This year’s International TUI Sustainability Award has been granted to the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), fostering a common understanding of sustainability in the tourism sector. With the award TUI AG promotes in particular the efforts undertaken by the GSTC to establish a common basis for the many different sustainability labels in tourism. The prize, worth 10,000 euros, was awarded at GSTC’s annual meeting in Washington yesterday.
The tourism sector currently embraces around 130 different sustainability labels, so that it is difficult for customers interested in sustainability issues to obtain some guidance. The GSTC therefore promotes the harmonisation of tourism accreditation programmes. To that end, the initiative is working towards a common universal quality level to apply to tourism sustainability labels in the future, even if the priorities determining their assessment differ.
Erika Harms, Executive Director of GSTC, said: “The GSTC is honored to receive this award, a reflection of the wide reaching stakeholder engagement to promote sustainable tourism practices at a company and at a destination level.”
Mila Dahle, head of Group Environmental Management / Sustainable Development at TUI AG, commented on the decision to choose this year’s award-winner: “The GSTC is committed to establishing a uniform language for us to talk about sustainability in the tourism sector. Thanks to these efforts, they will facilitate the selection of high-quality sustainability labels by our partners and hotel companies in the destinations and enhance transparency for our customers.” TUI has been a member of the GSTC since 2011.
