Launched at the eleventh UNCTAD quadrennial ministerial conference in São Paulo, Brazil, in June 2004, the E-Tourism Initiative is part of UNCTAD's task force on sustainable tourism for development. 

The Initiative is part of the UNCTAD XI Information and Communication Technologies  for Development Partnership. This partnership encompasses activities in the areas of free and open-source software, e-tourism, ICT policies, e-measurement, ICT indicators and e-finance.

Linking sustainable tourism and ICTs for development, the demand-driven E-Tourism Initiative will strengthen developing country capacities to promote their tourism product and dynamically match it to worldwide demand.

The Initiative focuses on the development and implementation of ICT-based tools that will help communities tap the international market by strengthening and including local institutional and human capacities in the global market and promoting local involvement and ownership.

The E-Tourism Initiative is part of UNCTAD's technical cooperation activities.