United Nations Entities – STSC:
Setting the Criteria for Sustainable Tourism
Travel Pulse, 2008
By Robin Tauck
More travel associations, travel companies, tour operators and travel agencies are heeding the call to social responsibility and “making a difference” by learning, becoming aware and making smart choices for sustainable travel. These are companies that care and stay current. Yet, how do you choose wisely? What to recommend? On what basis do you feel trust and security in your decisions? Help is on the way.
This past year has been hard work and high gear expansive work for the Strategic Coalition working for global conservation and standardized sustainability criteria. The goal is a “trusted seal of approval” that is dependable and well marketed.
The United Nations & Conservation Organizations
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Conservation Union (IUCN)
and United Nations Foundation (UNF) have joined leading Conservation companies in
a collective partnership with leaders in global hospitality and tourism organizations
from over 50 countries to craft and adopt a standardized set of criteria – that
will set the stage for accreditation and “seal of approval” rating systems. It is
potential that the EPA and US Federal Trade Commission will be engaged to help unite
federal and state standards.
With over 1.5 billion international visitors expected by 2015 (double in just the previous decade), criteria for sustainability and steps to environmental protection are a must to combat “greenwashing” and provide valid accreditation. Coalitions, partnerships and world leaders are “acting” now on baseline, accepted measurements.
The initial work, which is substantive by all means, is to identify common sustainable tourism requirements from known initiatives across the world. The result from dozens of organizations is to harmonize the language to a minimum set of guidelines with strong applicability primarily in hospitality sectors of accommodations and tour operations.
Emerging and voluntary at this point, the aforementioned global criteria are carefully vetted towards well established accreditation and scientific, measurable standards, that exist in over 25 leading audit firms. Taken in their entirety, the list establishes business practices that are beneficial to the environment, social-cultural development and smart economic principles.
The criteria center around the four pillars of Sustainable Tourism which include adopting an effective sustainable policy with improvement measurements, maximizing social and economic benefits to the local community, minimizing environmental negative impacts, and engaging and involving stakeholders and constituents in a broad effort.
Sustainable Tourism & Global Baseline Criteria
Officially titled, the Global Baseline Criteria (GBC), the direction is set by the
Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council (STSC). The outreach, education and global
adoption is provided by the UNEP and UNF. The United States hospitality and tourism
industry is encouraged to participate and provide feedback; heretofore the initiative
has taken hold primarily in European nations, the UK and other parts of the Americas.
Posted on UN websites, information is available at www.sustainabletourismcriteria.org.
As an interested travel leader and advocate, I join the coalition along with ASTA and other leaders from major hotel and hospitality firms, conservation and tourism.
Two years in the making, the Global Criteria and it’s impact was announced at the World Conservation Congress (IUCN) in Barcelona in October 2008, by United Nations Foundation funder Ted Turner, and President Tim Wirth. Approximately 8,000 attended; and the UNWTO took center stage, with keynote speeches and strategic panels and workshops on the Global Baseline Criteria.
The 40 criteria are being finalized to correspond to measurement and audit standards, to appeal to a broad category of travel service providers, to resonate with consumers and the marketplace and to act as a trusted “stamp of approval” providing needed sellers and buyers of travel worldwide.
Information and key note speeches will occur at Tourism Cares Leadership Summits, ASTA, PATA Travel Mart, International Hotel Conference, Ecotourism Conference, USTOA ,World Travel Mart, ABTA and other key conferences.
If you wish to join the movement, contact the UN Foundation, peruse the websites, lend your companies name and join meetings, which currently offer several engagement options. For specificity on the STSC, contact our website, UNF or the Corporate Responsibility officers of these companies: American Society of Travel Agents, Choice Hotels, Conde Nast Traveler, Conservation International, Expedia Inc, Federation of tour Operators, Hyatt Hotels, International Hotel & Restaurant Association, Kenyan Tourism Society, Rainforest Alliance, Sabre Holdings, Solimar International, Sustainable Travel International, International Ecotourism Society, Tourism Cares, Travel Weekly, United Nations organizations, VISIT and many more, are adding ahead.
Please consider finding out more about this crucial effort to support universally adopted criteria for sustainable tourism – as the tour and travel industry joins so many other industries in global trade and commerce. The future of our industry and our society depends upon it and will occur with genuine improvements by the collective community.