Wednesday, August 14, 2024 The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), with support from the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA), is developing a new set of GSTC Criteria tailored specifically for tourism food service providers. This set will establish global standards for sustainability within the tourism food service sector, though its official name will be determined during the development process. Food and beverages are crucial elements of a destination’s intangible heritage and tourism appeal.
As gastronomy tourism grows, it generates significant revenue and employment but can also impact the environment, local communities, and cultural heritage negatively. To address these challenges, the GSTC Criteria will provide global guidelines for sustainable practices in food service. These criteria will help industry players manage their operations more sustainably, reduce costs through sustainability measures, and protect ecosystems, biodiversity, and local economies.
The GSTC is dedicated to promoting and implementing best practices for sustainable tourism. Alongside the new criteria, the GSTC will introduce a training program focused on sustainability for restaurants and food service providers, expanding its well-regarded Sustainable Tourism Training Program. “All of the specific sets of GSTC Criteria are widely regarded as ‘the global standards for sustainable tourism’ due to our highly inclusive process of developing them and because their foundation is UN-developed and compatible with the SDGs,” says GSTC CEO Randy Durband .
The implementation of these GSTC Criteria will have a lasting impact, significantly reducing environmental harm, preserving local cultures and cuisines, and promoting sustainable consumption and production practices. Food sustainability aligns with several UN Sustainable Development Goals, including Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), Goal 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns), Goal 14 (Life Below Water), and Goal 15 (Life on Land). Criteria Development Process A Criteria Development Advisory Group, consisting of up to 10 organizations from both public and private sectors, will be established during the development phase.
This group will provide expert feedback to the GSTC Technical Team while GSTC maintains overall control of the process. The Advisory Group will also promote industry participation in the Public Consultation and Feasibility Assessment phases. The GSTC’s International Standards Committee (ISC) will supervise the development and revision process.
The ‘Terms of Reference’ (TOR) for this process will adhere to the ISEAL Standard-Setting Code of Good Practice. Public consultations, both online and in-person, will be conducted, including a workshop at the GSTC2024 Conference in Singapore from November 13-16, 2024. A visual representation of the Criteria development process is displayed below (Figure 1).
Key Contributor: Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA) Following Türkiye’s successful implementation of its National Sustainable Tourism Program, launched in 2022 in partnership with GSTC to advance sustainable practices in the Turkish tourism industry, TGA is furthering its commitment to sustainability by supporting GSTC’s global initiatives to promote sustainable tourism in the food and beverage sector. Highlighting that Türkiye was the first country to make an agreement with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) at the Governmental level in 2022, Republic of Turkiye Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy said: “So far, we have verified and certified over 18,000 accommodation facilities under the ‘Türkiye’s Sustainable Tourism Program,’ prepared as part of this agreement. Following this success in the accommodation sector, we launch the next phase of our Sustainable Tourism Program, expanding our efforts to include the food and beverage sector.
The certification program we will implement for the food and beverage sector, which will pioneer the world once again, demonstrates the continuity of our sustainability efforts in tourism while also increasing the number of our businesses providing services in line with GSTC criteria in the field of gastronomy. With this program, which will be in harmony with our culinary culture that inherently embraces the concept of sustainability, we will continue to be an exemplary country in sustainable tourism worldwide.” Türkiye’s Pilot Certification Test The TGA will introduce a pilot certification program as part of the National Sustainable Tourism Program.
This initiative will use the GSTC Industry Criteria and updated indicators to evaluate the feasibility of certifying restaurants..
