2025 Eligibility for GSTC-Recognized Standards and Required Accreditation
The GSTC Criteria represent the global standards for sustainable travel and tourism.
Certification is a crucial aspect of implementing these standards, involving third-party assessments to ensure compliance with the standards. While the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) does not conduct certifications directly, it accredits Certification Bodies that certify tourism-related entities (destinations, accommodations, tour operators).
This accreditation signifies that the CBs adhere to rigorous standards of impartiality and competence in assessing sustainability practices.
The GSTC also has a program that reviews other sustainable tourism standards for including the GSTC Criteria in them, providing a formal status to those deemed equivalent called GSTC-Recognized Standard. The review looks at the words in the standard. The review does not cover the usage of the standard, the standard owner’s credibility, or any processes the standard is being used for.
There has been widespread confusion regarding the terms “GSTC-Recognized” and “recognition”, with some expecting they include an external review of how the standard is used. GSTC-Recognized status applies only to the standard itself and does not assess the standard owner’s management system, competence, or usage. External reviews of auditing and certification processes are distinct and fall under the concept of accreditation.
To remove the extensive confusion and lack of understanding of these terms, on February 1st, 2023, GSTC announced an amendment to requirements for achieving and maintaining GSTC-Recognized Standard status, providing 23 months for affected parties to adjust as they wish, as follows.
By 31 December 2024, owners of existing GSTC-Recognized Standards used for certification need to either (1) formally open an application to pursue accreditation by GSTC; or (2) enter into a formally documented arrangement with GSTC whereby they act as a “Certification Scheme”.
From January 2025, failing to either open an application to pursue accreditation or enter into a CS-CB Framework means that the GSTC-Recognized Standard status shall be immediately terminated.
Through these measures, the GSTC aims to clarify the sustainability landscape in tourism, promoting genuine adherence to sustainable practices and enhancing consumer confidence in certified entities.
List of standards that fulfill the eligibility and maintain their GSTC-Recognized Standard status as of 1 January 2025:
GSTC Recognized Standards for Hotels
- Austrian Ecolabel for Tourism
- Barcelo ReGen Standards
- Cabo Verde Sustainability Standard for Tourist Accommodations (NCV 023:2021)
- Centara EarthCare Sustainability Standard
- Chile Sello S, Sustainable Tourism Distinction (by SERNATUR)
- Costa Rica Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST)
- EarthCheck Company Standard
- EarthCheck Evaluate Standard
- Ecostars Standard Standard
- Green Growth 2050 Standard
- Green Star Hotel Standard
- Green Tourism Criteria for Hotels & Other Accommodations
- GreenSign Catalog Standard
- GreenStep Sustainable Tourism Standard
- Greenview Portal
- Hoteles más Verdes Standard (by AHT)
- Intertek’s Ecocheck Standard
- Mauritian Standard on Sustainable Tourism: Blue Oasis (MS 165:2019)
- Miosotis Azores Standard
- Preferred by Nature Standard for Sustainable Travel Activities
- Qualmark Sustainable Tourism Business Criteria
- Sakura Quality an ESG Practice Standard
- Seychelles Sustainable Tourism Label (SSTL) Criteria
- Six Senses Sustainable Operations Guidelines
- Stay for the Planet Regulations and Technical Notes
- Sustainable Berlin Standard
- Thailand’s Green Hotel Plus
- TOFTigers Initiative’s Pug Standard
- Türkiye Sustainable Tourism Standard (TR-I)
GSTC Recognized Standards for Tour Operators
- Cabo Verde Sustainability Standard for Tour Operators (NCV 025:2022)
- Chile Sello S, Sustainable Tourism Distinction (by SERNATUR)
- Costa Rica Certification for Sustainable Tourism (CST)
- EarthCheck Company Standard
- EarthCheck Evaluate Standard
- GreenStep Sustainable Tourism Standard
- Mauritian Standard on Sustainable Tourism: Blue Oasis (MS 165:2019)
- Miosotis Azores Standard
- Preferred by Nature Standard for Sustainable Travel Activities
- Qualmark Sustainable Tourism Business Criteria
- Sustainable Berlin Standard
- TOFTigers Initiative’s Pug Standard
- Türkiye Sustainable Tourism Standard (TR-I)
GSTC Recognized Standards for Destinations
- Cabo Verde Sustainability Standard for Destinations (NCV 025:2022)
- Criteria for Thailand’s Community-Based Tourism Development
- Destination Wayfinder Framework & Standards
- EarthCheck Community Standard
- Green Destinations Standard
- GreenStep Sustainable Tourism Destination Standard
- Indonesia Sustainable Tourism Destination Standard (STD)
- Japan Sustainable Tourism Standard for Destinations (JSTS-D)
- Korea Sustainable City Tourism Destination Standard
- Mountain IDEAL Destinations Standard
- Pacific Sustainable Tourism Destination Standard
- South Tyrol’s Sustainable Tourism Standard
- Sustainable Destination Norway
- Thailand’s Sustainable Tourism Management Standard (by DASTA)
GSTC Recognized Standards for MICE
- Singapore MICE Certification (MSC) Framework
For more technical details of GSTC-Recognized Standards, please refer to this document.
Partners using the GSTC Market Access Program are encouraged to contact us with any questions relating to changes of programs included.
Further Details
Global Standards for Sustainable Tourism
The GSTC Criteria are the global standards for sustainable travel and tourism. They were developed as a result of a worldwide effort to create a common language about sustainability in tourism.
According to the International Organization for Standardization (ISO), a standard is “a document, established by consensus and approved by a recognized body, that provides, for common and repeated use, rules, guidelines or characteristics for activities or their results, aimed at the achievement of the optimum degree of order in a given context.”
The GSTC Criteria, like other global standards, were developed within an open process that gives all stakeholders, including consumers, the opportunity to express their views and have those views considered. This has contributed to fairness and market relevance, and promotes confidence in using the GSTC Criteria.
Certification
An important process commonly associated with the implementation or use of standards is conformity assessment. This process involves evaluating or measuring whether processes, services, systems or individuals meet requirements (such as those contained in a standard).
Certification is the provision of written assurance (a certificate) by an independent body that the product, service or system in question meets specific requirements. This comes as a voluntary, third-party assessment, through an audit, of an enterprise or destination for conformity to a standard.
Note: not all standards are used for certification
GSTC Accreditation of Certification Bodies
Certification represents a written assurance by a third party of the conformity of a product, process or service to specified requirements. Accreditation, on the other hand, is the formal recognition by an authoritative body of an entity’s competence to work to specified standards.
GSTC does not conduct certification. That is the job of the many Certification Bodies (CBs) throughout the world; GSTC accredits those that certify.
GSTC Accreditation is a mark of quality that GSTC places on certification bodies that choose our independent and neutral process to verify that they certify businesses, such as hotels, tour operators, or destinations, in a competent and neutral manner. GSTC looks very hard at the CB’s certification process to ensure that they issue certifications based on merit and neutrality.
To become accredited, certification bodies are required to fulfill the requirements set out in the GSTC Accreditation Manual. For example: Legislation; Documented rules and policies for the application of the reference standard; Transparent and impartial certification procedure; Competent personnel capable of conformity assessment in the sustainable tourism field; Compliance with the ‘ISO/IEC 17065:2012 Conformity Assessment Requirements for Bodies Certifying Products, Processes, and Services’; and more.
Certification by an Accredited Certification Body can be referred to as “accredited certification”.
GSTC Recognized Standards
The GSTC considers it desirable for all sustainable tourism standards to be aligned with the GSTC Criteria to ensure that an overall global baseline is set for sustainable tourism. The GSTC Criteria are developed and maintained with reference to the principles laid out in the Standards Setting Code of the ISEAL Alliance, utilizing a highly inclusive development process that produces globally-relevant outcomes.
For more than a decade, GSTC has had a program to review other sustainable tourism standards and give them the formal status of GSTC-Recognized Standard.
The GSTC-Recognized status refers to the standard itself, indicating that a sustainable tourism standard has been reviewed by GSTC technical experts and the GSTC Assurance Panel and deemed the content of the standard 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.
It is important to note that the GSTC Recognition of Standards only reviews the content and wording of the standard, and does not relate to or reviews any process of certification, and does not relate to accreditation either.
Misuse and Confusion of GSTC-Recognized Standard Status
GSTC is aware of more than 200 labels globally for accommodations (eco, green, sustainable, or similar), most of which are described as “certification,” but in fact, many do not comply with international norms on the definition of certification. Some might be described as “guided self-assessments”; many are actually consulting firms that put a mark on clients without managing impartiality in providing such marks; there are many more variations of levels of verification.
GSTC Recognition of standards has been generally misunderstood to be a mark on a program, including its auditing process, when in fact it is a status to a set of standards that are equivalent to the GSTC Criteria. It does not relate to how these standards are implemented or to the certification processes associated with them.
The only mechanism GSTC has in place to review how the standards are used and if certification processes are proper, is through accreditation.
GSTC-Recognized Status and Requirement of Accreditation
Wishing to remove the extensive confusion in the marketplace surrounding this lack of understanding, which conflicts with the aims of the program, on February 1st, 2023, GSTC added the new requirements for maintaining GSTC-Recognized Standard status:
By December 31, 2024, owners of existing GSTC Recognized Standards used for “certification” need to either (1) formally open an application to pursue accreditation by GSTC; or (2) enter into a formally documented arrangement with GSTC whereby they act as a “Certification Scheme” (for information on this, see the GSTC Accreditation Manual for Hotel/Accommodation & Tour Operator v.3.1, Annex A page 67-68).
This means that owners of existing GSTC Recognized Standards used for “certification” need to pursue accreditation. If unable or preferred not to pursue accreditation, another solution is to act as a GSTC Certification Scheme.
The GSTC Certification Scheme and Certification Body (CS-CB) Framework outlines the process for implementing a certification scheme where a GSTC-Recognized Standard owner (RSO) partners with a GSTC-Accredited Certification Body (ACB) to provide certification services against the RSO’s GSTC-Recognized standard.
The CS-CB Framework aims to facilitate accredited certification by leveraging the strengths of both RSOs and ACBs, while ensuring compliance with GSTC requirements and international standards like ISO17065.
In short, CS-CB Framework means that GSTC-Recognized Standard Owners can choose to fully outsource the certification process to their standard to be carried out by GSTC-Accredited Certification Bodies (one or a few), thus following international norms of separation between certification and guidance, coaching, and consulting. This gives market advantage to certified businesses that gain accredited certification, the highest level of assurance that exists in the marketplace.
Failing to either open an application to pursue accreditation or enter into a CS-CB Framework means that the GSTC-Recognized Standard status shall be immediately terminated.
GSTC allows a national program of legitimate national public authorities or their designated agent that operates as the single standard endorsed by that legitimate public authority to maintain GSTC-Recognized status regardless of whether or not the program is GSTC-Accredited.
That’s because GSTC refers to national public policy authorities as the proper decision-makers for how certification operates in their country, whether in the form of a single body endorsed or legally mandated by the national government.
This rationale is also accepted in other voluntary sustainability standards frameworks, such as PEFC.
GSTC Market Access Program
Through the GSTC Market Access Program, our partners such as OTAs and other distributors of hotel space get regular updates on the certified accommodations as we collect this information from Accredited Certification Bodies on a regular basis. Businesses with accredited certification (i.e. certified by a GSTC-Accredited Certification Body), have the highest level of assurance and credibility available. With an accredited certification, customers and buyers are assured that the business was certified in a credibly verified procedure in a transparent, impartial, and competent manner.
With greater scrutiny and concerns about false claims, the GSTC Market Access Program will only include accommodations with accredited certifications or accommodations verified to a GSTC-Recognized Standard that has a current Recognition status.
