Managing destinations sustainably requires a process of continuous improvement and is not easy. The GSTC Criteria provides the basic framework in the process
The first steps include raising awareness – of sustainable tourism concepts by key leaders and stakeholders, and of the current situation at your destination. We recommend training and conducting some form of evaluation or assessment of the destination’s current practices.
To manage for continuous improvement – we strongly recommend compliance to Criterion A1 of the GSTC Destination Criteria, the creation of a multi-sector group that ensures sustainability is inherent in all practices of the public and private sectors at the destination.
GSTC offers these key resources for destination managers:
GSTC Destination Criteria – to be used as the essential tool for defining “sustainable destinations”, for raising awareness among stakeholders, for measurement and monitoring, and much more
GSTC Destination Assessments – conducted by GSTC’s own internal expert assessors. An assessment is made of how well your policies and practices adhere to the GSTC Destination Criteria, a useful tool for understanding how sustainable are your current practices and learning where to improve and where to maintain good practice. GSTC Assessors utilize the GSTC Destination Criteria.
Contact GSTC at destinations@gstcouncil.org
GSTC Accredited Certification Bodies can also conduct assessments based on their GSTC-Recognized standards. Destinations that are considering sustainable certification in the future may wish to engage directly with one of those organizations (note that GSTC does not directly certify; rather we accredit those that do).
Those GSTC Accredited Certification Bodies are listed here
GSTC Destination Sustainable Tourism Training – designed to inform policy-makers and destination managers on the core issues of “sustainable tourism”