Tourism Indochina: UN launches best practices for sustainable tourism

Tourism Indochina: UN launches best practices for sustainable tourism

(Tourism Indochina:Date : 2008-10-09):

While ‘sustainable tourism’ and ‘environmental sustainability’ have been critical buzzwords around the industry these past few months, this is the first time the UN has launched a globally relevant best practices criteria.

Launched together with the Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), this newest UN framework has been 15 months in the making.

“Sustainability is just like the old business adage: ‘you don’t encroach on the principal, you live off the interest’,” said Ted Turner, United Nations Foundation Founder and Chairman.

“Unfortunately, up to this point, the travel industry and tourists haven’t had a common framework to let them know if they’re really living up to that maxim.

“But the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) will change that. This is a win-win initiative – good for the environment and good for the world’s tourism industry,” he adds.

Announced at the International Union for the Conservation of Nature’s (IUCN) World Conservation Congress, the GSTC was founded by a coalition of 27 organizations, including representatives from the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.

“In order to minimize the negative impacts of this growth, sustainability should translate from words to facts, and be an imperative for all tourism stakeholders,” adds Francesco Frangialli, UNWTO Secretary-General.

“The GSTC initiative will undoubtedly constitute a major reference point for the entire tourism sector and an important step in making sustainability an inherent part of tourism development.”

It is estimated by the UNWTO that by 2020, 1.6 billion travellers will be crisscrossing the planet.

More than 4,500 criteria were analyzed and more than 80,000 people in the creation of the GSTC.

Full criteria can be found at www.SustainableTourismCriteria.org.

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