Tourism is a means of achieving growth and development and a key way for countries to strengthen their economies by increasing decent work. In this regard it is essential to raise awareness and share experience and information about the role of tourism in poverty alleviation, in particular through lessons learnt and best practices adopted by other countries in, for example, providing incomes, livelihood, or security. The sharing of experience can be done through South-South Cooperation (SSC), which is (based on the Nairobi Outcome Document (2009)) a modality of cooperation that encourages solidarity among persons and countries of the South to support each other in the attainment of internationally agreed development goals while sharing horizontal approaches.

As a follow up of the Fourth UN Conference on LDCs (LDC-IV) in Istanbul in May 2011 and of the tripartite Forum on new developments and challenges for the hospitality and tourism sector, held in Geneva in November 2010, south-south cooperation projects, including regional workshops on “Decent work and sustainable tourism through social dialogue in the HCT sector”, are planned in South-East Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa and the Americas.