Quality Assessment, Certification and Marketing | DestiNet
There are more than 100 independent certificates for environmentally friendly and/or socially responsible "sustainable" tourism services, destinations and tour operators reflecting worldwide diversity based on local circumstances. A set of Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria for hotels and tour operators has been developed to harmonize the discussion on what sustainable tourism means for business development, giving guidance to regional, national and international certificates and other stakeholders in the global market place.
We are currently witnessing the linking of quality and sustainability evaluation processes, in which the assessment of product and service quality requires the inclusion of sustainability criteria and vice-versa. This combined approach addresses the need for sustainable businesses and destinations to be competitive and give customer satisfaction.
Marketing and branding of certified tourism have become important features of sustainable tourism development. The growing number of marketing tools and channels reflect the diversity of tourism worldwide.
Increasing the coverage of sustainability issues, ensuring the transparency of standards and procedures, maintaining the credibility of assessments and promised qualities, and improving visibility of the best choices are key to raising the market share of sustainable tourism. Independent control and financial affordability are essential to secure the short and long term participation of tourism businesses and stakeholders.
