UNWTO flagship publication on ‘Tourism for Development’ has been released. This publication, as key outcome of the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development 2017 (IY2017), addresses the changes needed in policies, business practices and consumer behaviour for tourism to effectively contribute to the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
The GSTC Criteria is referred to in Volume 1, Page 110: Voluntary standards and certification schemes:
“Voluntary tools include sustainability standards with schemes to certify the compliance of tourism businesses – and, more recently, of destinations – with these standards. For instance, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council has established a set of Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria, which are being used to guide the sector generally, while strengthening consistency in the standards and processes used by sustainability certification schemes. Many examples of certification schemes exist at the country-level. Noteworthy examples include, for instance, the Green Scheme by Slovenia Tourism, Argentina’s Sustainable Hotel Certification Programme and Egypt’s Green Star Hotel Programme. Certification schemes have proved successful in influencing sustainability performance among participants.”
The two-volume report is now available online (free download) in the UNWTO E-library