Based on the guidelines of the Future of Tourism Coalition Innotime Hungary defined its own sustainable tourism development guidelines based on the characteristics of the tourist destinations of the Carpathian Basin. Based on these guidelines, we determine the unique values of our partners, which is the basis of our tourism product development, destination development, attraction development, brand building and marketing programs. All this is accompanied by a lot of research and monitoring work.
It must be seen that tourism, by its very nature, affects the destination as a whole, and affects the work of industrial enterprises in the same way as ecosystems, the use of natural resources, the inclusion of cultural assets and traditions, and communities.
You must know the publicly available, internationally approved minimum requirements of sustainable tourism practices maintained- by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) for destinations, you must also know the international good practices based on this and the possibilities of their adoption.
It is necessary to be able to develop a cooperation network, where all players in tourism know each other and are willing to understand each other's point of view and think together. The tools for this can be different for each destination, in the case of each destination, the problem points must first be identified and solved.
Tourism development should be guided by the quality of visitation, not the quantity of visitors, to enhance the travel experience while maintaining the character of the destination for the benefit of local communities.
You must be able to create complex tourism products that provide business benefits for the community as a whole,and you must be able to articulate these benefits (e.g. the creation of a local supply chain, local products in tourism, possibilities for guest houses, catering establishments, etc. in welcoming individual guests , optimizing revenues for all players in the tourism sector)
You must be able to develop and operate a monitoring system, that truly defines the destination's competitive advantages, such as small business development, revenue distribution, and the development of sustainable local supply chains, rather than the raw contribution to GDP growth or the number of guests as indicators.
You must be able to develop networked tourism experience programs that contribute to the reduction of CO2 emissions and the reduction of the climate crisis by complying with the Green guidelines .
Responding to the rapidly changing tourism demand, you need to find tourism program opportunities that appeal to a target audience that can make the destination more resilient to crises and increase the population's value of their own natural and cultural heritage.
In a few sentences, you must be able to define the USPs based on local cultural and historical foundations,which determine the uniqueness of the destination, and you must be able to connect the entire tourism experience chain to them. You must be able to find business practices that protect and utilize natural, scenic and cultural values, taking into account that the diversity of the destination is the main reason for travel.
It is necessary to identify, incentivize and reward those tourism businesses and associated businesses that, through their activities, create strong local supply chains and thereby enable higher quality products and experiences.
