigate by theme or topic and find content tailored to your city’s priorities.

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Supporting Green Infrastructure Planning in Cities: Tools, Data Needs, and City Perspectives

31 March - 31 March 2026, 8:30 EDT

Background Introduction Agenda Presentation Recording The Urban Nature Program , co-led by the World Bank through its Global Platform for Sustainable Cities (GPSC), with support from the GEF, UNEP, and ICLEI, aims to scale up financing to help cities and sub-national governments implement actions
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Kyoto A Creative City : Leveraging Creativity for City Competitiveness and Inclusive Urban Transformation

This report builds on the findings from the Technical Deep Dive (TDD) ‘Creative Cities: Case of Kyoto,’ organized by the Tokyo Development and Learning Center (TDLC) in partnership with UNESCO and the
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Tourism

Guatemala Study on Disaster Risk Management of Cultural Heritage: The Case of Antigua Guatemala

Natural events are recurrent. Geophysical hazards such as earthquakes or volcano eruptions cannot be predicted, but it is known that where they have happened in the past, they will happen again. In
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Tourism

Cities, Culture, Creativity: Learning from the Republic of Korea’s Experience

This report describes examples demonstrating the leading role that Korea can play globally and provides practical insights on the importance of cultural and creative industries (CCIs) for economic
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