Travelers who want their vacation to have a positive impact can consult a new online guide to sustainable hotels and tourism destinations. The green travel guide recently launched by the Internet travel site Travelocity features destinations with innovative sustainability initiatives and other reliable information on environmentally friendly options.

The new directory of eco-friendly businesses can also help travelers distinguish the truly green from the "green washed," since it lists hotels recommended by the Rainforest Alliance, which have been certified by members of the Sustainable Tourism Network of the Americas or that appear in the Eco-Index of Sustainable Tourism.

The tourism businesses included in the green guide have trained their personnel in sustainable practices and are supporting conservation, benefiting local communities, and working to reduce their carbon footprints. Even if some of the businesses may not be doing all of the above, they must all show progress in the majority of those areas in order to be included in the Travelocity directory.

Without a doubt, the directory is a great tool for travelers who seek for sustainable options when planning their vacations, but it is also an excellent venue for businesses that have been certified by members of the Network.

Since they were introduced last October, the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) have progressed from theory to practice as major players in the tourism industry have applied them in recent projects.

Examples of the criteria's impact can be found on the Internet travel sites Travelocity and Expedia, which have both launched green travel sites featuring businesses certified by independent programs that adhere to the GSTC. In addition, the International Hotel and Restaurant Association has based its new program for recognizing sustainable hoteliers -- Emeraude Hotelier -- on the GSTC guidelines. And last December the Egyptian government, together with a group of German organizations, launched an ecological seal called the Green Star Hotel Initiative, which uses the GSTC as the basis for its certification standards.

Several international cooperation agencies are also on board -- the German international cooperation agency GTZ is funding a capacity building project for small tour operators in Latin America -- in collaboration with the Rainforest Alliance and other organizations -- that is based on the GSTC. On an international level, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), the United Nations Environmental Programme and other organizations are collaborating on the development of a training program based on the GSTC.

The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria were developed to provide guidelines for developing sustainable tourism, as well as to help businesses, consumers, governments, nongovernmental organizations and academic institutions to make sure that tourism benefits local communities and the environment. Learn more about the criteria and how to participate in the project.

Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula and Caribbean Coast have been the focus of intensive development in recent years, but that region's tourism businesses will soon have a reliable tool to help them be sustainable, since the tourism department at Mexico's Secretariat for the Environment and Natural Resources has developed a standard called "Environmental Requirements and Specifications for Site Selection, Design, Construction, and Operation of Tourism and Real Estate Developments on the Yucatan Peninsula." This process began with an analysis of the region's existing situation with the goal of promoting sustainable tourism that provides environmental, economic and social benefits. The standard will be the basis for a sustainable tourism certification scheme and will serve as a frame of reference for tourism entrepreneurs and government officials alike. It will also strengthen the requirements of the environmental impact evaluation process for real estate development projects along the Yucatan Peninsula's coveted coast.

Last year ended well for sustainable tourism in Guatemala as a large group of businesses were awarded the Green Deal seal by the Asociación Alianza Verde's certification program. In December 2008, 27 Guatemalan tourism businesses were awarded that seal, as well as one business in neighboring Belize, with which the Asociación advanced its goal of expanding its impact beyond Guatemala's borders.

The recent certifications had special significance because the program increased the stringency of its standards last year. But this didn't create too great an obstacle for Rupalaj Kistalin, an indigenous community tourism business in Guatemala's Sololá region whose members worked hard to comply with the certification requirements and earned a high score. Topping the list of newly certified businesses was the Casa del Caballo Blanco Hotel, in Belize's Cayo District, which demonstrated its commitment to sustainability with two years of hard work.

According to Denia del Valle, the Rainforest Alliance's sustainable tourism manager for Mesoamerica: "Given the current growth in tourism in Latin America, it is crucial that companies adopt sustainable tourism, if only to conserve biodiversity. Certification is an important tool for bringing about positive change, since it provides an effective guide for respecting local cultures and making responsible use of natural resources, while creating jobs and improving living standards in many communities."

If you are looking for a hotel in Costa Rica that contributes to the conservation of the country's natural and cultural resources, the answer is simple: just look for businesses that have the Certification in Sustainable Tourism (CST) seal, which features leaves that tell you how responsible an establishment is -- the more leaves, the more sustainable the business.

The Costa Rican Tourist Board awards CST leaves to those hotels or tour operators that comply with strict standards. There are currently 99 certified hotels and tour operators, 33 of which earned their leaves last October. Only four lodges and one tour operator have earned the top level of five leaves.

"When tourists see that seal with the leaves, they should understand that the certified business has made efforts to reduce its carbon footprint, generate less trash, promote the conservation and appropriate use of natural resources and has adopted the use of biodegradable and recyclable products," explained Costa Rica's Minister of Tourism, Carlos Benavides.

With the goal of fortifying this commitment to sustainability, Minister Benavides has announced that Costa Rica will work with international NGOs, such as the Rainforest Alliance, to strengthen current certification standards and develop new ones.

Send free Rainforest Alliance eCards!

Certified Tourism Matters is a quarterly publication from the Rainforest Alliance.

Subscribe to receive Certified Tourism Matters.

To prevent mailbox filters from blocking issues of Certified Tourism Matters, add tourism_matters@ra.org to your address book.

Review our privacy policy.

This bulletin has been produced with financial support from the Ford Foundation, The United States Agency for International Development (USAID), The Multilateral Investment Fund of the Inter-American Development Bank (BID/FOMIN) and the Rainforest Alliance.

Rainforest Alliance
665 Broadway, Suite 500, New York, NY 10012
Telephone: (212) 677-1800 - Fax: (212) 677-2187
info@ra.org

© 2009 Rainforest Alliance