UN Tourism launches the "Safe Destinations Challenge" to strengthen the sector´s resilience in Europe

The Safe Destinations Challenge seeks to protect both tourism destinations and the people who live and visit them. Over the past 50 years, Europe has faced more than 1,700 climate-related hazards, including fires, weather, and water events, resulting in the loss of more than 160,000 lives and economic damage exceeding half a trillion US dollars. In this context, strengthening crisis preparedness and response capacity has never been more urgent.

This open innovation call for tourism crisis preparedness, response, and recovery for the European region is being launched as part of UN Tourism's Safety of Destinations (SAFE-D) initiative for tourism crisis preparedness, response, and recovery in the European region.

What does the challenge seek?
This call focuses on ideas, tools, and projects that can improve crisis preparedness and management in three key categories:

Category 1: Resilience to natural, climate-related, and health-related risks in tourist destinations.

Projects that help anticipate, mitigate, and respond to these risks, protecting both local communities and visitors.

Category 2: Security, safety 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.

Natalia Bayona, Executive Director of UN Tourism, says: “Tourism is more than an industry: it is a network of human stories. With one in ten jobs worldwide linked to this sector, how we anticipate and respond to risks will define our collective future. In 2020, we saw the cost of a lack of preparation, which led to a loss of around US$1.3 trillion in international tourism export revenue. This challenge is an invitation to build stronger, safer, and more humane destinations, because resilience is no longer optional, but essential.”

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

Applications will close on October 31, 2025.

About the UN Tourism SAFE-D Initiative:
The Safer Destinations Initiative (SAFE-D), led by UN Tourism, is a global effort to strengthen crisis preparedness, response, and recovery in destinations worldwide. Launched in early 2025 at the initiative of the Czech Republic, the SAFE-D Europe Initiative 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 failures—and calls for enhanced preparedness, response, and recovery capacities in European destinations. With intensifying climate risks and persistent geopolitical tensions, there is an urgent need to strengthen tourism crisis governance to ensure the sector's sustainability and resilience.

Source: UN Tourism.