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| The Guidelines are intended to apply to all forms of tourism accommodation, from large hotels and resorts to a remote community based guesthouse in Papua New Guinea! |
The GSTC has been a member of International Standards Organisation Technical Committee on Tourism for a number of years and was a major contributor to the development of the new Technical Specification (TS 13811) « Tourism and related services — Guidelines on developing environmental specifications for accommodation establishments ».
These guidelines set out a framework for environmental specifications. The Guidelines have adopted selected criteria of the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria for Hotels and Tour Operators.
The GSTC’s Technical Director, Guy Chester welcomed the publication of the Technical Specification: « Sustainable tourism is vital if we are to meet the recently adopted global Sustainable Development Goals. The Technical Specification focuses on environmental aspects and it is a tribute to the rigour and applicability of the GSTC Criteria that select criteria were adopted for this ISO document. »
The GSTC welcomes the ISO guidelines, however Mr Chester pointed out that whilst these Technical Guidelines have adopted select GSTC criteria, they address environmental aspects only. The GSTC Criteria address the four pillars of sustainable tourism: sustainability management; and maximising economic and social; cultural heritage; and biodiversity conservation benefits, whilst minimising adverse impacts.
See more information on ISO TS 13811: http://www.iso.org/iso/news.htm?refid=Ref1975
See more information on the GSTC Criteria here.
