Earlier this year, UN Tourism participated in discussions at the 57th United Nations Statistical Commission, where governments, international organisations and experts reflect on how progress is measured worldwide. One message stood out clearly for the tourism sector: tourism can no longer be managed based on economic indicators alone, and better sustainability data is essential to guide decisions.

Tourism’s footprint goes far beyond revenue. Hotels, tour operators, destination managers and suppliers influence local employment, working conditions, resource use, housing pressure and ecosystems. Measuring these impacts consistently is no longer optional—it is becoming a core requirement to operate responsibly, manage risk and remain competitive.

This context underpins UN Tourism’s work on a harmonised ESG Framework for tourism businesses. Yet the real challenge for companies is practical: how can sustainability data improve everyday decisions?

Data is shaping the future of tourism: why sustainability data matters for business?

For many tourism businesses, sustainability reporting started as a compliance or reputational exercise. Experience shows that reporting alone does not drive change. What matters is how data is used. 

Today, sustainability data plays a strategic role: 

• Guests expect transparency on environmental and social practices. 
• Destinations and regulators ask for clearer evidence of responsible operations. 
• Investors and partners evaluate ESG performance alongside financial results.

Without reliable and usable data, sustainability remains an intention rather than a management tool. 

Before sustainability data can inform decisions, it needs to be properly managed. In practice, this means understanding what data tourism businesses already generate every day and how it is organised. Tourism companies routinely manage large volumes of data across their operations, including: 

• booking and occupancy data, resource consumption (energy, water, waste), 
• workforce and HR data, 
• supplier and procurement information, 
• destination‑level operational data, 
• customer and partner interactions. 

Sustainability data does not sit apart from these datasets. It builds on them. The challenge is that this information often lives in different systems, formats or spreadsheets, making it difficult to connect environmental, social and business performance. Global debates on data and sustainability consistently point to the same conclusion: data stored in silos limits insight, comparability and action. 

A key lesson from sustainability and monitoring is clear: more data does not automatically lead to better decisions. Long lists of indicators can dilute focus and overwhelm teams.

For tourism businesses, prioritisation is critical. Effective sustainability data focuses on: 

• issues that are material to the business and its destinations, 
• indicators that can be tracked consistently over time, 
• metrics that directly support operational and strategic decisions.

This shift—from measuring everything to measuring what truly matters—is what turns ESG from reporting into management.

When used effectively, sustainability data helps tourism businesses move from storytelling to action:

• Improve efficiency by identifying energy, water and waste savings across operations. 
• Strengthen workforce management through insights on people, retention and service quality. 
• Anticipate destination risks by detecting local environmental, social or regulatory pressure early. 
• Communicate credibly with partners and stakeholders using consistent, comparable data.

For hotels, tour operators and suppliers at different stages of their sustainability journey, sustainability data creates value only when it is practical and usable.

• Focus on material issues and avoid data overload. 
• Centralise and structure key data to reduce silos.
• Embed sustainability data into core operations, alongside operational KPIs.
• Standardise definitions across locations and partners to enable comparison.
• Ensure data quality and context, especially when data is reused externally.
• Link data to accountability, assigning clear ownership of ESG indicators.
• Use data to guide improvement, not perfection — progress over time builds credibility.

For tourism businesses, the direction is clear: better data enables better decisions — and better decisions today are essential to create long‑term value for businesses, communities and destinations tomorrow.