The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) is pleased to announce that TRB has gained the GSTC-Accredited Certification Body status.
TRB International Certification Company offers GSTC Hotel/Accommodation Certification services within Turkiye. Established in 2004, with its headquarters in Çankaya/Ankara, TRB provides services for various industries, ensuring compliance with international standards, such as ISO certifications, focusing on quality, safety, and performance, with a commitment to impartiality and continuous improvement.
Achieving the GSTC-Accredited status means that a Certification Body has been verified to be conducting proper certification of businesses, such as hotels or tour operators, in a competent and neutral manner, following processes and procedures detailed in the GSTC Accreditation Manual. Some of the requirements in the GSTC Accreditation Manual include: Legislation; 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.
Businesses certified by a GSTC-Accredited Certification Body, meeting all the GSTC Criteria (or a GSTC-Recognized Standard), 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.
Certification by an Accredited Certification Body can be referred to as “accredited certification”.
Attesting to that, those businesses certified by a GSTC-Accredited Certification Body can display a unique GSTC logo with a traceable code. The purpose of the GSTC Accreditation is to provide a higher level of assurance and reward genuine practitioners of sustainable tourism, which builds confidence and credibility with consumers.
“Accreditation in the hospitality and tourism industry should receive significantly greater value,” states GSTC CEO Randy Durband. “Most eco/green/sustainable labels for tourism businesses operate without external review, meaning that their rigor and impartiality are unknown. The GSTC Accreditation Manual and process is the most credible, and perhaps only, external review of sustainability labels in the industry.”
“We have achieved one of the most important goals with GSTC accreditation. TRB International is also a Certification Body with a deep knowledge of Management Systems Certification, Product Certification for 20 years in Europe, Asia and Africa. Now TRB has adopted the mission of being a reliable partner by contributing to hotels operating in the tourism sector to minimize their environmental and social impacts in line with the global GSTC Criteria with our expert team,” says Savaş Gökhan Namal, General Manager of TRB GROUP.
The GSTC Accreditation Manual for Certification of Hotel/Accommodation & Tour Operator provides detailed technical requirements for certification of Hotel/Accommodation and Tour Operator. Certification Bodies are required to comply with ISO 17065 Conformity Assessment (Requirements for bodies certifying products, processes and services) and GSTC specific requirements. Among these requirements are impartial and competent certification procedures, auditor experience and qualifications, certification decision making, rigorous surveillance of certified businesses, and proper promotion of their services.
Hotels that follow sustainability standards that wish to stand out with reputable certification as a sustainable hotel, should seek sustainable hotel certification by a GSTC-Accredited Certification Body.
Tour Operators that want to demonstrate through their adherence to sustainability standards are encouraged to seek sustainable tour operator certification by a GSTC-Accredited Certification Body.
Destinations that are managed in accordance with sustainability standards can aim for destination certification by one of the GSTC-Accredited Certification Body.
About the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council® (GSTC®) establishes and manages global sustainable standards, known as the GSTC Criteria. There are three sets: Destination Criteria for public policy-makers and destination managers, Industry Criteria for Hotels and Tour Operators, and MICE Criteria for Venues, Event Organizers, and Events & Exhibitions. These are the guiding principles and minimum requirements that any tourism business or destination should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain the world’s natural and cultural resources while ensuring tourism meets its potential as a tool for conservation and poverty alleviation.
The GSTC Criteria form the foundation for GSTC’s assurance role for Certification Bodies that certify hotels/accommodations, tour operators, and destinations as having sustainable policies and practices in place. GSTC does not directly certify any products or services, but provides accreditation to those that do.
GSTC is an independent and neutral USA-registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization that represents a diverse and global membership, including national and provincial governments, leading travel companies, hotels, tour operators, NGOs, individuals and communities – all striving to achieve best practices in sustainable tourism. The GSTC is an ISEAL Community Member, a global membership organization for ambitious, collaborative, and transparent sustainability systems.
Information for media and the press: www.gstcouncil.org/about/for-the-press/
About TRB
TRB International Certification Company was established in 2004 and was accredited by TÜRKAK in 2006 within the scope of system certification and in 2009 within the scope of Product Certification. TRB has also been an authorized institution within the scope of Good Agricultural Practices since 2007 and Organic Agriculture (Plant, Animal Production, Processing, Packaging, Labeling, Storage, Transportation and Marketing of Organic Products) from the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry since 2018.
For more information visit: https://trb.com.tr/
*Note of General assurance levels:
3rd-party certification by an Accredited Certification Body (impartiality is certain)
3rd-party verification (impartiality is not certain)
2nd-party verification (not impartial)
1st-party self-assessment
No verification at all
