GSTC Sustainable Tourism Criteria

In short

The global baseline Criteria (Industry + Destination) for sustainable tourism. It certifies operators and destinations as a recognised standard.

What it is

The GSTC Criteria, now called the GSTC Standards, are global baseline standards for sustainability in travel and tourism developed by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. They are organized into four pillars covering sustainable management, socioeconomic impacts, cultural impacts, and environmental impacts including resource use and conservation of biodiversity. They exist as Destination Criteria and Industry Criteria for hotels and tour operators, with further standards for attractions and MICE venues, and they set the minimum that tourism businesses and destinations should meet. They serve as a basis for certification, policy making, and education, and conformity is confirmed through certification rather than through tradable credits.

What it rewards

The reward is a credit called a GSTC Recognition / Certification (GSTC). One credit stands for one certified tourism operator or destination. A verified, community-benefiting, conservation-linked travel experience. A whole period of work is issued as one batch of credits at a time, in the same way a registry issues a batch.

What gets measured

To earn GSTC credits, a project has to measure and prove a few things. An independent reviewer checks the evidence before any credits are issued.

• Natural-heritage assets (type, status, vulnerability). D1 requires a list of natural-heritage assets with conservation status and vulnerability.

• Ecosystem / habitat / species monitoring. A system to monitor and respond to tourism impacts on species and habitats.

• Invasive-species detection & control. Programmes to prevent, eradicate and control invasive species.

• Tourism-impact monitoring. Impacts monitored against quantifiable environmental indicators.

Who takes part

• Standard Registry. Owns the policy, approves participants, anchors each issuance to its evidence.

• Project Proponent. Registers the project and submits monitoring reports.

• Validation & Verification Body. Independently validates the design and verifies monitored data.

How it works

1. 1

   The project team registers the project and its plan.

2. 2

   An independent reviewer checks that the plan is sound and that the benefit is real and would not have happened anyway.

3. 3

   The team looks after the site and measures the agreed indicators over time.

4. 4

   The independent reviewer verifies those measurements.

5. 5

   Credits are issued for the verified result, and a buyer can retire a credit to claim the benefit once.