UN Tourism launches the “Safe Destinations Challenge” to strengthen tourism resilience in Europe and beyond.
UN Tourism has launched the Safe Destinations Challenge to identify innovative solutions that position the sector as a driver of resilience, safety, and sustainability. The initiative initially focuses on Europe, which welcomed 747 million international tourists in 2024, representing approximately 58% of the global total.
The Safe Destinations Challenge aims to protect both tourism destinations and the people who inhabit and visit them. Over the past 50 years, Europe has faced more than 1,700 climate, fire, weather, and water-related hazards, resulting in over 160,000 lives lost and economic damages exceeding $500 billion. In this context, strengthening preparedness and crisis response capacity has never been more urgent.
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Related: The World’s First Sustainable Destinations
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This Open Innovation Call for Tourism Crisis Preparedness, Response, and Recovery in the European Region is being launched within the framework of the Safety of Destinations (SAFE-D) initiative for Tourism Crisis Preparedness, Response, and Recovery in the European Region, in collaboration with the UN Tourism.
What is the challenge looking for?
This call focuses on ideas, tools, and projects that can improve crisis preparedness and management across three key categories:
- Category 1: Resilience to Natural, Climate, and Health-Related Hazards in Tourism Destinations Projects that help anticipate, mitigate, and respond to these risks, protecting both local communities and visitors.
- Category 2: Safety, Security, and Cyber Threats for Tourists and Destinations
Solutions that enhance physical and digital safety in tourism destinations. - Category 3: Crisis Communication Effective strategies that strengthen communication before, during, and after emergencies.
Natalia Bayona, Executive Director of UN Tourism, says: “Tourism is more than an industry—it’s a network of human stories. With 1 in 10 jobs worldwide linked to this sector, the way we anticipate and respond to risks will define our collective future. In 2020, the cost of unpreparedness resulted in a loss of around USD 1.3 trillion in international tourism export revenues. This challenge is an invitation to build destinations that are stronger, safer, and more human—because resilience is no longer optional, it’s essential.”
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Related: Scandinavia on The List of the 20 Safest Countries for Women to Travel Alone in 2023
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The call is open to startups, scaleups, innovative micro and SMEs, local authorities, academic institutions, and tourism organizations working on solutions to preserve the physical, cultural, and economic integrity of destinations.
Applications will close on 31 October 2025.
About the UN Tourism SAFE-D
The Safety of Destinations (SAFE-D) Initiative, led by the UN World Tourism Organization, is a global effort to strengthen crisis preparedness, response, and recovery in destinations worldwide. The SAFE-D Europe Initiative, launched in early 2025 at the initiative of the Czech Republic, is a direct response to this growing pattern of vulnerability. The initiative highlights the increasing frequency of crises affecting tourism, from floods, fires, and pandemics to cyberattacks, geopolitical instability, and infrastructure failure, and calls for enhanced preparedness, response, and recovery capacities among European destinations. With climate hazards intensifying and geopolitical tensions persisting, there is an urgent need to strengthen tourism crisis governance to ensure the sector’s sustainability and resilience.
UN Tourism first published the Safe Destinations Challenge article on June 24, 2005.