Japan Tourism Agency has committed to formally adopt GSTC criteria as part of its tourism policy.

Japan has ambitious plans to grow tourism arrivals, but is determined to do this in a sustainable way. To that end, the adoption of the GSTC destination criteria is a major commitment and act of leadership.

Prof. Kumi Kato from Wakayama University and Minako Okada from JTB Tourism Research and Consulting Co. have been leading this project and working incredibly hard towards this position. They will be using the destination criteria to send a survey to all municipalities in the country in order to assess the current understanding of sustainability.

From this, the intention is to launch a series of training workshops to really drive up the level of sustainability expertise in Japan.

GSTC is delighted with this new partnership and looks forward to helping Japan achieve its sustainability objectives.