Partners and Collaborators

The Destination Stewardship Center is pleased to work with a variety of nongovernment organizations and universities.

We are a founding member of the Future of Tourism Coalition, along with the Travel Foundation, Tourism Cares, and the three organizations listed below, all six with a global perspective. Some 700 organizations, governments, and businesses have signed the Future of Tourism Coalition’s Guiding Principles, themselves loosely based on the Geotourism Principles originally put forth via National Geographic.

The 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, the world’s largest service industry. CREST provides interdisciplinary analysis and innovative solutions through research, field projects, publications, consultancies, conferences, courses, and documentary films, recognizing tourism’s potential as a tool for poverty alleviation and biodiversity conservation.

Green Destinations is a nonprofit organization for sustainable tourism, leading a global partnership of expert organizations, companies, and academic institutions. We work for the benefit of the Green Destinations Community: destination representatives and stakeholders. Together with them we try to make their places better and more sustainable. Green Destinations sponsors the annual Global Top 100 Sustainable Destinations competition.The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC®) is managing the GSTC Criteria, global standards for sustainable travel and tourism;
as well as providing international accreditation for sustainable tourism Certification Bodies.

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 tourism and providing business and government leaders with the guidance, policies and solutions they need, we aim to ensure that the communities they’re engaged in thrive and their environments are healthy for future generations. For over 15 years, STI has helped build partnerships around destination stewardship by raising awareness around local challenges, creating cross-sector stewardship councils, developing community-led travel philanthropy funds, and engaging stakeholders in sustainability initiatives. For more information, visit our website.


The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC®) manages the GSTC Criteria, global standards for sustainable travel and tourism,
as well as providing international accreditation for sustainable tourism Certification Bodies. It is a founding adviser to the Future of Tourism Coalition. The Destination Stewardship Center’s Jonathan Tourtellot co-chairs GSTC’s Destination Stewardship Working Group.

The George Washington University International Institute of Tourism Studies has been a global leader in tourism education and research for 25 years. Through professional partnerships, research and onsite consultations, it provides businesses, communities, governments and nonprofits with the guidance and information they need to develop a sustainable industry—one that balances the needs and interests of visitors with the economic and environmental realities of destinations worldwide.

Potential sponsors and donors for Destination Stewardship Center programs are invited to contact info@destinationcenter.org. Tax-deductible financial support is invited for the organization and website as a whole, or for individual projects and pages. The Destination Stewardship Center website is sponsored by Focus on Places LLC.

About Jonathan Tourtellot

CEO, Destination Stewardship Center; Editor, Destination Stewardship Report; Principal, Focus on Places LLC; founding Director, former Nat Geo Center for Sustainable Destinations