The Global Sustainable Tourism Council has released a set of standards that can be used to award sustainability certification for meetings and events.
The non-profit organisation manages a set of global standards, which it calls “criteria”, for sustainable travel and tourism, and also provides international accreditation for sustainable tourism certification bodies.
Criteria are already in place for industry players such as hotels and tour operators, and for tourism destinations, while criteria specific to corporate travel programmes is also under development, as BTN Europe previously reported.
The new standards for meetings and events, known as GSTC MICE Criteria, have been developed in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and with support from the Singapore Tourism Board.
Formulated following two rounds of public consultation and a feasibility assessment conducted with industry stakeholders in 2023, the criteria provide ‘a common understanding’ of sustainable MICE practices, with specific guidelines pertaining to venues, event organisers and large-scale exhibitions.
According to GSTC, the criteria “are the minimum [standard] that any MICE business should aspire to attain”. They provide basic guidelines for education and training, will help define sustainability “in a holistic manner” and can be used by associations and government agencies as a basis for sustainability certification in the MICE sector, however GSTC itself does not provide certification.
The criteria will be revised every five years.