Sustainable Tourism

What is sustainable tourism ?

According to the World Tourism Organization, sustainable tourism is “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities.

Sustainable tourism development requires the informed participation of all relevant stakeholders, as well as strong political leadership to ensure wide participation and consensus building. Achieving sustainable tourism is a continuous process and it requires constant monitoring of impacts, introducing the necessary preventive and/or corrective measures whenever necessary.

Sustainable tourism should also maintain a high level of tourist satisfaction and ensure a meaningful experience for tourists, raising their awareness about sustainability issues and promoting sustainable tourism practices among them.

Why is it important ?

Managed well, tourism can play a positive role in the socio-cultural, economic, environmental, and political development of the destination. As such, it represents a significant development opportunity for many countries and communities. On the other hand, unchecked tourism development can lead to very damaging impacts on natural resources, consumption patterns, pollution and social systems. The need for sustainable planning and management is imperative for the industry to survive as a whole.

How can we measure sustainable tourism ?

While sustainable tourism has many positive goals, there must be a concrete measurement system that enables the business to determine their progress towards sustainability. In order to measure results and progress, benchmarking is used. Benchmarking is “the comparison of a business’s performance in a given area (such as water consumption) with those of similar businesses”. Benchmarking not only puts a business’s activities in perspective with that of its competitors, but also contributes to many positive internal improvements.

For example, in tourism sector, commonly used benchmarks are:

With these benchmarking categories, achieving sustainability in the tourism industry is not just a rhetorical goal; it is tangible, providing measurable benefits and potential economic savings to those businesses who strive for improvement in their daily performance.

The big picture of tourism

Over three-quarters of businesses (77%) currently have practices in place to reduce the impact their business has on the environment. Australasian and North American businesses are the most likely to have eco-friendly practices in place, which falls to 73% among European properties.
The EU tourism industry generates almost 3,7% of the EU GDP, with about 1,8 million enterprises employing around 5% of the total labour force (approximately 11,3 million jobs). When related sectors are taken into account, the estimated contribution of tourism to GDP creation is much higher; tourism indirectly generates around 10% of the EU's GDP and provides about 11% of the labour force.
Tourism accounts for 5% of global carbon emissions: 4% is attributed to transportation, close to 1% to the accommodation sector and a small amount to other tourism activities. (Source: UNWTO/UNEP, Climate change and tourism, 2008)
A tourist uses from 84 to 2,000 liters of water per day, depending on length of stay, size and amenities in the hotel, type and amount of food consumed, and other factors.
Globally, the world’s 32,000-plus golf courses use an estimated 9.5 billion liters of water per day to irrigate their greens. (Source: Gössling et al., 2012) An average golf course in Spain uses as much water as a town of 12,000 people.
70% of people believe that companies should be committed to preserving the natural environment, and 55% want fair working conditions

What certifications do our accommodations have?

www.slovenia-green.si

To obtain the SLOVENIA GREEN ACCOMMODATION label, the service provider must submit proof of ownership of one of the seven internationally recognised labels that are also recognised by the Green Scheme of Slovenian Tourism.

www.biohotels.info

BIO HOTELS is the largest association of eco-friendly hotels, that offer everything you want for an organic holiday, family holiday, wellness weekend, sustainable conference or green meeting and ecologically-oriented service for business travelers. Even weddings and events are held in the most beautiful BIO HOTELS locations: at the sea, in the mountains or in gorgeous natural settings.

www.ecocamping.net

ECOCAMPING is an EMS that has been specifically developed for campsites. The national associations of the camping industry are the initiators, as well as responsible for the implementation of an ECOCAMPING programme. Close contact is maintained with local authorities and various departments of the European Commission. ECOCAMPING is actively involved in the development of the European Ecolabel for campsites.

www.ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/index_en.htm

The European EMAS Regulation specifies the requirements to comply with when setting up an Environmental Management System (EMS). It is a voluntary scheme.

www.ecolabel.eu

In order to be granted the European Ecolabel for Tourist Accommodations, the accommodation entities have to meet a set of very strict environmental performance criteria in various environmental areas. The label includes 22 mandatory criteria and 45 optional criteria among which candidates will choose to obtain a sufficient amount of points.

The label is used throughout the European Union and sites can be labeled all over the world.

www.greenglobe.com

Green Globe is positioned on the market as the standard for managing sustainability in the tourism industry.

The criteria are both operational and organizational. They are organized the 4 themes, which are subdivided in criteria. To each criterion, are linked a set of compliance indicators, which allow the organization and the auditor to assess the level of conformity to the criteria, and to the label.

www.greenkey.global

The Green Key award is a leading standard of excellence in the field of environmental responsibility and sustainable operation within the tourism industry. This prestigious eco-label represents a commitment by businesses that their tourism establishments adhere to the strict criteria as stipulated by the Foundation for Environmental Education. A Green Key stands for an establishment’s promise to its guests that by opting to stay with such an establishment, they are helping to make a difference on an environmental and sustainability level. The high environmental standards expected of these establishments are maintained through rigorous documentation and frequent audits.

www.travelife.org/Hotels/Home.asp

Travelife is a certification system, dedicated to the achievement of sustainable practices in the tourism sector. It aims to provide realistic sustainability targets companies, tools and solutions to implement positive change within their companies. The system is run by ABTA, the travel association in the UK. Travelife for Hotels and Accommodations helps to manage and monitor the social and environmental impacts through compliance with the sustainability criteria.

www.worldofglamping.com

The ratings system is just one of the aspects covered by the World of Glamping. In addition, it will also provide developmental ideas, awards to combining the best glamping properties from individual countries into chains and much more.