The Global Partnership for Sustainable Tourism is an organizational network of tourism stakeholders of the public and private sectors, non-profits, UN agencies and programmes, international organizations and academic institutions. Partner organizations share the common vision and understanding of the goal of "sustainable tourism" and collaborate internationally, regionally or nationally to transform tourism globally.

The mission is to transform the way tourism is done worldwide by building partnerships to support the implementation of sustainable tourism practices at destinations through adoption of effective policies, innovative and transformative projects, sharing of knowledge and experience. The implementation-oriented approach focuses on building effective partnerships. The Coordinating Office of the Global Partnership is jointly managed by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).

A key objective of the Global Partnership is to provide guidance for developing sustainable tourism projects, promote sharing of best practices and encourage reporting of demonstrable results. To this end, the Global Partnership serves as a clearinghouse for sustainable tourism projects.

This is done by:

Networking - to support our partners and tourism stakeholders globally in sharing experiences, successes and resources to accomplish the mission.

Sustainable tourism projects and proposals - The Global Partnership provides technical assistance to countries and advice to partners in the development and implementation of sustainable tourism projects. This is the core service. The sustainable tourism project screening tool, a web-based service that screens submitted projects against criteria developed for each of the 7 priority themes screens:

1. Policy Frameworks & Governance
2. Climate Change
3. Environment & Biodiversity
4. Poverty Alleviation
5. Cultural and Natural Heritage
6. Private Sector Sustainability Practices
7. Integration of Sustainability into Finance & Investment

Research & Knowledge: access to research, guidelines, tools and reports from UN agencies, international organizations and academic institutions provide industry solutions and support monitoring and measurement of sustainability outcomes.

United Nation Environment Programme (UNEP), Ministry of Tourism of the Republic of Croatia, the Government of France, Ministry of Tourism of the Kingdom of Morocco, Ministry of Environment of the Republic of Korea, the Travel Foundation, World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC), United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), Regional Tourism Organization of Southern Africa (RETOSA), and Word Tourism Organization (UNWTO).