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Minister of Tourism and Sports Nikolina Brnjac is in New York, where she is participating in the high-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development held under the auspices of the Economic and Social Council - ECOSOC.
As part of the Forum, the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, in cooperation with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), organized a high-level Round Table at the UN headquarters called "Economic, Social and Environmental Sustainability in Tourism". At the Round Table, Minister Brnjac presented the activities of the Government of the Republic of Croatia in the field of tourism which contribute fulfillment of the goals of sustainable development with special emphasis on the Law on Tourism, which will soon be subject to public discussion.
"The new Tourism Act significantly contributes to the development of sustainable cities and communities, which is one of the UN's sustainable development goals, and will prescribe a series of measures that will contribute to the economic, ecological and social resilience of urban, and especially rural and island destinations. The solutions that we have foreseen in the Law, such as the adoption of the Destination Management Plan, the Sustainable Tourism Satellite Account, the possibility of introducing an environmental tax and many others, will strongly contribute to the implementation of the Sustainable Development Agenda in Croatia. Colleagues the ministers who participated in the panel, as well as the UN representatives, recognized this and we received strong support", Said Minister Nikolina Brnjac.
In her presentation, the minister emphasized that the new Tourism Act will provide tools for measuring and monitoring the destination's sustainability through a system of sustainability indicators related to waste management, water resources management and the like. In addition, she pointed out that the Act strengthens the partnership in destination management through the active participation of all stakeholders in the creation of destination management plans, from local community units to entrepreneurs, local residents and tourist boards.
"By law, we enable the strategic development of tourism in all destinations and provide local communities with data-based decision-making tools.", Minister Brnjac said.
In the introductory part of the Round Table, the gathered were addressed Csaba Kőrösi, president of the UN General Assembly and Lachezara Stoeva, president of the UN Economic and Social Council, and the ministers of tourism of India, Jamaica and Spain, as well as representatives of the business and academic community, participated in the round table together with Minister Brnjac.
Minister Brnjac also participated in the panel dedicated to the 11th goal of sustainable development called "SDG 11 and interconnections with other sustainable development goals - Sustainable cities and communities" and presented the best practices of Croatia. Continuing his stay in New York, the Minister will speak during the General Discussion held on the first day of the ministerial part of the Forum called "Building momentum towards the SDG Summit" and on Tuesday, July 18, on behalf of the Republic of Croatia, will present the second Voluntary National Review on the implementation of the United Nations Agenda for Sustainable Development (SDG).
Photo: MINTS
