Self-Assessment Tool Launched by UN Tourism

To support and guide rural destinations in making the best use of their resources, policies, and practices to aid further development, UN Tourism has unveiled their latest launch – Self-Assessment Tool to Assist Rural Destinations, aka STAR.

STAR, as presented by UN Tourism, “is an online self-assessment tool aimed at authorities and decision-makers at the local level in rural areas. The objective of this tool is to support rural destinations to evaluate and compare their resources, policies, practices, and development with UN Tourism guidelines and global and local references. Based on the unique responses of each destination, STAR generates a set of personalised recommendations that focus mainly on priority attention areas. The programme aims to strengthen awareness, skills, knowledge, and opportunities in rural areas through tourism, with the vision of making it a promoter of rural development and well-being. The programme also promotes the role of tourism in the valuation and preservation of rural areas along with their landscapes, knowledge systems, biological, and cultural diversity.”

According to a detailed statement published by the UN Tourism, the key features that STAR offers includes:

• Self-Assessment: The online tool will help local villages in evaluating their own policies through the example of others. The Self-Assessment feature will cover five main areas: tourism governance; economic, social, and cultural sustainability; environmental sustainability; tourism development; and infrastructure.
• Tailored Recommendations: This feature will understand the benefits and limitations of every village and provide personalised guides and steps for achieving progress.
• Data and Insights: In-depth insights and data will be provided by the feature so that a factual report card is available for the local authorities. This will prompt them to identify their weak points and work on improving them.

FAQs

Q: What is STAR?

A: It is an online Self-Assessment Tool to Assist Rural Areas by UN Tourism that aims to aid development in the rural sector.

Q: Where can one use it?

A: It can be easily accessed at UN Tourism’s website – unwto.org.

Q: Who can use it?

A: All rural tourism destinations falling under UN Tourism Member States.