Since the 1970s the Tyrolean Regional Government began developing strategy papers to guide the sector’s future. Tyrol’s first tourism concept (1972) already called for “quality over quantity” in the wake of post-war growth. A decade later, the 1982 concept stipulated that tourism in Tyrol should make an optimal contribution to maintaining and improving quality of life in the province. In subsequent decades, the strategic orientation evolved into the “Tyrolean Way,” with the latest revision in 2021 emphasising broad participation in its development, stronger involvement of local residents, and a central focus on sustainability and its measurement.

In line with the Tyrolean Way, the Tyrolean Tourism Act was amended in 2022, requiring the Tourism Associations to appoint Sustainability Coordinators and to publish annual sustainability reports from 2023 onwards.

In 2023, the Federation of Tyrolean Tourism Associations published the first Tyrol-wide sustainability report, consolidating the individual reports of the regional Tourism Associations. To ensure comparability across data collected by 34 different Tourism Associations, an online platform—the “Sustainability Check”—was developed to collect data across four dimensions of sustainability: governance/management, socio-economic, cultural, and ecological.

The Sustainability Check is underpinned by the Framework Concept for a Multidimensional Sustainability Strategy (2023), which defines key measures to steer sustainability at the destination level and operationalises the strategic goals of the Tyrolean Way. The Development of the framework comprised a conceptual phase to define topics, fields of action, and indicators based on the Tyrolean Way, the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Destination Criteria, complemented by expert interviews and workshops with regional Tourism Associations; and a pilot phase in which five regions tested and refined the monitoring system.

Under the amended Tyrolean Tourism Act, continuing education for the appointed Sustainability Coordinators was first offered in 2024 by the Federation of Tyrolean Tourism Associations in cooperation with MCI Tourism and WIFI Tirol. The programme is offered annually for new coordinators and is followed by update modules for all coordinators.

In 2024, MCI Tourism established the Tyrolean Sustainable Tourism Observatory (TYSTO) with the Tyrolean Regional Government and the Federation of Tyrolean Tourism Associations and applied to join UN Tourism’s International Network of Sustainable Tourism Observatories (INSTO). As part of the application, a preliminary study (2024) was prepared, outlining the strategic, institutional, and methodological framework for sustainable tourism monitoring in Tyrol. It identifies key stakeholders, defines the observatory’s structure and partnerships, and demonstrates how TYSTO aligns with INSTO’s mandatory key issue areas. Importantly, TYSTO builds on Tyrol’s established reporting governance and aligns with INSTO, enabling two‑way knowledge transfer between Tyrol and the global network. It complements the Tyrol‑wide report by the Federation of Tyrolean Tourism Associations, and expands the dataset with Tyrol‑wide data from additional sources.

Based on feedback from the Sustainability Coordinators and input from the INSTO network, the monitoring framework for 2025 was revised to include new areas such as accessibility as well as water and waste management. The key issue areas and associated indicators are regularly reviewed and updated to reflect current developments and regional priorities. For the most recent version of the monitoring framework, including current key issue areas and indicators, please refer to the Key Issue Areas page and the Annual Progress Report (coming soon).