Caring for your Destination as a Whole

• International Policy Organizations—Providing a variety of resources.
• Sustainable-Destination Resources—For helping sustain and enhance the distinctiveness of your locale.
• Multipurpose Services—For helping sustain and enhance tourism-related businesses, facilities, and the destinations in which they operate.

International Policy Organizations

Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) A global initiative dedicated to promoting sustainable tourism practices around the world and using agreed-upon criteria for accrediting sustainable-tourism and destination certification programs. Founding advisor to the Future of Tourism Coalition.

UNESCO World Heritage Center Oversees the UNESCO-administered list of cultural and natural sites inscribed under the World Heritage Convention. Describes services that the center offers to member states and discusses management of protected areas and sustainable tourism in general.

UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) This intergovernmental body works for promotion and development of tourism. The site provides recent tourism statistics and includes a sustainable tourism section with definitions, information on relevant events, and lists of UNWTO’s activities and publications.

World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) WTTC represents the travel industry. Members are mainly larger companies. The site includes information on sustainable tourism and various WTTC initiatives and services, including the Tourism for Tomorrow awards.

Sustainable-Destination Resources

For helping sustain and enhance the distinctiveness of your locale.

Audubon Cooperative Sanctuary Program for Golf Assistance in making golf courses eco-friendly, through case studies, a managed lands database, golf and environment research database, special projects, and events

Blue Flag A well-established international certification program for environmentally clean beaches and marinas.

Center for Responsible Travel (CREST) is a nonprofit policy-oriented research organization dedicated to increasing the positive global impact of responsible tourism. CREST assists governments, policy makers, tourism businesses, nonprofit organizations, and international agencies with finding solutions to critical issues confronting tourism. Founding member, Future of Tourism Coalition.

Centre of Excellence for Destinations Performs detailed destination evaluations based on SMED, a proprietary system of measures.

Destination Stewardship Center You are on just one page of the DSC collaborative website, successor to the former National Geographic Center for Sustainable Destinations. We help destinations start stewardship councils, monitor destination quality, provide links to stewardship resources, and support the geotourism approach. Founding member, Future of Tourism Coalition.

National Geographic Index of Destination Stewardship  (“Destination Scorecard”) rated several hundred destinations from 2004 to 2010, based on surveys of expert opinion using six criteria.

National Trust for Historic Preservation This U.S. organization’s  Main Street Center has worked with communities to revitalize their historic or traditional commercial areas.

Ocean Health Index This ambitious alliance seeks to monitor and rate coastlines and offshore seas, country-by-country, on ten criteria. Elaborate website.

Scenic America Addresses U.S. destination aesthetics, especially billboards and streetscapes.

Multipurpose Services

Organizations and consultants that can help sustain and enhance tourism-related businesses, facilities, and the destinations in which they operate.

Big Volcano Ecotourism Resource Center This Australian site provides ecotourism and sustainable tourism research papers, website links, and codes of practice.

Conscious Travel Veteran tourism strategist Anna Pollock provides training and consulting for tourism practitioners, residents, and travelers on holistic stewardship of places.

Earthprint Purchase sustainable-tourism related magazines, books, and more, provided by the United Nations Environmental Program and others.

Focus on Places LLC, the provisional sponsor of this website, is the consulting and editorial business owned by Jonathan B. Tourtellot, founder of the geotourism concept, journalist, speaker, and geotourism and destination-stewardship consultant.

Future of Tourism Coalition Founded in 2019 by six NGOs with a global focus on destination stewardship and sustainable tourism, all listed herein.

Green Travel Marcus Endicott’s long-standing informative listserv and online forum for discussion of sustainable tourism.

International Centre for Responsible Tourism Extensive website run by the U.K.-based research and advocacy group founded by Harold Goodwin. Associated with Leeds Metropolitan University. Links to reports, working papers, training programs, conferences, international initiatives, tour operator initiatives, and destinations.

International Institute for Peace Through Tourism (IIPT) IIPT organizes conferences and initiatives for peace through tourism. The site gives links to past and future conference programs, which discuss social and environmental aspects of tourism.

Island Resources Foundation Based in St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands, this research, education, and conservation organization provides publications, bibliographies, and papers on island tourism issues.

Molstad, Arild Norway- and France-based author and consultant in geotourism and sustainable destinations.

Pacific Asia Tourism Consulting group led by Steve Noakes. Constructs multidisciplinary, cross-cultural expert teams for international sustainable tourism projects—travel & tourism education and training, research, voluntourism and philanthropic projects, and investment in sustainable-tourism products.

Planeta.com Ron Mader’s award-winning site on practical ecotourism. Its initial focus on Latin America has now expanded to encompass worldwide issues pertaining to sustainable tourism. The site features news, articles, an eco-travel directory, recommended reads, and discussion boards.

Robin Tauck and Partners Consulting group in sustainable tourism and destination stewardship, with special emphasis on World Heritage and public-private partnerships.

Solimar International Washington DC-based consulting and marketing firm that helps businesses, travelers, and destinations develop and connect to sustainable tourism experiences that support conservation and cultural heritage, and enhance the lives of local residents.

Sustainable Tourism CRC Funded for 13 years by the Australian government, this useful site still contains free research reports, publications, and information on projects and policies regarding sustainable tourism. CRC has closed, but passed the wand to:

Sustainable Tourism Online (STO) Information resource delivering substantial research, data, and tools within three main sustainability themes – Destinations and Communities, Business Operations, and Parks & Culture.

Tourism Concern This international group supplies news, articles, statistics, codes, and hyperlinks about tourism impacts on communities and the environment. Founding member, Future of Tourism Coalition.