Digital and practical: Futouris Wissenswelt toolkits support tourism companies in sustainable development

The renowned sustainability initiative Futouris has been implementing projects for more sustainable tourism development worldwide together with committed members and partners for over 15 years. The project results are used to develop practical handbooks and strategic guidelines that are made available to the entire travel industry free of charge. Futouris is now proud to present the new Futouris Knowledge World - an innovative platform with digital, practical toolkits and guidelines designed to support tourism companies in implementing environmentally and socially responsible measures. The toolkits on topics such as sustainable cuisine, plastic waste reduction or destination resilience contain practical tips, useful tools and checklists as well as illustrative best practice examples from the industry, are intuitive to use and are available in German and/or English, depending on the main topic.

Futouris Plastic Waste Reduction Toolkit

The Futouris Plastic Waste Reduction Toolkit, created as part of the EU-funded "SUSTOUR" project, supports hotels and tourism businesses in the strategic implementation of in-house avoidance of single-use plastic. In addition to interesting facts on the topic of plastic pollution, the toolkit offers practical tips on setting up your own plastic management system, selecting more sustainable alternatives to common plastic products and motivating guests and employees. Best practice examples from tour operators and tourism associations show inspiring possibilities.

Futouris Sustainable Food Toolkit

Another outstanding example of the digital tools of the Futouris world of knowledge is the Futouris Sustainable Food Toolkit, which was created in cooperation with Prof. Dr. Dagmar Lund-Durlacher from the Institute for Tourism Sustainability and with the support of the Austrian Federal Ministry of Labor and Economy, the Austrian Federal Economic Chamber (WKO) and the Austrian Hotel Association. The toolkit provides in-depth background information, best practice examples and practical tips for implementing sustainable F&B management in the hotel and catering industry. Specifically, users can delve into the topics of more sustainable food procurement, menu design and waste management as well as effective communication.

Procuring Food Sustainably: Working closely with UN Tourism and UNEP to develop factsheets

As part of the One Planet Sustainable Tourism Programme, the world tourism organization UN Tourism, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and Futouris worked closely together to develop a series of factsheets as a useful tool for more sustainable food procurement. The factsheets provide clear information and tips on important aspects such as the climate and water footprint of different foods, on relevant product categories such as meat or fish and on the use of certifications and seals such as organic or fair trade.

The launch of the Futouris Knowledge World marks a significant step towards making project results from the Futouris projects directly and easily usable in practice and achieving a broad application of sustainable solutions. "We are convinced that activating action knowledge, practice-relevant communication and cooperation are the key to creating a more sustainable tourism industry," says Swantje Lehners, Managing Director Projects and Cooperation at Futouris. "The Futouris Knowledge World is intended to be a central place where companies and their employees can find information and resources to support them in realizing sustainable tourism." Futouris invites all players in the tourism industry to actively use this innovative and free platform, recommend it to their partners and work together to make tourism sustainable.