[green-travel] Re:Ted Turner offers sustainable tourism criteria at World Conservation
Thanks Peter!!! I could not explain so good as you did. I am from Uruguay, South America and agree with Peter, because we met together in Costa Rica some years ago and worked in this Tourism Certification Network of the Americas as we take part too with an Uruguayan Rural Tourism NGO and its Rural Tourism Quality Program. We did a hard work, included lots of items and points of views (sexual explotation, indigenous and other), not only for the BIG Industry, but for Small and medium enterprises around the world. And I can testify that suggestions from our little country and our entrepreneurs were taken in account, as we did the same where needed. At the World Tourism Day I met here in Uruguay a WTO delegate and asked him to look or our Program to be sure that we were in the right way, but this Delegate said to me that the group Peter mentions is assessing the WTO, so if I worked in this grup, it was OK, no need for additional supervision, so I assume that our work goes on, spreads and it is not finished. I am feeling that it happens something similar as with the Big Pharma and alternatives in the health terrain. They don't credit each other, especially in the cancer issue. Gretings from Uruguay Victoria Technical Advisor in Rural Tourism Uruguayan Rural Tourism Association Sustainable Rural Tourism Quality Program www.geocities.com/pctrs_sutur www.geocities.com/victoriamailhos www.turismorural.com.uy
[green-travel] Re:Ted Turner offers sustainable tourism criteria at World Conservation
Dear Peter, I would just like to offer that consultation is a never ending process, and that there will always be organizations that somehow feel they have not been included. Having been involved with setting criteria for our vast field since 1990, I can only say that bringing all of the players under one umbrella will be daunting - and despite all of the very valuable work achieved, this particular effort was focused on tour operators and small hotels - and therefore the work - incredibly valuable though it is - will have many more phases to consider. For example, I am finishing up a consultation for American Express Travel Industry Relations and the Travel Industry Association's upcoming travelgreen.org web portal, to be launched at the end of October. Working closely with these large entities, I can say definitively that they have just learned about the Sustainable Travel Criteria program. American Express is now joining the Steering Committee, as of last week, thanks to a report I wrote for in June and a conference call I initiated just last week. I have worked hard to bring them under the umbrella and help them orient their many colleagues in the mainstream travel industry who were not at all familiar with this effort. That said, it can only be imagined that the thousands of community initiatives around the world who are working within their own networks will have their own process by which they can evaluate and potentially take part in this large international effort. One thing I am certain of, the process of bringing mainstream industry into this effort has just begun - and certainly there will be many other partners that will need time to be informed. Best, Megan
[green-travel] Re:Ted Turner offers sustainable tourism criteria at World Conservation
I am at a loss for how to respond to this posting by fishnet, particularly with all of the incorrect facts. I am on the Steering Committee of the GSTC on behalf of Sustainable Travel International (STI), an NGO among a half a dozen or so others directly involved with the Partnership, though you stated that there is only one. And we have been a founding member of the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas in developing standards that have been a part of this process for years. As such, we have worked diligently and closely with the industry, governmental and non-governmental organizations throughout the Americas in supporting this development. This includes receiving feedback, suggestions, recommendations and consensus over many years, including small to large travel providers, certification organizations, and indigenous rights to major environmental organizations. While you may be one who does feel a lack of community participation that feeling shouldn't be projected across the board. In fact, to develop the GTSC, the partnership consulted with sustainability experts and the tourism industry and reviewed more than 60 existing certification and voluntary sets of criteria already being implemented around the globe. In all, more than 4,500 criteria have been analyzed and the resulting draft criteria have received comments from over 1000 stakeholders, with many, many thousands more that were contacted. Our own newsletter alone went out to 25 thousand like-minded recipients with our invitation, not to mention our day to day working relationships with industry and NGOs, and we work with a lot of them on sustainable solutions. Your comments about specific criteria and what they (may or may not) fail to do is also largely misinformed. In fact, if anything the criteria go out of their way to provide incentives and trigger mechanisms to actively support local rights, culture, economic development and environmental protection beyond business as usual. And where they haven't, we and other NGOs have worked very hard to ensure they were (re)included. That said, indicators and qualifying parameters are still being developed, and as with the criteria development itself, it is a public process with stakeholder feedback highly encouraged. So if you weren't involved in the last phase, please do so rather than supporting the unproductive approach of bashing something that you really don't have any insight into. We agree that more community based efforts are needed and many of our programs are geared in that direction, but we should all realize that we're working to achieve the same goal, and while nothing is perfect, a move in the right direction is far better than uninformed criticism. Peter D. Krahenbuhl Vice President, Co-founder Sustainable Travel International Leave the World a Better PlaceR Colorado, Oregon, London Phone: 800 276 7764 / 720-273-2975 / +44 (0)779 931 1228 (UK direct) Web: www.sustainabletravel.com / www.sustainabletravelinternational.org http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/ Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] / Skype: peterkrahenbuhl Fax: 866-624-8303
[green-travel] Re:Ted Turner offers sustainable tourism criteria at World Conservation
Did you review the results of the International Indigenous Sustainable Tourism Certification online conference (from 2004)? They were available in English, Spanish and Nepali. If so, it would be helpful to learn how the recommendations were included in the work of this group/initiative. Deborah McLaren St. Paul, MN --- In green-travel@yahoogroups.com, Peter Krahenbuhl [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: I am at a loss for how to respond to this posting by fishnet, particularly with all of the incorrect facts. I am on the Steering Committee of the GSTC on behalf of Sustainable Travel International (STI), an NGO among a half a dozen or so others directly involved with the Partnership, though you stated that there is only one. And we have been a founding member of the Sustainable Tourism Certification Network of the Americas in developing standards that have been a part of this process for years. As such, we have worked diligently and closely with the industry, governmental and non-governmental organizations throughout the Americas in supporting this development. This includes receiving feedback, suggestions, recommendations and consensus over many years, including small to large travel providers, certification organizations, and indigenous rights to major environmental organizations. While you may be one who does feel a lack of community participation that feeling shouldn't be projected across the board. In fact, to develop the GTSC, the partnership consulted with sustainability experts and the tourism industry and reviewed more than 60 existing certification and voluntary sets of criteria already being implemented around the globe. In all, more than 4,500 criteria have been analyzed and the resulting draft criteria have received comments from over 1000 stakeholders, with many, many thousands more that were contacted. Our own newsletter alone went out to 25 thousand like-minded recipients with our invitation, not to mention our day to day working relationships with industry and NGOs, and we work with a lot of them on sustainable solutions. Your comments about specific criteria and what they (may or may not) fail to do is also largely misinformed. In fact, if anything the criteria go out of their way to provide incentives and trigger mechanisms to actively support local rights, culture, economic development and environmental protection beyond business as usual. And where they haven't, we and other NGOs have worked very hard to ensure they were (re)included. That said, indicators and qualifying parameters are still being developed, and as with the criteria development itself, it is a public process with stakeholder feedback highly encouraged. So if you weren't involved in the last phase, please do so rather than supporting the unproductive approach of bashing something that you really don't have any insight into. We agree that more community based efforts are needed and many of our programs are geared in that direction, but we should all realize that we're working to achieve the same goal, and while nothing is perfect, a move in the right direction is far better than uninformed criticism. Peter D. Krahenbuhl Vice President, Co-founder Sustainable Travel International Leave the World a Better PlaceR Colorado, Oregon, London Phone: 800 276 7764 / 720-273-2975 / +44 (0)779 931 1228 (UK direct) Web: www.sustainabletravel.com / www.sustainabletravelinternational.org http://www.sustainabletravelinternational.org/ Email: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] [EMAIL PROTECTED] / Skype: peterkrahenbuhl Fax: 866-624-8303
