We became members of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)
Innotime has become a member of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSC)!
Our company has been providing professional support to domestic settlements, tourism communities and destination management organizations for years. Green Destionations to obtain sustainable certification, and in addition, it holds professional training programs for Good Travel Seal in order to learn about the certification. It also prepares tourism service providers and attractions with individual mentoring – in Hungarian – to obtain certification based on GSTC standards.
As a GSTC member, our primary goal is to establish a national system in Hungary supporting sustainable tourism similar to the Slovenian, Estonian and Austrian models, and we also consider it particularly important to establish a professional network supporting international sustainable tourism covering the V4 countries and the Carpathian Basin, in which Poland, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Romania participate, in cooperation with Slovenia and Austria, as well as with Hungary's sending markets, since the demand for sustainability is now most clearly expressed by the guests. The first results of this professional partnership will be presented on April 17th in the framework of the international workshop on sustainable destination development in Miskolc, on the 0th day of the GASTOUR conference, but the company is already working on further projects.
Innotime's employees are practical tourism professionals who have achieved significant results in the field of tourism development in previous years, are both skilled in strategic and project planning, and also have significant operational experience (accommodation, tourist attractions, etc.). As a consulting company, they are currently involved in the development and implementation of several projects, and are open to professional support for any regional, settlement or service provider project that, in addition to curbing greenwashing, supports the development of sustainable tourism based on international standards and that simultaneously considers environmental, social and economic sustainability.
What is GSTC?
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) is a global tourism organization that aims to promote sustainable travel and tourism worldwide. GSTC sets and manages global standards that fall into two categories: destination criteria, which are aimed at policy makers and managers of tourism destinations, and service provider criteria, which apply to hotels, attractions, tour operators, travel agents, etc. These criteria are the result of developing a common language on tourism sustainability, in four main areas: sustainable management, socio-economic, cultural and environmental impacts.
GSTC does not directly certify products or services, but provides an accreditation program that allows certification bodies to certify hotels, tour operators and tourist destinations that have sustainable policies and practices. GSTC accredited certification bodies include Green Destinations.
The organization has a diverse membership, including governments, national tourism organizations (e.g. the German Tourist Office, the GNTB became a member of the Council in mid-December), travel companies, hotels, tour operators and civil society organizations, all of whom want to actively participate in guiding the development of sustainable tourism around the world.
