Since August 2021, Berlin has been a member of the GSTC and has thus committed itself to the common understanding of sustainable tourism.
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) announce that the Sustainable Berlin Standard has achieved ‘GSTC-Recognized Standard’ status and is fully recognized as equivalent to the GSTC Industry Criteria. The stated scope of the standard is Hotels and Tour operators and coverage is Berlin, Germany.
The destination marketing and management organization visitBerlin promotes the sustainable development of Berlin’s tourism and events industry with the management and certification programs “Sustainable Tourism Berlin” for suppliers in the leisure tourism industry and “Sustainable Meetings Berlin” for partners from the business travel tourism industry. The 65 process-oriented criteria for the standards have been developed on the basis of internationally recognized frameworks like ISO-standards, the german national sustainability code (Deutscher Nachhaltigkeitskodex) and the GSTC Industry Criteria, and aims to help suppliers implement a sustainability management system and continuous improvement process.
Since August 2021, Berlin has been a member of the GSTC and has thus committed itself to the common understanding of sustainable tourism.
The GSTC-Recognized status refers to the standard itself, indicating that a sustainable tourism standard or system has been reviewed by GSTC technical experts and the GSTC Assurance Panel and deemed the standard or system equivalent to the GSTC Criteria for sustainable tourism. It shows that the set of standards is based on the four pillars of the GSTC Criteria: Sustainable Management, Socioeconomic, Cultural, and Environmental principles. GSTC Recognition does not relate to the process of certification or accreditation.
“Berlin is ready for the future,” says Burkhard Kieker, CEO of visitBerlin. “The criteria of our Berlin sustainability initiatives for the tourism and events industry are now also compliant with international standards. We are thus in a strong position to provide Berlin companies a good head start towards long-term and sustainable development.”
“Congratulations to visitBerlin for the continued development of their sustainability programmes, providing a systematic and holistic approach for tourism businesses in the region,” says Randy Durband, GSTC CEO.
Currently, 14 destination standards, 42 hotel standards, and 21 tour operator standards have achieved GSTC-Recognized status. The status offers the market proof that these standards adhere to international norms. GSTC Recognition does not ensure that a certification process is reliable, only that the set of standards used to certify are equivalent to the GSTC Criteria. GSTC-Recognized standard owners are encouraged to follow and complete the accreditation process, which assures that the certification process used to apply the standard meets international best practice, transparency, and rigor.
Tatiana is the news coordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes monitoring the hundreds of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skimming the most important according to our strategy.
She holds a Bachelor's degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
