GSTC-Recognized Standards for Hotels
GSTC-Recognized Standards are sustainable tourism standards that adhere to and are equivalent to the GSTC Criteria. This means that the GSTC Criteria are included within the set of standards owned by a Certification Body, by a municipal, provincial, or national tourism authority, by specialized tourism organization, or by large tourism businesses with multiple business units.
GSTC-Recognized means that a sustainable tourism standard has been reviewed by GSTC technical experts and the GSTC Assurance Panel, and deemed equivalent to the GSTC Criteria for sustainable tourism. This means that the GSTC has verified that the standard aligns with the GSTC Criteria and that any additional clauses do not contradict GSTC Criteria requirements. GSTC Recognition does not ensure that the certification process is reliable, only that the set of standards used to certify includes the minimum elements to ensure sustainability. A Certification Body that utilizes a GSTC-Recognized standard may apply for GSTC-Accreditation which relates to the quality and neutrality of their certification process.
The following standards have been Recognized as aligned with the GSTC Industry Criteria for Hotels and Accommodations
(visit here for GSTC-Recognized Standards for Tour Operators)
(visit here for GSTC-Recognized Standards for Destinations)
This is a list of standards. GSTC has NOT analyzed the quality of the process of certification of these standards except those that have been accredited by GSTC. Note that from January 2025 owners of existing Recognized Standards used for ‘certification’ had to formally pursue accreditation or enter into the arrangement with GSTC whereby they act as a ‘Certification Scheme’. Those that haven’t done so had their GSTC-Recognized Standard status terminated on 1 January 2025. Read more here. |
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GSTC does NOT certify directly. The GSTC Criteria appear in this list to clarify the point that Certification Bodies that gain accreditation have the option to certify by using their own GSTC-Recognized standard or by using the GSTC Criteria. |
GSTC-Recognized Standards for Hotels
(participating in the GSTC Market Access Program)
The Austrian Ecolabel for Tourism and Leisure-time Industry was the first national eco-label for tourism worldwide. It was implemented in 1996 by the Austrian Ministry for Sustainability and Tourism. Almost all types of tourism businesses can be awarded for their commitment in the fields of environmentally friendly management and social responsibility through independent third-party audits on site. The Ecolabel for tourist accommodation covers businesses of any size fulfilling an advanced set of criteria developed and regularly updated in a comprehensive stakeholder process involving tourism as well as environmental experts.
The Cape Verdean Sustainability Standard for Tourist Accommodations was created by initiative of the Institute for Quality Management and Intellectual Property (IGQPI), to provide guidelines for Tourist Accommodations, so that the services provided as well as their business are based on the best practices of sustainable tourism. This standard is based on four pillars: Sustainability Management System, Environmental Dimension, Social Dimension and Economic Dimension.
The Chilean national system for distinction of sustainable tourism recognize the efforts of tourist accommodation that have progressed in any field of sustainability, differentiating its members over their competitors while ensuring visitors each organization’s commitment to sustainability.
The Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST), established by the Costa Rican Tourism Institute in 1997, was created to provide guidelines for hotel properties and service providers to build their business model based on the best sustainable tourism practices – the management and impact of the natural, cultural and social resources of the country. The criteria and indicators that are valued to award certification include: business management; social, cultural and economic management; environmental management; and the management of specific indicators according to category. More information on the CST program.
The purpose of EarthCheck. The purpose of the EarthCheck Company Standard is to provide organisations with a framework for environmental and social sustainability. This Standard includes requirements specific to other management systems, such as quality, environment, occupational health and safety, risk management and corporate social reporting, and its elements can be integrated with those of other management systems. The Standard ensures a high level of alignment to ISO14001, ISO50001, ISO26000, ISO9001, the GRI, the HCMI, the SDGs, and the GSTC Criteria. EarthCheck Evaluate assesses an operator’s economic, social and environmental impact.
Ecostars is a hotel-specific sustainability program that awards eco-stars based on a hotel’s environmental impact per stay. The program’s “21st-century evaluation methodology” combines digitalization and objective ESG evaluation by leveraging on cutting-edge technology and statistical analysis to assess quantitative dimensions, supplemented by adherence to Ecostars standards.
Green Growth 2050 has been developed to meet the needs of tourism and travel businesses seeking today’s solutions to the issues driving social, cultural and environmental change. The Green Growth 2050 Global Standard and Sustainability Reporting Framework is an international online solution designed to allow travel and tourism organisations to assess the overall sustainability and CSR performance of their existing individual properties and portfolios.
The Green Star Hotel Certificate for tourist’s accommodation businesses is awarded to tourist accommodations in Egypt for their commitment in the field of environmentally friendly management and social responsibility. The Green Star Hotel Certification Programme is a national certification and capacity building programme under the patronage of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism. It has been developed as a public private project between the key stakeholders from the German and Egyptian tourism market , the Egyptian tourism authorities and the German International Cooperation to enhance the quality and environmental awareness and raise the competiveness and environmental performance of the Egyptian tourist accommodation industry. By starting with the key sector in the Egyptian tourism industry, the hotel sector, a first step is taken to move the whole tourism sector towards more sustainability. On the long run, other sectors such as cruise ships and diving should follow.
The GreenSign program was created for the hotel industry by GreenSign Institut GmbH and is based in Berlin, Germany. With many hotels in 15 countries using this standard, GreenSign is also represented outside of Germany, mainly in Europe. Almost 100 criteria in the GreenSign catalog standard offer the opportunity to combine ecology, economy and social responsibility without sacrificing comfort for guests. The standard covers the areas of management and communication, the environment (energy, water, waste), biodiversity and cultural heritage, purchasing, regionality and mobility, quality management and sustainable development, and social and economic responsibility.
GreenStep’s Sustainable Tourism standard is used by GreenStep Solutions in their assessment and certification program which provides tools, resources, and consultative support to destinations and businesses across the tourism industry. The Sustainable Tourism standard enables tourism businesses to measure their sustainability performance in several key categories; management, social, economic, natural, cultural, and environmental.
Green Tourism has been at the forefront of championing sustainable tourism since 1997. As a world-leading sustainability standard with a 3,000-strong global membership, our reason for being is to empower the tourism and hospitality industry to raise its sustainability standards. We provide manageable ways for businesses to adopt more sustainable activities and help to embed responsible and sustainable practices across the visitor economy.
Our GreenCheckTM assessment is based on our three key pillars of People, Places, and Our Planet, and aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Every assessment is verified by our qualified assessors – making it the trusted sustainable tourism benchmark.
Hoteles más Verdes (“Greener Hotels”) is the Sustainability Certification Program of the Asociación de Hoteles de Turismo de Argentina (AHT) that promotes the adoption of sustainable tourism good practices in the hospitality industry since 2010.The program certifies with the Eco-label “Hoteles más Verdes” those hotel companies that prove by auditing good practices of ethical, environmental and socially responsible management with its stakeholders and the host community of the destinations of Argentina.
The EcoCheck Standard is designed to allow hotels to demonstrate both a meaningful commitment and verifiable results with regard to sustainability. The GSTC-Recognized standard is used in EcoCheck modules that combine the expertise of our global network of consultants with the ECristal online management system that allows clients to track continuous improvement and capture key sustainability data. For further information click here.
The Mauritian Standard on Sustainable Tourism (MS 165:2019), Blue Oasis, was developed to guide the sustainable development of the tourism industry in Mauritius.The focus of the Sustainability Tourism Standard is to address requirements of the environmental impacts and its effect on land, air, water and other organism and ecosystem of the island. The social-cultural impacts that affect local communities, social structure and cultures as well as economic impacts categorised as direct, indirect or induced. These requirements to be measured, monitored and evaluated for continual improvement of the sustainability of the tourism industry in Mauritius.
The previous «Miosótis Azores» aimed to reward good sustainability practices in tourist accommodation in the Azores, evaluating three categories of environmental performance: Energy Management, Waste Management and Water Management.
This new version of the standard is based on the four pillars of the GSTC Criteria – Sustainable Management, Socioeconomic, Cultural and Environmental Principles.
The Preferred by Nature Standard for Sustainable Travel Activities includes several core criteria that guide and encourage sustainable management practices by creating positive impact on people, nature, and climate. The Standard advocates for preserving biodiversity and ecosystems while fostering local economic development, cultural preservation, and heritage promotion, offering a holistic approach for travel organizations to embrace sustainable practices and enhance destination sustainability. The Standard is designed to apply to any travel organization, including Accommodations and Tour Operators seeking to measure, evaluate, and improve its sustainability performance, regardless of their size or type.
Being GSTC-Recognized ensures Qualmark’s commitment towards sustainability to visitors traveling in New Zealand; and it guarantees that Qualmark’s Standard is aligned with universal criteria for sustainable management, social and economic benefits to the local community, cultural heritage preservation, and the reduction of pollution. Qualmark is New Zealand tourism’s official quality assurance organization focusing on the accommodation sector and visitor experiences, transport and activities.
The ‘Sakura Quality An ESG Practice Standard’ for hotels and ryokans in Japan. Sakura Quality is a joint quality certification system between Tourism Quality Assurance Association (TQAA), tourism regions, and DMOs in partnership with TQAA. It is a quality certification system that defines “safety, security, and sincerity” as “quality” that is required of accommodation facilities and reflects customer needs. TQAA manages the standards, manages the logo mark, conducts surveys and research on customer needs, trains surveyors, is the certification body, and operates “third-party committees” consisting of members who are neutral, objective, and highly knowledgeable, to support quality certification systems by DMOs and other organizations.
The Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Label which is a certification programme aims to enhance the quality and sustainability of visitors’ experiences by mitigating tourism’s negative economic, environmental and social impacts on the destination and contributing to the preservation of natural and cultural treasures for the future generations of Seychelles.
visitBerlin promotes the sustainable development of Berlin’s tourism and events industry with the programs “Sustainable Tourism Berlin” for suppliers in the leisure tourism industry and “Sustainable Meetings Berlin” for partners from the business travel tourism industry. The 65 process-oriented criteria for the standards have been developed on the basis of internationally recognized frameworks like ISO-standards, the German national sustainability code (Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitskodex) and the GSTC Industry Criteria.
For over 10 years, the Green Hotel project, lead by the Department of Climate Change and Environment of Thailand (DCCE), has worked to enhance Thai hotels’ resource efficiency and environmental management, and prepare them for international environmental standard assessment. The Green Hotel Standards journey (through Bronze, Silver and Gold Awards) focuses on improving sustainability practices and reducing the environmental impact of hotels in Thailand. The GSTC-Recognised Green Hotel Plus Standard (ENG/Thai) builds on this foundation, covering management, staff, child and animal welfare and climate. The GH Plus enables Thai hotels to seamlessly transition from national to international sustainability standards.
The India & South Asian based nature tourism focused organisation, TOFTigers has its PUG Eco- rating certification recognised as a part of its attempts to help use the booming market in nature tourism across India and South Asia as a tool for conservation of forest and wildlife, including tigers. Alongside over 220 of the world’s best known tour operators, agents and lodge members, its promotes a purchasing supply chain campaign to promote better tourism, better training and better monitoring and advises Governments, States, parks, providers and visitors on best practice in nature tourism, to ensure a fair and equitable future for nature, visitors and bordering park communities.
Türkiye Sustainable Tourism lndustry Criteria (TR-I) is the main component used in Türkiye’s Sustainable Tourism Program and have been built to ensure sustainable growth of the Turkish tourism industry. TR-I includes both criteria that comply with the social and cultural structure of Türkiye and globally recognized sustainable tourism criteria. TR-I standard was introduced under the guidance of the Republic of Türkiye Ministry of Culture and Tourism and the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA). TR-I have adopted all GSTC Industry Criteria and will be revised according to updating period of the GSTC Criteria.
The GSTC Criteria serve as the basis for determining whether other standards are “GSTC Recognized”. That means that by definition the GSTC Criteria can be considered “Recognized.” It also means that any Certification Body that uses the GSTC Criteria for their certification program is using a GSTC Recognized standard. Please note that GSTC Accredited means that a Certification Body uses the GSTC Criteria or another GSTC-Recognized set of standards to certify, AND has undergone a rigorous verification process by the GSTC to verify that their certification program is neutral and competent.
GSTC-Recognized Standards for Hotels
(not eligible for the GSTC Market Access Program)
The Ascott Limited (Ascott) has gained GSTC-Recognized Status for its system adopting the GSTC Industry Criteria. The stated scope and applicability of the GSTC Industry Criteria includes corporate offices and all managed branded properties globally.
Ascott, a lodging business unit wholly owned by CapitaLand Investment, is a hospitality company with more than 920 properties globally, spanning over 220 cities across more than 40 countries. Ascott CARES, its sustainability programme, which is a part of the System, is centered around five pillars representing the acronym CARES – Community, Alliance, Respect, Environment and Supply chain.
If you want to learn more about the technical information of GSTC Recognized Systems, please see here.
Barceló Hotel Group’s sustainabilty strategy confirms the company’s commitment to maximise the positive impact on the destinations in which it operates with the aim of actively developing a more regenerative tourism and participating in the creation of fairer societies, ensuring the well-being of people and care for the environment. A challenge that has defined the company’s activity since its foundation more than 90 years ago.
Barceló Hotel Group is the first Spanish hotel chain whose sustainability standards, known as Barceló ReGen Standards, are recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). This is a first step towards the consolidation of the group’s sustainability strategy and making its gradual implementation a reality in all hotels worldwide. An ambitious project of cultural transformation with the aim of consolidating its commitment to generate a positive impact in the places where it is present.
Barcelo’s sustainability standards are integrated into its own management system called Ser Barceló, which is aligned with Barceló ReGen Sustainability Policy and key international commitments that the company is subscribed to as United Nations Global Compact. Ser Barceló provides manuals, tools and continuous training for each operational department in order to achieve the implementation of the company’s quality standards, complying with sustainability commitments and guaranteeing excellence in customer service. To accomplish this, the management system features a digital platform that enables its effective execution across the company’s entire hotel portfolio.
The Centara EarthCare is Centara’s internal sustainability standard, used by the group’s hotels and resorts for adherence to sustainable practices based on the GSTC Criteria. For tracking, measuring and improving in areas of environmental sustainability and social responsibility at property or multi-site level, Centara is using the Greenview Portal, which is a GSTC-Recognized System. The platform allows Centara to track, benchmark, report and improve on various aspects of environmental and social performance.
The Greenview Portal is an industry-specific system developed by Singapore-based consultancy Greenview that allows hotel companies to track, measure and improve in areas of environmental sustainability and social responsibility at property or multi-site level. The online platform allows hotel owners, operators, and affiliations to track, benchmark, report and improve on various aspects of environmental and social performance. Greenview Portal is a GSTC -Recognized System.
The Six Senses Sustainable Operations Guidelines were crafted to guarantee that every one of their properties is aligned in their dedication to achieving a harmonious balance among economic growth, environmental preservation, and social well-being. This policy framework aims to establish a cohesive and sustainable approach across all Six Senses properties, ensuring they not only thrive economically but also contribute positively to the environment and the communities they are part of.
Sustainable Tourism Network (formely Sustainable Travel Ireland / Ecotourism Ireland) is Ireland’s leading and longest-running body for the promotion of sustainable and responsible tourism, training and certifying businesses for over 10 years. Founded in 2009, Ecotourism Ireland set out to develop ecotourism in Ireland, and to highlight the best of what the country had to offer whilst ensuring its heritage and environment were preserved for this and future generations. Today, Sustainable Tourism Network has the same mission but broader, aiming to drive the development of a new, sustainable model for ALL tourism in Ireland, and has formally adopted the GSTC Industry Criteria to be used in Ireland by accommodations and tour operators.
Stay for the Planet Regulations and Technical Notes is used in the Stay for the Planet, which is a hotel management system launched by LifeGate in 2011. It provides a sustainability rating system as a result of the hotel performance in six areas (Energy, Water, Waste, Purchasing, Behaviours, People) as well as some key environmental indicators and suggestions for improvement actions. The aim of the system is to assess the sustainability performance of hotels, helping hoteliers to enhance their sustainability approach in order to provide customers with an environmentally friendly and conscious stay experience.