Educational Resources

Practical tips for the hospitality industry wanting to welcome refugee and internally displaced guests during their transit.  

Length: 6 pages

Practical tips for the hospitality industry wanting to support refugees and displaced people through employment.  

Length: 7 pages

Readers will learn about the current carbon reporting and reduction targets required as part of reaching the UK’s net-zero targets, as well as information on climate-related risks and how to manage them. Moreover, the guidebook supports in measuring carbon for an organisation by creating a carbon inventory for direct and indirect carbon emissions. Ultimately, it provides ways to approach a net-zero commitment.

Duration: 1 hour

Discover a wealth of learning opportunities through our Free Online Education offerings, designed to provide accessible knowledge and skills development for everyone. Our platform features a variety of Free CPD Courses covering essential topics such as Hotel Front Office Operations, Housekeeping, and Leadership and Management. These courses are ideal for learners seeking flexible, no-cost options to advance their careers and personal growth.

Climate change, described by UNEP FI as the greatest market failure in history, threatens global well-being and stability. The private sector plays a key role in mitigation. These guidelines help tourism businesses—especially accommodation providers and event organizers—identify funding sources and develop finance proposals for low-emission, climate-resilient operations.

Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes

The International Labour Organization (ILO) International Training Centre offers practical, high-quality courses and resources for professionals worldwide to strengthen labour standards, skills development, and sustainable employment practices. Its programs empower governments, businesses, and workers to promote fair, safe, and inclusive workplaces.

This course guides participants in building financially sustainable social enterprises that deliver real impact. You’ll learn to map your organisation’s value creation, design effective business models, test key assumptions on markets and costs, and identify revenue engines for bottom-of-the-pyramid markets.

Duration: 4 weeks

This course helps participants measure and improve their social impact using practical tools and real-world examples. You’ll learn to assess impact through a three-part framework, develop a clear theory of change, and apply Acumen’s Lean Data approach, supported by case studies from leading social enterprises.

Duration: 4 weeks

This course introduces Acumen’s Lean Data framework as a practical alternative to traditional monitoring and evaluation. Participants will learn to identify data collection opportunities, design effective surveys, leverage technology for rapid feedback, run Lean Data sprints, and present customer insights to stakeholders.

Duration: 5 weeks

This manual has been designed for all categories of establishment owners as well as assessors to use as a quick reference guide.

Length: 29 pages

This practical guide helps both SMEs and large companies to develop and implement pragmatic and effective human rights due diligence processes in line with the UN Guiding Principles and the OECD Guide- lines. In addition, it outlines the first steps companies can take when setting up a due diligence system.

Length: 18 pages

This training prioritizes accessibility over depth, recognizing that most professionals seek UNDP guidance to inform internal follow-up rather than detailed risk analysis. It complements UNDP’s role in promoting Human Rights Due Diligence (HRDD), aiming to foster shared understanding and collaboration among businesses, consultants, civil society, and regulators for wider HRDD adoption.

Length: 76 pages

This informative online session showcased the newly released E-Learning “Human Rights in Tourism” - a freely accessible and self-paced online learning tool developed to support tourism suppliers in understanding and applying human rights due diligence along the value chain.

Duration: 45 minutes

This self-paced course helps tourism managers integrate local communities through inclusive business models, addressing challenges and solutions for community involvement, with a badge awarded upon completion. 

Duration: 1 hour

This introductory webinar will help clarify what every tourism business can do to make travel socially responsible. It is explicitly targeted at small and medium-sized tour operators and tourism businesses and is intended for you to:

• understand your stake – be aware of human rights issues your value chain;
• see the benefit – be clear about the business case to respect human rights; and
• get started – know tools, resources and practical recommendations to implement suitable measures in your strategy and operations.

Duration: 1 hour

This online course introduces sustainable community engagement for accommodation providers, covering key concepts, benefits, and best practices. Includes videos, resources, and quizzes, with a certificate upon completion—perfect for enhancing sustainability in hospitality.

Duration: 1 hour

This webinar is explicitly targeted at people who are entrusted with internal (employees) or external (supplier, customers) communication within a tourism business or tourism-related organisation and is intended to:

• Bringing it to life – learn how your commitment can be communicated.
• Avoiding pitfalls – know how to talk about human rights without being deterrent.
• Building back better – understand the benefit of a human rights narrative to be more resilient.

Duration: 1 hour

The Gender Mainstreaming Guidelines for the Public Sector in Tourism have been developed to support the tourism public sector to integrate gender equality considerations and women’s economic empowerment into tourism planning and implementation. In practice, gender mainstreaming involves the systematic integration of gender perspectives – and the experiences of diverse women – in all policies, programmes and thematic issues in the tourism sector. The guidelines contain tools to support national, regional, local and other tourism institutions to apply an approach to tourism planning, programming and implementation that integrates gender equality and women’s economic empowerment.

Length: 24 pages

This course helps professionals create authentic, sustainable travel experiences that benefit locals and visitors by building tools for community-led tourism, fostering stronger community partnerships, and delivering immersive, equitable experiences that last.

Duration: 2 hours

The evidence is clear: gender equality is critical to business performance and sustainable economic growth globally. The Women’s Empowerment Principles Gender Gap Analysis Tool (WEPs Tool) is a joint project of the UN Global Compact, UN Women, the Multilateral Investment Fund of the IDB, and IDB Invest. It serves as a business-driven tool designed to help companies from around the world assess gender equality performance across the workplace, marketplace, and community. This guidance document is to help companies understand the steps to prepare and complete their self-assessment. It is recommended that large companies begin these steps 1-2 weeks in advance to allow sufficient time to form a team and gather relevant data.

Length: 24 pages

This course examines heritage and tourism development from social sciences and management perspectives, integrating global and local views. It reviews key concepts like authenticity, commodification, and sustainable development, and evaluates topical issues such as marketing strategies and cultural interpretation.

Duration: 1 hour 11 minutes

This guide helps businesses in the tourism value chain achieve mutual benefits by aligning development impacts with core goals. It maps opportunities, challenges, solutions, and partners who can provide support, based on research, case studies, and expert feedback.

Length: 80 pages

This tool is designed to help your business assess and understand its potential risks in relation to child sexual exploitation and trafficking in your industry and take action to protect children.

Duration: 15 minutes

Tourism drives 8% of global emissions, and climate change is already impacting destinations and experiences. This webinar shares practical steps and real business examples to help accommodation providers take climate action, delivered through UNEP’s Transforming Tourism Value Chains project with global partners.

Duration: 1 hour

The toolkit is designed to help anyone who makes decisions on how to talk to guests about the topic of food waste. This includes: Food and Beverage Program Directors, Restaurant General Managers, Chefs and Food Service Personnel, Guest Services Managers, Guest Communications Directors. If you’re in one of these roles, you’ve probably already thought about how to reduce food waste, both in front and back of house. And you may have concerns about how to talk to guests about the issue without alienating them or sounding preachy. That’s exactly what this toolkit is designed to help you do.

Length: 41 pages

This session introduces accommodation providers on SIDS to the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism and guides them in creating their first Climate Action Plan. It outlines how they can align with global goals to halve emissions by 2030, reach net zero by 2050, and report progress annually.

Duration: 7 minutes

This session introduces accommodation providers on SIDS to the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism and guides them in creating their first Climate Action Plan. It outlines how they can align with global goals to halve emissions by 2030, reach net zero by 2050, and report progress annually.

Duration: 8 minutes

This session introduces accommodation providers on SIDS to the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism and guides them in creating their first Climate Action Plan. It outlines how they can align with global goals to halve emissions by 2030, reach net zero by 2050, and report progress annually.

Duration: 1 hour

The guide offers a framework or model for sustainabile tourism implementation at a national level.  In recognition that there is no "one size fits all" approach, this incorporates the flexibility to enable it to be applied to a wide range of destinations and regulatory settings.

Lenght: 53 pages

This webinar offers practical guidance on using evidence-based nudging to influence staff and guest behaviors, reducing emissions, improving customer experience, and benefiting hotel sustainability and profitability.

Duration: 1 hour

This workshop highlights consumers' role in sustainability, exploring trends in climate awareness and ethical purchasing. Participants will learn about influencing sustainable choices, improving resource efficiency, and effective communication of sustainability messages to customers.

Duration: 7 minutes

This workshop highlights consumers' role in sustainability, exploring trends in climate awareness and ethical purchasing. Participants will learn about influencing sustainable choices, improving resource efficiency, and effective communication of sustainability messages to customers.

Duration: 10 minutes

This workshop highlights consumers' role in sustainability, exploring trends in climate awareness and ethical purchasing. Participants will learn about influencing sustainable choices, improving resource efficiency, and effective communication of sustainability messages to customers.

Duration: 14 minutes

This self-paced course helps senior tourism managers understand energy management in hotels, linking consumption to carbon emissions. It covers assessing energy use, engaging stakeholders, and implementing efficiency measures for sustainable operations.

Duration: 1 hour

This self-paced course will help you understand what Green & Clean Tourism means. You will find out which negative effects tourism can have on the environment and the host communities and which measures you can implement to enable green and clean practices in your tourism business.

Duration: 1 hour

This course covers AI-driven digital nudging for responsible tourism, including behavioral economics, chatbot creation, ethical practices, and future trends in AI and behavioral design. Participants learn to design effective, ethical digital nudges using chatbots. 

Duration: 8 hours over 4 weeks

This course covers sustainable destination management principles, stakeholder engagement, innovative marketing, and resilience strategies to ensure long-term, responsible tourism. Gain the skills to lead and shape the future of sustainable tourism destinations.

Duration: 8 hours over 4 weeks

The Net Positive Hospitality Simulation has been developed to engage and upskill hospitality leaders and students, bringing Net Positive Hospitality to life and demonstrating how you can implement the Pathway. It helps users to understand the impacts of their decisions, test sustainability actions and create a tailored sustainability action plan.

This one-hour self-paced course covers the principles of health and safety in tourism and hospitality. You’ll learn about common hazards, key responsibilities, and the occupational, human, and environmental factors that affect workplace wellbeing, as well as the importance of training and supervision.

Duration: 1 hour

This course introduces the principles of fire prevention and safety management, helping employers, workers, and inspectors understand their responsibilities. You’ll learn how to prevent fires, ensure safe escape routes, comply with safety codes, and recognize poor fire safety practices to improve evacuation readiness and protect lives.

Self-guided, 2 modules

Managing risk is necessary wherever you are. Learn how to make informed decisions to help you stay safe while traveling or working in high-risk areas with this free, interactive course created in partnership with O'Neill Paragon Solutions.

Duration: 1 hour>

This program teaches first-tier suppliers in tourism to address human rights issues through four basic and one advanced module, covering regulations like the German Supply Chain Act and European CSDDD, with real-world examples and certification for both basic and advanced levels.

Duration: 2,5 hours over 4 models

This free online training is designed to support hospitality companies and their human resources, procurement and legal teams, to identify and address the risks of modern slavery in their hotel operations.

Learn the basics of child labour and forced labour research, including definitions, measurement, case studies, and datasets. Taught by ILO and global experts, the courses offer flexible learning paths and optional modules on human trafficking and migration developed with IOM.

Self-guided

This Know How Guide is a high-level introduction to human rights for the hotel industry – what human rights are, the context of the hotel industry, steps to implement the UN Guiding Principles and resources for further reading. It is primarily written for Corporate Responsibility Managers in hotel companies, though it may also be of interest to individual properties.

Length: 13 pages

This Toolkit helps frontline sectors in South Africa understand and address human trafficking, offering practical strategies to identify and support victims. Use it to train staff and improve trafficking intervention efforts effectively.

Length: 9 pages

Specific indicators that you may see in your daily work to help recognise signs of trafficking in persons.

Length: 2 pages

This guidance will help hotels to encourage more responsible practices and reduce the risks of human trafficking in their labour supply chain.

Length: 6 pages

Based on ILO experience, this toolkit provides practical guidance for developing and implementing bilateral labour migration agreements to improve governance, protect migrant workers, and align recruitment with labour market needs.

Duration: 4 modules, self guided

This free e-learning course by ILO offers guidance for those working with potential victims of forced labour, aiding in detection, investigation, prosecution, and victim support. It helps address this complex, often hidden crime worldwide.

Duration: 4 modules, self guided

This self-paced course helps tourism managers create decent work conditions. You’ll learn why decent work matters, how to assess and improve your business environment, enhance staff appeal, and strengthen communication.

Duration: 1 hour

This training module serves as guidance to train young people in house keeing in the tourism & hospitality sector. Facilitators handbook.

Length: 19 pages

This training is developed for anyone with an interest in Digital Marketing skills in the tourism & hospitality. Facilitators Handbook.

Length: 16 pages

This training module serves as guidance to train young people in Uganda in Front office skills in the tourism & hospitality sector. Facilitators Handbook.

Length: 21 pages

This training module serves as guidance to train young people in Uganda in customer service in the tourism & hospitality sector. Facilitators Handbook.

Length: 18 pages

This training is developed for anyone with an interest in bartending and coffee making in the tourism & hospitality. Facilitators Handbook.

Length: 17 pages

This training module serves as guidance to train young people in sustainability in the tourism & hospitality sector. Facilitators Handbook.

Length: 17 pages

These Best Practice Standards, developed by a group of civil rights organisations in consultation with background checking companies, represent high standards that employers and Consumer Reporting Agencies can reasonably be expected to follow.

Length: 30 pages

Discover how to advance employee engagement, on the Pathway to Net Positive Hospitality

Length: 2 pages

This factsheet provides guidance for hotels on how to address risks when recruiting temporary workers.

Length: 2 pages

This factsheet contains guidance for hotels to recognise and mitigate the risks to their employees and job seekers of recruitment scams.

Length: 3 pages

This guidance note provides practical steps and advice for the hospitality industry on recruiting international migrant workers ethically within business enterprise operations and supply chains.

Length: 35 pages

This guide provides an overview of human rights within hospitality, with guidance on developing a human rights policy, performing due diligence and addressing any adverse human rights impacts.

Length: 13 pages

The Wellness Check In encourages a personal review of work stress on personal wellbeing, while the Self Care Playbook provide simple things you can do every day, at home, to protect your health and manage your stress response.

Length: 13 pages

The Wellness Action Plan is a framework which enables staff to identify awareness of their ideal working style, their triggers of stress and helps you to work closely with your team to develop an effective approach to overcoming distressing symptoms, and unhelpful behaviour patterns.

Length: 11 pages

This self-paced online module equips policymakers and organizations with practical tools to address the gender pay gap, showcasing international examples, good practices, and effective laws at EU, national, and local levels to inspire action and promote pay equity.

Duration: 45 minutes

This course will guide you in building and successfully managing a workplace HIV programme, to protect the rights of everyone, reduce HIV related stigma and discrimination, and address inequalities.

Duration: 9 modules over 8-10 hours

This course helps enterprises understand supplier codes of conduct, improve compliance with labour standards and laws, and see how respecting workers’ rights can strengthen business competitiveness.

Self-paced

This course strengthens the capacity of African authorities and partners to design and implement effective labour migration policies. It includes nine modules covering governance, legal frameworks, data, international cooperation, migrant protection, social protection, skills, and access to decent work for refugees and displaced persons.

Duration: 9 modules

These 10 modules will help any trainer to implement a product development and entrepreneurship training, specifically developed for activity providers.

Duration: 10 self-paced modules

The course explores digital transformation in tourism, focusing on customer experience, operational efficiency, and innovation. Through videos, readings, and case studies, participants learn to implement digital strategies and build sustainable tourism ecosystems.

Duration: 7 hours

Train the Trainer empowers participants with the essential knowledge and skills required to excel as trainers in diverse professional settings. Participants will learn fundamental training concepts, develop key trainer attributes, and effectively apply learning theories, all while mastering the use of assessment tools to improve training programs. This course addresses critical aspects of effective teaching and program development, ensuring that participants are equipped to design impactful training sessions and frameworks.

Duration: 10 hours

The Innovation and Technology Management in Tourism and Hospitality course covers different ICT infrastructures and tools, taking a closer look at their roles in shaping the business environment, business models, marketing practices, revenue strategies, and customer service techniques. You will discuss the dynamics generated in the development of ICT and their impact on tourism and hospitality organizations. The course will also cover the themes of digital transformation, business analytics, and digital marketing.

Duration: 12 weeks, with 6-8 hours per week

The How to Become a Restaurateur course will give you the skills and knowledge you need to succeed as a restaurant entrepreneur. You’ll learn the essentials of opening a restaurant and how to avoid the traps many new food and beverage businesses fall into. Learn how the menu you create impacts your need for physical and financial resources while simultaneously learning the foundations of marketing and finance for the food industry.

Duration: 20 hours over 4 weeks

Fundamentals of Tourism - Industry Management delves into how technology and innovation have transformed tourism management, emphasizing the importance of personalized customer experiences and data utilization. Participants will explore key areas such as strategy, finance, digital marketing, and operations management. Designed for professionals and managers, the program provides practical knowledge to navigate the complexities of modern tourism, ensuring relevance and competitiveness in a dynamic market.

Duration: 10 weeks with 3-4 hours per week

The SA Specialist: Essentials course is an interactive learning experience designed to improve your knowledge of South Africa and equip you with the skills to sell South Africa as a tourist destination; in essence, you become an expert on South African travel, giving you the opportunity to market yourself as such and to improve the level of service you give to clients.

Self-paced

The SA Specialist: Experiences programme is an online learning course designed to expose those who have completed the SA Specialist: Essentials programme to a series of fantastic South African experiences. Knowledge of these experiences will vastly improve your ability to sell the country as a tourist destination and assist you in compiling ever-more attractive travel packages. There are seven categories of experiences to choose from when doing the course.

Self-paced

This self-paced course introduces the basics of entrepreneurship in tourism through the stories of three successful entrepreneurs. You’ll learn key principles, skills, and methods for entrepreneurial thinking, and gain practical insights to help you start your own business.

Duration: 1 hour

This free mini-course is designed for tourism businesses looking to grow but unsure where to start. Drawing on real-world experience across multiple industries, it offers practical strategies tailored for hotels, spas, restaurants, attractions, travel agents, tour guides, and more. The course cuts through conflicting advice to provide proven, actionable insights without any upsell—just tools to help you move your business forward.

Duration: 9 lectures over 2 hours

This self-paced course teaches tourism managers and enthusiasts to develop child-friendly tourism, understand child rights, identify negative impacts, promote positive practices, and combat child sexual exploitation in tourism. 

Duration: 1 hour

In this webinar we will look at the different parts in the food system where the hospitality industry can have an influence on from production to consumption. Afterwards, participants will be able to identify actions for the planning, procurement, and management of food within their operations to improve overall impacts.

Duration: 1 hour

This course explores the link between water security and tourism, helping participants understand tourism's impact on water resources. It teaches tools to assess and manage hotel water use, enabling effective conservation and sustainable practices within hotel operations.

Duration: 1 hour 

This course teaches sustainable food management in hotels, emphasising the benefits of sustainable options and waste reduction strategies. Participants will gain skills to identify and implement measures that align with global sustainability goals, reducing environmental impact and enhancing hotel operations.

Duration: 1 hour

This online course by UNWTO and Booking.com covers sustainable water management for accommodations, including water stewardship, footprint calculation, and efficient technologies. With five interactive modules, it offers practical tips and best practices to help implement effective water management strategies.

Duration: 6 hours over 3 weeks

This online course by UNWTO and Booking.com covers sustainable water management for accommodations, including water stewardship, footprint calculation, and efficient technologies. With five interactive modules, it offers practical tips and best practices to help implement effective water management strategies. 

Duration: 6 hours over 3 weeks

This course explores water's role in SDG 6, covering the global water crisis, governance, climate impacts, and links to food, energy, and ecosystems. Through case studies, participants learn how water affects lives and how to promote sustainable water use.

Duration: 9 weeks, 3-5 hours per week

This self-paced course introduces Food & Beverage operations, covering types of F&B businesses, team leadership, employee management, menu planning, and profitability. Participants will gain practical insights to effectively lead F&B teams and optimise menu performance.

Duration: 1 hour

This course explores tourism’s link to global water security, focusing on water use and costs in hotels. It covers the water management cycle, strategies for savings, and ways to engage staff and guests in conserving water.

Duration: 1 hour

The Hotel Waste Measurement Methodology is a common approach for the hotel industry to collect waste data, and measure and report waste.

Duration: 44 pages

The Water Stewardship for Hotel Companies report guides hotels on managing water use and implementing stewardship programs. It defines water stewardship in the industry, outlines six key steps, and includes a tool to calculate property water use, with a webinar showing how to apply it.

Duration: 25 minutes

This report recommends six steps every hotel should take to better manage their impact on water, with guidance on setting targets, managing water use, working with supply chain and collaborating for maximum impact.

Duration: 25 pages

This self-paced course equips participants with skills to create effective hotel waste management plans, highlighting cost savings, environmental benefits, circular economy practices, and practical techniques to measure, reduce, and divert waste.

Self-paced