The Partnership for Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria
Working together for the universal adoption of sustainable tourism principles
The Partnership
The Partnership for Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC Partnership) is a coalition of 32 organizations working together to foster increased understanding of sustainable tourism practices and the adoption of universal sustainable tourism principles. The Partnership was initiated by the Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Foundation, and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). These criteria will be the minimum standard that any tourism business should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain the world’s natural and cultural resources while ensuring tourism meets its potential as a tool for poverty alleviation. To learn more, visit www.SustainableTourismCriteria.org.
Additional members of the GSTC Partnership Steering Committee are the American Hotel & Lodging Association (AH&LA), American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA), Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism (CAST), Choice Hotels, Condé Nast Traveler, Conservation International (CI), Ecotourism Kenya, ECOTRANS, Expedia, Inc., Federation of Tour Operators (FTO), German Sustainable Development Cooperation Agency (GTZ), HM Design, Hyatt Hotels and Resorts, Instituto do Hospitalidade, International Hotel & Restaurant Association (IH&RA), the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS), the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), National Geographic Adventure, National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations, Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA), the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD), Solimar International, Sustainable Travel International (STI), The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), Tourism Concern, Travel Weekly-US, Travelocity/Sabre, and VISIT.
Background and Objectives
Sustainable tourism is on the rise: consumer demand is growing, travel industry suppliers are developing new green programs, and governments are creating new policies to encourage sustainable practices in tourism. But what does sustainable tourism really mean and how can it be measured and credibly demonstrated to build consumer confidence, promote efficiency, and fight greenwashing?
In an effort to come to a common understanding of sustainable tourism, the GSTC Partnership is developing a set of baseline criteria organized around the four pillars of sustainable tourism: effective sustainability planning; maximizing social and economic benefits to the local community; reduction of negative impacts to cultural heritage; and reduction of negative impacts to environmental heritage.
To develop these criteria, the partnership consulted with sustainability experts and the tourism industry and reviewed more than 60 existing certification and voluntary sets of criteria already being implemented around the globe. In all, more than 4,500 criteria have been analyzed and the resulting draft criteria have received comments from over 1000 stakeholders. When the consultation process is complete and the criteria are launched in October 2008, the partnership will focus on engaging all tourism stakeholders – from purchasers to suppliers to consumers – to adopt the criteria. To facilitate this, the partnership will develop educational materials and technical tools to guide hotels and tour operators through the process of implementing sustainable tourism best practices. Some of the expected uses of the criteria include the following:
- Serve as basic guidelines for businesses of all sizes to become more sustainable, and help businesses choose sustainable tourism programs that fulfill these global criteria;
- Serve as guidance for travel agencies in choosing suppliers and sustainable tourism programs;
- Help consumers identify sound sustainable tourism programs and businesses;
- Serve as a common denominator for media to recognize sustainable tourism providers;
- Help certification and other voluntary programs ensure that their standards meet a broadly-accepted baseline;
- Offer governmental, non-governmental and private sector programs a starting point for developing sustainable tourism requirements; and
- Serve as baseline guidelines for education and training bodies such as hotel schools and Universities.
- To view the criteria and learn more, visit www.SustainableTourismCriteria.org.
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