At the 2025 World Vocational College Skills Competition taking place on 25-26 August, 2025, four students from the Tourism Management Program of the Shanghai Institute of Tourism won the Silver Award in the Tourism track with their project โSilk Road International Tourism University Cultural Exchange Tour.โ The project, themed โRemembering the Truth of History, Moving Toward a Zero-Carbon Future,โ stood out as a pioneering case of applying global tourism standards in a localized, practical context.
The project fully implemented the UNWTO Global Code of Ethics for Tourism and its localized Responsible Tourist Behavior Guidelines. These guidelines were integrated into the tour design to educate international visitors on cultural heritage etiquette, public behavior norms, and the principle of respectful travel. By doing so, the team translated international standards into actionable and culturally relevant practices.
At the same time, the project aligned with the World Travel & Tourism Councilโs (WTTC) Net Zero Roadmap, embedding a comprehensive carbon management strategy throughout the journey:
- Low-Carbon Travel: Green flights, new-energy vehicles, and shared mobility options.
- Sustainable Hospitality: Certified green hotels and restaurants, with emphasis on waste reduction and circular use of resources.
- Carbon Offsetting: The team calculated 24.3 tons of COโ emissions and fully offset them through tree planting in carbon sink forests, purchasing carbon credits, and dedicating livestream proceeds to sustainability initiatives. This effort was officially certified with a Carbon Neutrality Certificate by the China Quality Certification Center.
This innovative project demonstrated how tourism students can act as responsible cultural mediators, combining peace education, sustainable tourism, and technological innovation. Experts at the competition commended the project for providing a replicable model of how vocational tourism education can support the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) while advancing the professional standards of tour guiding worldwide.
The Shanghai Institute of Tourism reaffirmed its mission to cultivate future tour guides who embody global vision, professional excellence, and responsibility for sustainable developmentโcontributing to the shared goals of the World Federation of Tourist Guide Associations and the global tourism community.
By LIU Tang
Director of Tourism Management Program, Tour Guide Service Skills Training Workshop, Shanghai Institute of Tourism, China