As a service activity that is traded internationally, and given its cross-cutting implications for development, tourism falls under UNCTAD's mandate in a variety of areas.

In June 2004,the Member States of UNCTAD gathered in São Paulo for the eleventh quadrennial Conference on Trade and Development, UNCTAD XI agreed on a Declaration known as the "São Paulo Consensus". Under article 99 of this text, member states give UNCTAD a specific mandate in term of sustainable tourism:

"UNCTAD should assist developing countries in strengthening their capabilities to increase their participation in global services trade, including the assessment of their trade in services capacity, particularly in the new and emerging fields of information and communication technology, but also in such areas as infrastructure and tourism services, especially the promotion of sustainable tourism, as well as the temporary movement of natural persons ".

In addition, the Lisbon Declaration (March 2004) on Sustainable Tourism for Development states that "UNCTAD […] should continue its analytical work and capacity-building activities to help enhance the contribution of sustainable tourism to export diversification, development and poverty reduction in developing countries".

Furthermore, the UNCTAD X Plan of Action (Bangkok, February 2000), in its paragraph 148, requested the secretariat to continue to assist developing countries and countries in transition in building up a service infrastructure in the areas of customs, transportation, banking, insurance and tourism. The Plan of Action of the Third UN Conference on LDCs (Brussels, May 2001) also laid out actions to be implemented by both LDCs and development partners. Tourism features prominently in the Canary Island Declaration (March 2001), in which the potential of sustainable tourism as an engine for development in the LDCs is widely recognized.