TUI Care Foundation and UN Tourism Launch Global ‘Tourism Food for Good’ Initiative - Get updated on what's happening in tourism!

The TUI Care Foundation, UN Tourism, and the University of Cambridge’s Centre for Resilience and Sustainable Development (CRSD) have launched Tourism Food for Good – a two-year global action-research initiative to transform how food is produced, sourced, served, and reused within tourism destinations.

Announced during a high-level event under the Tourism for Development Fund, led by TUI Care Foundation with UN Tourism’s support, the programme aims to strengthen local food economies, promote circular practices, and reduce food waste while tackling the broader challenge of food insecurity.

A roadmap for circular food systems

Tourism Food for Good unites policymakers, academics, businesses, civil society, and local communities to co-design solutions that minimise food loss, redistribute surpluses, and valorise by-products through circular value chains.

A central output will be the 2040 Impact Roadmap for Sustainable Food Systems in Tourism – a framework identifying leverage points for systemic change. The initiative builds on UN Tourism’s Global Roadmap for Food Waste Reduction in Tourism (developed with UNEP) and draws from the TUI Care Foundation’s Field to Fork programme, which helps farming communities transition to regenerative agriculture, preserve biodiversity, and establish short, resilient supply chains linking producers with the tourism industry.

Leaders call for systemic change

“Tourism connects people and places – and food is a key element of this connection,” said Thomas Ellerbeck, Chairman of the Board of TUI Care Foundation. “With Tourism Food for Good, we want to unlock the sector’s potential to promote local agriculture, reduce food waste, and support circular food systems. Intelligent, data-driven food management is the future — and we aim to put it into practice.”

Zoritsa Urosevic, Executive Director of UN Tourism, highlighted the sector’s transformative capacity: “Tourism holds a unique convening power to drive systemic change across its vast value chains. Our goal is ambitious – to reduce tourism’s food-related carbon footprint while advancing global food security. With up to 40% of food wasted in the sector, adopting a circular model is not an option but an imperative.”

Professor Nazia M. Habib, Founding Director of CRSD at the University of Cambridge, added: “We turn innovative action research into real-world impact. By bringing diverse voices together, we can reimagine tourism food systems, transform waste into resources, and build circular economies that nourish communities and regenerate ecosystems.”

Cape Verde to host first pilot

Governments, businesses, and civil-society organisations are invited to join Tourism Food for Good by co-developing the 2040 Impact Roadmap and hosting pilot projects. The first pilot will take place in Cape Verde, where the TUI Care Foundation is already active with programmes in vocational education, marine protection, and sustainable food production — including hydroponic initiatives under the Field to Fork portfolio.

Image Credit: © TUI Group