The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) recently launched the Sustainability Training Program to meet the growing worldwide demand for sustainable tourism education and training. Since the introduction of the GSTC Criteria in 2008, the GSTC continues to strive for universal adoption of sustainable tourism criteria, with education as a key component.
The GSTC Sustainability Training Program offers 1-5 day on-site courses designed for anyone in the travel and tourism industry, including: hotel and tour operators, destination managers, government officials, resource managers, educational consultants, and academic institutions. Courses are structured to provide participants with the resources to make sustainability practices actionable, collaborative, and effective.
On December 1st, the GSTC hosted a 3-day course with Sustainable Riviera Maya in Riviera Maya, Mexico. The course explored sustainable tourism development and provided practical guidance in Spanish on adopting the GSTC Criteria in developing destinations. A panel of high-level tourism professionals discussed strategies in the Riviera Maya region, drawing on the experiences of GSTC Early Adopters.
“The experience and commitment of the participants of our workshop contributed to achieving excellent results: In addition to being a training exercise on GSTC-D Criteria, the event generated ideas and proposals aimed for Riviera Maya, but equally valid sustainable actions to be replicated in similar destinations” expressed Luigi Cabrini, GSTC Chairman of the Board of Directors.
Participants of the Riviera Maya Sustainable Tourism Workshop represented a wide array of organizations from the public and private sector; local businesses, destination marketing organizations and universities.
“The GSTC Training workshop in the Riviera Maya was a great learning and networking experience. It brought together academia, hoteliers and business owners to not only learn about the results of the application of the GSTC Criteria at the destination level, but also to renew their commitment to ensure the long-term sustainability and competitiveness of the Riviera Maya as an international destination” commented Juan Luna-Kelser, Senior Research Scholar at the International Institute of Tourism Studies at the George Washington University’s School of Business, who attended the event.
Learn more about the GSTC Sustainability Training Program
