EU Tourism Manifesto Recommends GSTC

Accelerate Social and Economic Recovery by Investing in Sustainable Tourism Development: Using the GSTC Criteria

The European Tourism Manifesto, in the latest paper, is proposing using the GSTC framework for certification and GSTC destination management methodology as major delivery models to ones to Accelerate Social and Economic Recovery by Investing in Sustainable Tourism Development.

Following its urgent call to EU Member States to make tourism a strategic element in their national recovery plans, the European Tourism Manifesto alliance has published a detailed paper presenting a non-exhaustive list of reforms and investment ideas related to travel and tourism that would contribute to making EU countries’ economies more resilient, to be better prepared to respond to future opportunities and challenges.

The purpose of the paper is to help Member States in drafting their recovery and resilience plans to ensure that the proposed reforms and investments create a favourable environment in which tourism can develop in a sustainable and resilient way, and continue to create jobs, fostering cohesion and building the path towards a sustainable recovery from the social and economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

GSTC in the List of investment ideas to making EU countries’ economies more resilient

Investment Idea #2 Renovate (Page 9)

OBJECTIVE: To support destination transition that can deliver: i) Smart management of social, cultural, environmental and economic impacts of tourism; and, ii) Tourism that is a source of prosperity, creativity and social innovation.
EXAMPLES OF DELIVERY MODELS: “Modern and creative hubs of sustainability by greening the (urban) spaces and by investing in human capital”
Secure sustainable recovery for large businesses as well as SMEs in the tourism sector through credible and internationally approved/recognised sustainability certification schemes (e.g. certifications for hotels approved by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)).

Investment Idea #6 Scale-up (Page 16)

OBJECTIVES: Develop and implement a tourism data strategy enabling public authorities to gather, or in any case access,reliable data for adequate and sustainable tourism management, and enabling business to benefit from better intelligence. This includes promoting data collection and access (respecting necessary privacy requirements) that allows more efficient management for both business and destinations, including use of real-time data.
EXAMPLES OF DELIVERY MODELS: “Improve the use of data in sustainable tourism management”
Implement existing and proven measurement tools on a voluntary basis at EU level (such as ETIS) or international level (UNWTO’s Measuring Sustainable Tourism Framework, GSTC methodology or similar), to be integrated with specific tailor-made indicators, in order to collect dynamic information at destination level. Promote the uptake and use of sustainability standards, and alignment/comparability of metrics in order to promote transparency and measure progress efficiently.

European Tourism Manifesto

The EU Tourism Manifesto is an alliance of more than 60 European public and private organisations, covering the whole tourism value chain and beyond. Together we call on the European Union for action on key policy priorities for the sector.