Beyond Greening - Tourism Watch
Beyond Greening - Tourism Watch
Beyond Greening - Tourism Watch
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<strong>Beyond</strong> <strong>Greening</strong>: Reflections on <strong>Tourism</strong> in the Rio-Process | Positioningpaperwith other services, for example training and consultancy, which results in potential conflict ofinterest and is contrary to the principles of good practice in certifying goods and services asdefined by ISO65.Sustainability in tourism - A guide through the label jungle 47To date, the content of the standards on offer in travel and tourism has been strongly focusedon the environmental dimensions of tourism and the majority of tourism certificates may beclassified as “green” or “eco” labels. To some extent, this tendency derives from the fact thatthe business case for improved environmental management is relatively easy to sell to theprivate sector as it leads to cost savings and other efficiencies (e.g. reduced consumption ofenergy and water), while environmental indicators and impacts are also more easily measuredthan their social and cultural counterparts. However the focus on “green” labels has also beenshaped by a strong policy and donor focus on ecotourism, rooted in the outcomes of the 1992Rio summit and the 2002 Quebec Declaration (World Ecotourism Summit, 2002).Post Johannesburg 2002, sustainability in tourism has been defined much more holistically,regardless of the terminology used from one destination to the next. In addition, nationalgovernments like Brazil and South Africa have become more strongly involved in designingstandards that embrace the triple bottom line. Brazil adopted a comprehensive nationalstandard for sustainable tourism in 2002 (Eco Brazil, 2012) and a national minimum standardfor responsible tourism was published in South Africa in 2011 (SANS 1162, 2011). In bothcases, national standard-setting mechanisms were used, which creates a precedent to drivefuture standards-setting as well as accreditation of standards and certification schemesthrough ISO mechanisms and the International Accreditation Forum. This in turn will givegreater credibility to sustainability standards both nationally and internationally, while alsocreating strong national policy mandates to drive SCP through fiscal and other incentives aswell as industry voluntary initiatives including but not limited to certification.47http://tourism-watch.de/files/labelguide_en_web.pdf67