'Challenge of safe destinations' to strengthen the resilience of tourism in Europe and beyond

UN Tourism launched the Safe Destinations Challenge to identify innovative solutions that position the sector as a driver of resilience, security and sustainability.

The initiative initially focuses on Europe, which hosted 747 million international tourists in 2024, representing around 58 percent of global figures.

The Safe Destinations Challenge aims to protect both tourist destinations and the people who inhabit and visit them.

Over the past 50 years Europe faced more than 1700 climate, fire, weather and water hazards that resulted in the loss of more than 160.000 lives and enormous economic damage. In this context, strengthening capacity for crisis preparedness and response has never been more urgent.

This open innovation call for the European region is launched under the UN Tourism Europe Region's Safety in Destinations (SAFE-D) initiative for tourism preparedness, response and recovery.

What is required?

The call is aimed at ideas, tools and projects that can improve preparedness and crisis management in three key categories:

• Category 1: Resistance to natural, climatic and health hazards in tourist destinations - projects that help predict, mitigate and respond to these risks, protecting both local communities and visitors.
• Category 2: Security, protection and cyber threats for tourists and destinations - solutions that improve physical and digital security in tourist destinations.
• Category 3: Crisis communication - effective strategies that strengthen communication before, during and after emergencies.

"Tourism is more than an industry – it is a network of human stories. With one in ten jobs worldwide linked to the sector, how we anticipate and respond to risks will determine our collective future. In 2020, we saw the cost of unpreparedness, which led to the loss of an estimated USD 1,3 trillion in international tourism export earnings. This challenge is a call to build destinations that are stronger, safer and more human – because resilience is no longer optional, it is essential.", she said Natalia Bayona, executive director of UN Tourism.

The call is open to startups, scaleups, innovative micro and small and medium-sized enterprises, local authorities, academic institutions and tourism organizations working on solutions to preserve the physical, cultural and economic integrity of destinations.

Applications close on October 31, 2025.

SAFE-D

The Safe Destinations Initiative (SAFE-D), led by UN Tourism, is a global effort to strengthen preparedness, crisis response and recovery in destinations around the world. 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 emphasizes increasing frequency of crises that affect tourism, from floods, fires and pandemics to cyberattacks, geopolitical instability and infrastructure failures, and calls for improved preparedness, response and recovery capacities among European destinations. 

Given that climate threats are intensifying and geopolitical tensions are still ongoing, there is an urgent need to strengthen crisis management in tourism in order to ensure the sustainability and resilience of the sector, he states. UN tourism.

Cover photo: Pixabay