Malta Sets The Stage For Global Tourism Reform: Key Highlights From The I Tourism Law Conference 2025 In Europe

Published on October 1, 2025

The I Tourism Law Conference held successful Malta connected 18 September 2025 marked a pivotal infinitesimal for nan recreation and tourism industry, arsenic world tourism rule took halfway stage. This groundbreaking arena highlighted nan value of tourism law successful shaping sustainable tourism practices and protecting nan authorities of some consumers and communities. Hosted by nan University of Malta, successful collaboration pinch nan Malta Tourism Authority and UN Tourism, nan convention explored captious issues successful nan tourism sector, pinch a typical attraction connected sustainability, overtourism, and nan regularisation of short-term rentals.

Malta’s Commitment to Enhancing Tourism Legal Frameworks

During nan event, Dr. Ian Borg, Malta’s Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Tourism, delivered an inspiring reside to participants, emphasizing nan value of tourism law. He noted that while often overlooked, tourism rule plays a important domiciled successful building legal security for visitors and supporting nan increasing request for sustainable tourism practices. Malta’s adherence to nan International Consumer Protection Tourism (ICPT) guidelines was a cardinal highlight, showcasing nan country’s dedication to aligning pinch world standards successful tourism law.

Alicia Gomez, Director of Legal Affairs and International Standards astatine UN Tourism, further stressed nan value of this step, pointing retired that challenges for illustration overtourism and nan emergence of digital platforms successful nan tourism manufacture request swift regulatory action. She explained that nan convention was not simply astir ineligible technicalities, but astir creating a safe, resilient tourism industry that protects nan environment, consumers, and section communities, while ensuring that tourism continues to lend to sustainable development.

A Platform for Global Collaboration successful Tourism Law

The convention provided a level for cardinal players successful nan tourism assemblage to collaborate and stock insights. Representatives from Malta, Croatia, and Andorra presented their legislative frameworks, offering applicable models for nan improvement of tourism law. These discussions focused connected creating and optimizing regulatory frameworks that beforehand sustainability and consumer protection, while addressing nan complexities of modern tourism.

Additionally, UN Tourism representatives presented a world overview of nan organization’s activities successful tourism law, highlighting its domiciled successful fostering harmonized ineligible standards for nan tourism manufacture worldwide. This world position is captious successful ensuring that ineligible frameworks are accordant and effective successful addressing issues for illustration overtourism, sustainable tourism practices, and nan regularisation of short-term rentals that person go progressively prevalent successful cities astir nan world.

Strengthening International Cooperation for Responsible Tourism

One of nan cardinal moments of nan convention was nan signing of memoranda of knowing (MoUs) betwixt UN Tourism and nan International Forum of Travel and Tourism Advocates (IFTTA). This formalized and renewed their long-standing partnership, focused connected promoting responsible tourism done ineligible tools. By moving together, UN Tourism and IFTTA purpose to fortify global efforts to create a sustainable tourism industry that benefits tourists, service providers, and local communities alike.

The collaboration besides seeks to reside immoderate of nan astir pressing challenges facing nan tourism industry, specified arsenic ensuring consumer rights, reducing overtourism, and fostering sustainability successful tourism development. The MoUs service arsenic a committedness to semipermanent cooperation, ensuring that tourism rule remains responsive to nan evolving needs of nan industry.

Focus Areas: Sustainability and Consumer Protection

The convention highlighted 4 captious areas successful tourism rule that require urgent attention:

1. Sustainability – Ensuring that tourism activities beforehand semipermanent biology and taste preservation while gathering nan needs of today’s travelers.
2. Overtourism – Developing strategies to negociate visitant numbers and forestall nan antagonistic impacts of wide tourism connected section communities and ecosystems.
3. Regulation of Short-Term Rentals – Creating a balanced attack to nan increasing short-term rental market, specified arsenic Airbnb, which has brought some opportunities and challenges to cities astir nan world.
4. Consumer Protection – Strengthening ineligible frameworks to protect tourists’ rights, ensuring their safety, adjacent treatment, and entree to reliable services passim their recreation experiences.

A Step Toward Harmonized Legal Standards successful Tourism

The convention was besides an opportunity to reenforce nan committedness to harmonizing tourism law crossed Europe and beyond. Participants discussed nan request for consistent, globally recognized ineligible frameworks that will thief nan tourism manufacture accommodate to caller challenges while safeguarding sustainability and ethics. This committedness to harmonized tourism legislation is important for ensuring that each stakeholders, including governments, tourism providers, and travelers, use from clear, effective regulations that support some nan maturation of nan manufacture and nan well-being of section communities.

Malta’s Role arsenic a Leader successful Sustainable Tourism

The Malta Tourism Authority, successful collaboration pinch nan University of Malta, was praised for its hospitality and efforts successful organizing nan event, which provided an invaluable networking opportunity for professionals successful tourism law. The convention reinforced Malta’s domiciled arsenic a leader successful promoting sustainable tourism practices and tourism law, positioning nan state astatine nan forefront of ineligible discussions that will style nan early of world tourism.

The ICPT: A Guide to Protecting Tourists

At nan halfway of nan discussions was nan International Consumer Protection Tourism (ICPT) framework, which establishes minimum world standards for nan protection of tourists. These standards are peculiarly important during emergencies, ensuring that visitors are well-protected successful times of crisis. By adopting nan ICPT, countries and tourism stakeholders tin thief restore user confidence, heighten tourist safety, and amended contractual relationships betwixt service providers and tourists.

Conclusion: Building a Resilient and Ethical Tourism Industry

The I Tourism Law Conference successful Malta marked a important measurement toward creating a much sustainable, responsible, and legally unafraid tourism industry. By addressing cardinal ineligible issues specified arsenic sustainability, overtourism, and consumer protection, nan convention underscored nan value of creating regulatory frameworks that support nan semipermanent wellness of nan tourism manufacture while safeguarding nan interests of travelers and section communities.

Malta’s progressive information successful world tourism rule discussions, on pinch its committedness to adhering to nan ICPT, demonstrates nan country’s dedication to promoting safe, ethical, and sustainable tourism practices. As world tourism continues to grow, nan efforts of countries for illustration Malta and organizations specified arsenic UN Tourism will beryllium pivotal successful ensuring that nan tourism manufacture remains a affirmative unit for world development.

[Image Credit: UN Tourism]