Sustainable Tourism Course for Industry Professionals
Agoda is partnering with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) to support hotels develop sustainable tourism practices. Agoda supports its hotel partners to gain in-depth and applicable knowledge of the GSTC Criteria.
This is the third course, following the course in Singapore with 50 Singapore hotel professionals and in Taiwan with 30 hotel professionals.
The GSTC Sustainable Tourism Course provides the knowledge and tools needed to help improve sustainability practices in travel and tourism. The training covers the GSTC Criteria, the global baseline standards for sustainability in travel and tourism, and provides best practices for businesses and destinations.
This training course provides a sophisticated and solid way, as well as a two-day interactive training course with GSTC trainers and guest speaker to enhance your knowledge and skills for sustainable development.
This training course is not a theory. All learning will be systematically transfered into action to help you achieve your enterprise’s sustainability goals and fulfill the globally recognized standard of sustainability.
Date：July 3-4, 2023
Venue：AGODA OFFICE, The Offices at CentralWorld, Pathumwan, Bangkok, Thailand
Language：English
DAY 1 : July 3, 2023
| Time | Agenda | Learning Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 – 9:10 | Opening Remarks by Organizer CB Ram, Vice-chair, GSTC | |
| 9:10 – 9:30 | Opening Remarks by MOTS and Agoda Mr. Mongkon Wimonrat, Assistant Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Tourism and Sports Ms. Jun Dong, Associate Vice President, Agoda | |
| 9:30 – 10:30 | Morning Session 1: • Sustainable Tourism Overview: the definition and principles of sustainable tourism; issues, current trends, business case for sustainability. • Introduction to the GSTC and GSTC Criteria: an introduction to the GSTC Criteria; the GSTC’s roles in the global tourism industry. | Learning Goals: Understand the roles of the GSTC and the GSTC Criteria. Learn about and discuss relevant sustainability issues and tourism trends. |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break | |
| 11:00 – 12:30 | Morning Session 2: • GSTC Criteria Section A: best practices in sustainable tourism management approaches. • GSTC Destination Criteria (A. Sustainability Management) | Learning Goals: Become familiar with sustainability management principles and discuss best practices. |
| 12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch Break | |
| 13:30 – 15:00 | Afternoon Session 1: • GSTC Industry Criteria (A. Sustainable Management System) | Learning Goals: Become familiar with sustainability management principles and discuss best practices of hotels and tour operators. |
| 15:00 – 15:30 | Coffee Break | |
| 15:30 – 16:30 | Afternoon Session 2: • GSTC Industry Criteria (B. Socio-economic Sustainability) | Learning Goals: Understand issues and challenges related to the socioeconomic impacts of hotels and tour operators. Learn about sustainability practices that effectively address the socioeconomic impacts of hotels and tour operators. |
| 16:30 – 17:00 | Day 1 summary and wrap-up |
Day 2: July 4, 2023
| Time | Agenda | Learning Goals |
|---|---|---|
| 9:00 – 9:30 | • Day 1 Re-cap • Day 2 Introduction | |
| 9:30 – 10:30 | Morning Session 1: • GSTC Destination Criteria (B. Socio-economic Sustainability) | Learning Goals: Understand issues and challenges related to the socioeconomic impacts of tourism. Learn about sustainability practices that effectively address the socioeconomic impacts of tourism. |
| 10:30 – 11:00 | Coffee Break | |
| 11:00 – 12:30 | Morning Session 2: • GSTC Destination Criteria (C. Cultural Sustainability) | Learning Goals: Understand issues and challenges related to the impact of tourism on local cultural heritage. Learn about best practices on reducing negative impacts of tourism activities on local cultural heritage. |
| 12:30 – 13:30 | Lunch Break | |
| 13:30 – 14:00 | Afternoon Session 1: • GSTC Industry Criteria (C. Cultural Heritage Benefits and Impacts) | Learning Goals: Learn about best practices on reducing footprint and positively contributing to conservation. |
| 14:00 – 14:30 | Afternoon Session 2: • Guest speech: Tanaporn Oi-Isaranukul, Senior Operations Manager, Scholars of Sustenance Foundation (SOS) | |
| 14:30 – 14:45 | Coffee Break | |
| 14:45 – 16:30 | Afternoon Session 3: • GSTC Industry Criteria (D. Environmental Benefits and Impacts) • GSTC Destination Criteria (D. Environmental Sustainability) | Learning Goals: Understand issues and challenges related to the impact of business on the local environment. Learn about best practices on how a hotel business reducing negative impacts in terms of environmental sustainability. |
| 16:30 – 17:00 | • Day 2 summary • Training wrap-up: looking back and moving forward |
Testimonials
The overall learning experience was great! The internet platform, videos and resources are are very well explanatory and the weekly live sessions perfectly illustrate all criteria.
Benoit Sauvage, CEO, Connect DMCThe GSTC sustainable tourism course has helped me to consolidate the basis of sustainability opening my mind by teaching me different ways to approach tourism industry and destination from a sustainable point of view. It’s very rich to share ideas with people from all over the world. An excellent organization, I highly recommend it to anyone with curiosity about how to improve in the sustainable tourism industry.
Gemma Llobet, Sustainable Tourism Programme, Barcelona Tourism BoardI highly recommend the course to anyone interested to explore or deepen sustainability in tourism. It gives a great overview on all dimensions and how to tackle them hands-on. Course management and content are both at the highest level! Thanks!
Samuel Wille, Manager Strategic Partnership, Switzerland Tourism OrganizationThe GSTC training proved to be extremely helpful for me and my small-scale travel agency that I founded only 18 months ago. We definitely still have a long way to go on the road to sustainability but the GSTC training has been a very important step towards it. The training offers very detailed and concrete insights as well as general strategies to work towards a sustainable organisation.”
Treesje Vanderlinden, Keniaanse ToerenThis course is fantastic! So well organized, well balanced, and informative! Highly recommended for those that understand sustainable tourism to those just starting their journey. Excellent reviews, speakers, and instructors, very engaging!
Kelly Bricker, University of Utah, Department of Parks, Recreation and TourismIt was a great experience to complete my holistic knowledge of sustainable tourism and to get in contact with people and sustainable projects around the word which share the same values and goals.
Birgit Krüger, Consultant for sustainable tourism & marketing, TOURIMAR, GermanyThis course has been very relevant and provides in-depth knowledge of GSTC criteria for sustainable practices for destinations as well as the travel industry [with] plenty of real life examples and share links to plenty of reading material throughout the course. … As we move forward during these difficult COVID times, learning our lessons on the damage to nature, it becomes all the more important for industry professionals to get trained and step up efforts to embrace sustainability in all aspects of tourism. Hence, I recommend this course to all industry professionals.
Manisha Soti, The Walshe GroupThe GSTC programme, led by highly qualified and experienced facilitators and world class presenters, provides a thorough analysis and an integrated approach to sustainable tourism development. The brilliantly structured course, the live online sessions, discussion fora and extensive reference material gave us all access to much valuable information. In addition, the networking opportunities and rich sharing among the global participants, ourselves mostly ST experts, made for a most enriching and inspiring experience. It is wonderful to be part of a world-wide community of sustainable tourism practitioners, imparting such wisdom and committed to making a positive impact for all. Thank You GSTC for an outstanding programme!
Yvonne Armour, Responsible Tourism Development Specialist / EducatorFood for your brain! If sustainable tourism didn’t mean anything to you before, just subscribe to start your own journey towards sustainability whether you’re a traveler, or a stakeholder of the Tourism Industry!
Sonja Gottlebe, Consultante en Tourisme Responsable, MadagascarGSTC seminar helps to open the eyes and to develop a new regard on longevity of tourism and the entire sustainable content. I would advise to every professional body working in tourism to participate to this kind of seminar as soon as possible.
Dagmar Ehlen, Senior Product Manager, Cruise Services SAMThis course provided me with a thorough understanding of how to implement sustainable travel practices. I will definitely integrate information from this training into my work with travel organizations and destinations to help them achieve short-term progress through a long-term strategy.
Sophia Hyder Hock, Founder and CEO, PapiliaThe GSTC course was very professional and a great experience. I appreciated the communications via emails on what was next, what to expect. There is a lot of data on this topic and GSTC made if very easy to comprehend and the training is the best I have seen this far. I would highly recommend this course and educational training. I look forward to working very closely with GSTC in the future.
Debbie Meihls, President & CEO New Smyrna Beach Area Visitors BureauThis course has given me an approach to the GSTC Criteria, where the basic and complete structure to move forward on sustainable paths is visualized. The reflections generated through real examples, discussions and available material are key to better internalize what sustainability means. Ideas applicable to our business and our work area appear during the course that contribute positively to one’s reality. I will recommend this course, for its contribution to the objective, honest and constructive understanding of what sustainability is.
Agustin Landeta, Owner, Zenit TravelThis is exceptional to work with a group from all around the world and to share experiences from so many different tourism destinations. While learning more about each GSTC pillar & criteria I was encouraged to immediately apply the evaluation criteria to my own business and to challenge myself into a lot more sustainable actions.
Pascal Gavotto , Tourism Specialist and owner of Fatumaru Lodge - VanuatuMy course facilitator and teacher (Ayako and Antje) went above and beyond to answer our questions and provide us with additional resources. The course content (the GSTC Criteria) was delivered in an understandable and organized way. Learning the GSTC Criteria and how it applies to our own projects, businesses, and destinations is integral to anyone wanting to do any kind of work in the future centered around travel. I appreciated that the course was delivered in an interactive way over Zoom, and not just something we watched on YouTube. For me, being able to interact with fellow students from around the world, was a big plus. Was well worth it, and I highly recommend the course!
Deb Lace-Kelly, The Lost CompassThe course was very helpful to gain a deeper insight into sustainability in tourism and also to learn what challenges and realities other tourism professionals around the globe have to deal with.
Stefan Aerni, Quality & Sustainability manager, Dolder Hotel AGI enjoyed being able to learn about up to date and practical examples of sustainable tourism from operators and destinations around the globe.
E'Lisha V. Fogle, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, California State Polytechnic University, PomonaAs an adventure travel tour operator, we are focused on doing as much good as possible to every place and community we visit and sustainability is rightly gaining momentum, both with industry professionals and with our customers. Therefore having the knowledge from this course means you can stay ahead of the curve and ensure your efforts are being focused in the right areas. This course has allowed me to gain insights from right across the tourism spectrum, which I otherwise wouldn’t have had access to (not easily anyway!), as well as opening my eyes to just how much difference we can make.
Nikki, Exodus TravelsI would recommend GSTC training to anyone working in tourism development (communities, states, provinces) as well as the broad spectrum of industries (accommodations, transportation, attractions, etc.) engaged in the tourism “business.” Understanding what it means to build a sustainable tourism environment that is inclusive of all stakeholders is fundamental to the future of destinations and tourism itself.
Randal G. Baker, Ph.D., Director of Hospitality and Tourism program, St Cloud State University, U.S.A.EXAM & CERTIFICATE
GSTC Professional Certificate in Sustainable Tourism
GSTC Professional Certificate in Sustainable TourismBy completing this 2-day onsite course, you will meet the training requirement towards earning the GSTC Professional Certificate in Sustainable Tourism.
Once you complete the course, you will have have the option to take the GSTC Sustainable Tourism Training Exam. The exam takes place online, and you will have 2 weeks after the course to submit it. If you pass the exam, you will receive a Professional Certificate in Sustainable Tourism by the GSTC.
The certificate demonstrates your knowledge of sustainable tourism standards and practices.
GSTC Trainers
CB Ramkumar
Vice-chair & Trainer, GSTC
Mr. CB Ramkumar (Ram) is an author, speaker, trainer, consultant and an entrepreneur. He is passionate about sustainability and has over the years acquired application knowledge in sustainable living concepts. He developed a model for sustainable living when he built and founded Our Native Village, an eco resort just outside Bangalore, in South India. Over the last decade, he has extended his expertise to sustainable living – including topics such as sustainable food, sustainable health, sustainable marketing and branding.
Ram is also a trained Climate Leader after undergoing a training programme by the Former US Vice President and Nobel laureate, Mr. Al Gore. In addition to being a regular guest faculty in colleges across India, Ram is a guest faculty for the Indian Forest Officers training programme for eco tourism for the Jungle Lodges & Resorts in Karnataka and the International Centre for Environmental Audit & Sustainable Development in Jaipur.
Pornpol Noithammaraj
Trainer, GSTC
Mr. Noithammaraj is currently an independent sustainable tourism consultant in Thailand. For almost a decade, he worked for the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (Public Organization), a governmental agency responsible for developing tourism destination in sustainable manner. He has great experience on sustainable destinations development. Through those years, he undertook several related projects, e.g. sustainable tourism destination assessment program, water stewardship in tourism destinations, tangible and intangible cultural heritage inventory for tourism, tourism for all in cultural heritage site, etc. In addition, he also has experience in community and local stakeholder engagement, and he also understands tourism-related laws and policies in Thailand as well as its public administration and budget system.
Regarding GSTC, he has involved and supported many of its activities, e.g. translating GSTC-D v2.0 into Thai language, principle person to arrange 2019 GSTC Asia-Pacific Sustainable Tourism Conference in Chiangmai, Thailand, etc. He always mentions that still numbers of tourism personnels and related stakeholders in Thailand have language barrier. So he has big intention to deliver the training in Thai language and make such knowledge more accessible among Thai society.
Guest Speaker
Tanaporn Oi-Isaranukul
Senior Operations Manager, Scholars of Sustenance Foundation (SOS)
Ms. Tanaporn (Faii) Oi-isaranukul is a dynamic Senior Operations Manager at Scholars of Sustenance Foundation (Thailand). She oversees operations in Bangkok and Hua Hin, managing partnerships with food donors and ensuring that the entire Food Rescue Program, including logistics, food safety, and recipient standards, are upheld.
Tanaporn holds a Bachelor’s degree in Food Process Engineering and joined the foundation as a Project Assistant in 2016, quickly advancing to a management role. Under her guidance, the foundation now operates in four provinces, delivering over 5 tons of food surplus daily to
underprivileged communities. Tanaporn’s unwavering dedication drives impactful change by reducing food waste and enhancing food security in Thailand.
Note for the registration:
The course is sponsored by Agoda and is limited to invited hotel partners. Only one representative from each hotel participates can register for this course.
This training course includes:
After the 2-day training, you will receive the certificate of completion with GSTC, Agoda, and the MOTS logo.
Please note that the exam fee (USD $75) is not included in the above training course. If you want to take the GSTC Sustainable Tourism Training Exam after the course, you can apply online and further information will be sent in the training closing email.
