To help businesses improve their competitiveness in international markets, the Rainforest Alliance has designed a series of virtual seminars for members of the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas.

According to Silvia Rioja, technical manager for the Rainforest Alliance's sustainable tourism program, the e-seminars offer tips on how to use tourism certification to position your business in the market and how to evaluate and effectively market sustainability. Seminar participants will learn how to design and adopt sustainable strategies for their businesses or organizations and improve their competitiveness by marketing their new business practices.

Each seminar is made up of four modules that last approximately half an hour each. They will be available on the Internet for one month, so participants can choose to take the courses at convenient times. If you'd like to sign up, contact Silvia Rioja.

The tourism industry now has an important tool, thanks to the publication last October of the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC). The 37 criteria constitute the first minimum universal standard that hotels and tour operators can use to improve their protection of environmental and cultural resources while increasing tourism's potential for alleviating poverty. Now the GSTC Alliance has improved that tool's effectiveness by developing specific indicators that can determine the level of adherence to the criteria.

The GSTC indicators were developed by considering specific, measurable, realistic factors that ensure validity and compliance with the criteria. Each precept is already being used by initiatives such as certification programs, the United Nations World Tourism Organization, sustainable tourism projects and others. They can be used as comparative parameters and it is possible to apply them in units of measurement such as "by lodging night," or "by total sales," etc.

Before being finalized, the proposed indicators went through a thorough month-long public consultation that concluded in May 2009. The GSTC sent out mass email announcements and published them on the Criteria Web page, where representatives of the tourism industry and other stakeholders worldwide were invited to comment on each indicator. The valuable feedback they provided related to indicator relevance, whether they could be easily adopted universally and specific recommendations for improvement.

The final proposal for the indicators will be available by mid June on the GSTC Web site.

Ecotourism can be a responsible alternative for visitors who want to experience, with minimum negative impacts, Colombia's impressive natural and cultural wonders. But tourism businesses need adequate regulations and technical guidance to ensure that ecotourism truly supports social and economic development and conservation of Colombia's natural areas and its environment in general.

The nonprofit conservation organization Fundación Natura has joined the Ministry of the Environment, Housing and Territorial Development to develop a proposal for a national policy to regulate ecotourism. Fundación Natura, which is a member of the Network, has also developed a best practices guide to orient and motivate members of the local tourism industry.

"Businesses that offer services will benefit the most from this, since they can clearly understand the concept of ecotourism as it is defined in our country, with its economic and social sustainability, environmental education and conservation components," noted Fundación Natura's Roberto León Gómez, sub-director of local and institutional development. "They'll also have the necessary tools and will be aware of incentives that the government offers to ensure that their activities are developed according to the principles of national norms and policies."

The certified and sustainable hotels and lodges of the four Ecuadors -- the mountains, coast, Amazon and Galapagos -- received extra publicity during the trade fair "See Ecuador" 2009, held in early May.

Representatives of international tourism companies who visited the historic city of Cuenca, in the southern part of the Ecuadorian Andes, were given information about the approximately 85 businesses that participate in the Rainforest Alliance's sustainable tourism program as well as about the 52 tourism business that have earned the Smart Voyager certification seal, awarded by Network member Conservación y Desarrollo.

"See Ecuador" provides an opportunity for international buyers to learn about an array of products, their potential and the country's growing tourism development.

Conservación y Desarrollo and the Rainforest Alliance educated visitors about private and community enterprises that have shown their commitment to conservation through the sustainable management of their businesses and have proven themselves to be important allies of Ecuador's extraordinary natural and cultural resources.

During the Sixth National Meeting on Ecotourism and Rural Tourism and the Fifth National Congress on Protected Natural Areas, held in Montevideo, Uruguay from June 11th to the 13th, the Uruguayan Rural Tourism Society, or Sociedad Uruguaya de Turismo Rural (SUTUR), will validate its Standards for the Sustainable Rural Tourism Quality Program. The goal of this initiative is for rural tourism business owners to embrace sustainable tourism that is consistent with the image that the country offers to the world -- "Natural Uruguay" -- by conserving natural resources and benefiting local populations.

According to Victoria Mailhos, technical advisor with SUTUR, "We will give a presentation on the standards during the congress and ask for the feedback we need for its approval. The idea is to complement this with a written version for people who aren't able to attend the meeting, so that they too can participate."

After getting feedback from congress participants and others, SUTUR will make the necessary modifications. This will be followed by training sessions in sustainable tourism practices for rural business owners and auditors, who will eventually be responsible for verifying compliance with the standard.

Send free Rainforest Alliance eCards!

Certified Tourism Matters is a triannual 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