We are excited to introduce the Sustainable Travel International as our event partner and to share they vision for sustainable tourism. The Sustainable Travel International (STI) is a non-profit organization working to improve the lives of people around the world and the environments they rely upon. By leveraging the power of travel and tourism, which employs 1 in every 11 people on the planet, they aim to ensure that communities thrive and their environments are healthy for future generations.
Sustainable Travel International support countries and regions around the world by working with local community leaders, business owners and government agencies to provide them with the guidance, policies and solutions they need to protect and promote their tourism assets and attract sustainable travelers. The organization also work with businesses to ensure that they are actively engaged in the long-term health and well-being of the places and people their businesses depend on.
STI Approach: »It is about improving lives and protecting places.«
PARTICIPATORY PLANNING: Work with local counterparts to connect with and learn from community leaders, evaluate and identify destination risks and opportunities to enhance the product offering, and prioritize actions on next steps in a collaborative manner.
DELIVERING EXPERTISE AND SOLUTIONS: Leverage Sustainable Travel International’s expertise to deliver solutions such as Training and Capacity Building, Product Development, Impact Monitoring, and Mobilizing Capital in collaboration with local partners.
MEASURING OUTCOMES: Ensure goals are progressing, refine methodologies as needed, and confirm that project outputs lead to positive outcomes for people and places.
SHARING LESSONS: Transfer knowledge to our local counterparts and across sectors and geographies, Communicate Results, and Plan for Long-term funding and governance.
STI efforts:
- Provide destinations and host communities with greater economic opportunities in a well-planned tourism sector.
- Support people and destinations to help them carefully manage their tourism assets and celebrate their cultural and natural heritage.
- Help companies reduce natural resource use, maximize benefits to host communities, safeguard local attractions and employ local people.
Achieving sustainable travel at scale requires effective participation by three key constituencies: Destinations (governments and DMO’s), Tourism companies, and Travelers. In the International Year of Sustainable Tourism and Development STI envision that an increasing number of communities, governments, businesses, and travelers around the world will begin to effectively utilize travel and tourism as a mechanism and catalyst for positive change.
Tourism destinations have comparable needs and challenges such as congestion, ad hoc development, degradation of precious ecosystems, economic leakage, and loss of cultural traditions. A wide range of destination and business sustainability solutions exist. Most are not readily available or accessible; and many require subject-matter expertise and ongoing expert support, as well as reliable access to the internet.
Although the solutions vary, there is consistent market demand from destinations for assessments, planning, monitoring, resource mobilization, standards and certification, storytelling, technology, and technical assistance.
Sustainable Travel International and the Green Destinations Partnership have a full range of market-tested destination and business sustainability solutions that are designed to address the myriad of challenges destinations and practitioners face. STI and Green Destinations plan to work together to make our solutions much more accessible to destinations and practitioners. Our aim is to help markedly advance best practices in sustainable destination management.
