UN Tourism and Germany pave the way towards inclusive employment and accessibility

Putting inclusive tourism in the spotlight

1.3 billion people live with a significant disability worldwide, with 80% of them living in developing countries and emerging destinations.

When people with disabilities do travel, they are accompanied by 2 to 3 other people. Including accessibility in a business strategy entails new sources of revenue and better economic performance.

Yet despite progress in recent years, discrimination and other barriers still prevent people with disabilities from travelling or working in tourism.

Many job applicants with disabilities don’t see tourism as a viable career path; Businesses are missing out on immense resources of workforce talent and new clients.

Highlighting solutions for the inclusive employment and better access

UN Tourism and BMZ came together at ITB Berlin 2025 to raise awareness of the wide range of benefits of accessible tourism; They called for a more inclusive sector through international cooperation – to create more jobs, open up travel to more people and build more resilient communities.

A tourism that:

fosters awareness of the benefits of implementing accessibility, not as a charity – but as a long-term investment;
engages in social and digital innovation benefitting people and communities; and
better serves this billion-dollar market of consumers and employees.

The joint event at ITB brought together industry leaders to discuss approaches for creating better workplaces and services in tourism for all, in developed and emerging economies.

A report is also planned to showcase good practices promoted in Berlin; These include examples from Albania, Austria, Ecuador, Germany, India, Jordan and Morocco, as well as international success stories championed by the World Sustainable Hospitably Alliance, Amadeus, European Network for Accessible Tourism and European Disability Forum.

The recommendations, to be also published within the report, will focus on:

working with end-users with disabilities to understand their needs;
building a business case of accessibility;
upskilling employees; and
adapting job descriptions and workplace environments so people with disabilities can directly apply to work in hospitality.

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About UN Tourism

The World Tourism Organization (UN Tourism) is the United Nations agency responsible for the promotion of responsible, sustainable and universally accessible tourism.

As the leading international organization in the field of tourism, UN Tourism promotes tourism as a driver of economic growth, inclusive development and environmental sustainability and offers leadership and support to the sector in advancing knowledge and tourism policies worldwide.

Our Priorities

Mainstreaming tourism in the global agenda: Advocating the value of tourism as a driver of socio-economic growth and development, its inclusion as a priority in national and international policies and the need to create a level playing field for the sector to develop and prosper.

Promoting sustainable tourism development: Supporting sustainable tourism policies and practices: policies which make optimal use of environmental resources, respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities and provide socio-economic benefits for all.

Fostering knowledge, education and capacity building: Supporting countries to assess and address their needs in education and training, as well as providing networks for knowledge creation and exchange.

Improving tourism competitiveness: Improving UN Tourism Members’ competitiveness through knowledge creation and exchange, human resources development and the promotion of excellence in areas such as policy planning, statistics and market trends, sustainable tourism development, marketing and promotion, product development and risk and crisis management.

Advancing tourism’s contribution to poverty reduction and development: Maximizing the contribution of tourism to poverty reduction and achieving the SDGs by making tourism work as a tool for development and promoting the inclusion of tourism in the development agenda.

Building partnerships: Engaging with the private sector, regional and local tourism organizations, academia and research institutions, civil society and the UN system to build a more sustainable, responsible and competitive tourism sector.

Our Structure

Members: An intergovernmental organization, UN Tourism has 160 Member States, 6 Associate Members, 2 Observers and over 500 Affiliate Members.

Organs: The General Assembly is the supreme organ of the Organization. The Executive Council take all measures, in consultation with the Secretary-General, for the implementation of the decisions and recommendations of the General Assembly and reports to the Assembly.

Secretariat: UN Tourism headquarters are based in Madrid, Spain. The Secretariat is led by the Secretary-General and organized into departments covering issues such as sustainability, education, tourism trends and marketing, sustainable development, statistics and the Tourism Satellite Account (TSA), destination management, ethics and risk and crisis management. The Technical Cooperation and Silk Road Department carries out development projects in over 100 countries worldwide, while the Regional Departments for Africa, the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East serve as the link between UN Tourism and its 160 Member States. The Affiliate Members Department represents UN Tourism’s 500 plus Affiliate members.

UN Tourism Communications Department+34 91 567 8100UN Tourism