VADEMECUM SUSTAINABLE TOURISM ACCREDITATION by Associazione Artigiani e Piccole Imprese del Mandamento di San Donà di Piave

VADEMECUM for the Assurance of Sustainability and Quality Management in Tourist Destinations European benchmarking and exchanges on best practices for

“An integrated approach ffoorr tthhee sustainability ooff tourism products aanndd tthheeiirr quality accreditation aanndd//oorr certification”

by ROMANO TOPPAN Scientific Director of SusTour Project

VADEMECUM for the Assurance of Sustainability and Quality Management in Tourist Destinations European benchmarking and exchanges on best practices for

““A Ann iinntteeggrraatteedd aapppprrooaacchh ffoorr tthhee ssuussttaaiinnaabbiilliittyy ooff ttoouurriissm m pprroodduuccttss aanndd tthheeiirr qquuaalliittyy aaccccrreeddiittaattiioonn aanndd//oorr cceerrttiiffiiccaattiioonn””

MUNICIPALITY OF UNGHENI

MUNICIPALITY OF KUTAISI

“An integrated approach for the sustainability of the tourism production” (Grant contract № 2010/204‐103)

Disclaimer:

This report has been developed with financial assistance from the EU. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the writer and in no way reflect the views of the European Union.

LIST OF CONTENTS SUSTAINABLE TOURISM ACCREDITATION Introduction________________________________ 6 Chapter 1______________________________________________________________________ 9 INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS: Proposals for adopting accreditation and/or certification of sustainable tourism quality________________________ 9 Proposal N.1: Adoption of Agenda 21 __________________________________________________ 9 What is _______________________________________________________________________________ 9 What it means in sustainable tourism ______________________________________________________ 10 Objectives _____________________________________________________________________________ 11 How it works: tools for achievement _______________________________________________________ 11 Extension of the Network Proposed________________________________________________________ 11 Presentation of the main Referents ________________________________________________________12 Main sources, documents and guidelines ____________________________________________________13

Proposal N.2: Adoption of Environmental Management System: EMAS (Ecological Management and Audit Scheme) __________________________________________ 22 What is ______________________________________________________________________________ Objectives ____________________________________________________________________________ How it works: tools for achievement ______________________________________________________ What it means in sustainable tourism ______________________________________________________ Extension of the Proposed Network_______________________________________________________ Presentation of the main Referents _______________________________________________________ Main sources, documents and guidelines ___________________________________________________

22 24 25 26 28 28 29

Proposal N.3: Adoption of Environmental Management System: ECOLABEL (Ecological Quality Mark of the products) ____________________________________________ 30 What is ______________________________________________________________________________ 30 Objectives _____________________________________________________________________________31 How it works: tools for achievement ______________________________________________________ 32 What it means in sustainable tourism ______________________________________________________ 36 Extension of the Network Proposed_______________________________________________________ 38 Presentation of the main Referents _______________________________________________________ 39 Main sources, documents and guidelines ___________________________________________________ 40

Chapter 2 ____________________________________________________________________ 42 PILOT EXPERIENCES AND PROJECTS The best practices which paved the way to the sustainable development in tourism ______________________________________________ 42 A – ECOMOST (European Community Model of Sustainable Tourism) ____________________________ 42 B – ECoNETT (European Community Network for Environmental Travel and Tourism) ______________ 47 C – INSURED (Instruments for sustainable regional development) _______________________________51 Chapter 3 ____________________________________________________________________ 53

QUALITY OF TOURISM CERTIFICATION AND/OR ACCREDITATION SYSTEMS provided by private or public/private organizations and institutions ___________________ 53 A ‐ GREEN PROCUREMENT ______________________________________________________________ 53 B ‐ GREENING SHOPS AND SAVING COSTS GUIDE OF UNEP ____________________________________ 55 4

C – BIO HOLIDAY FARMS, BIO‐HOTELS, ECO‐HOTELS AND BIOLAND CERTIFICATIONS ______________ 57 D – Bayerisches Umweltgütesiegel für das Gastgewerbe Certification ___________________________ 60 E – BLUE FLAG CERTIFICATION ___________________________________________________________ 61 F – ORANGE FLAG CERTIFICATION ________________________________________________________ 64 G – Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria for Hotels and Tour Operators (GST) ______________________ 65

Conclusions __________________________________________________________________ 67

SUSTAINABLE TOURISM ACCREDITATION Introduction According to the Project CIUDAD and its general and specific objectives, presented in the Application and implemented through the activities set up and carried out so far, it seems useful for all the partners to have a Vademecum devoted to a selected number of tools concerning the “Sustainability and Environmental Quality” assurance: a list of the different methodologies and best practices adopted and already tested with success in Europe and abroad in favour of the Sustainability and Environmental Quality assurance in tourist destinations, is offered in order to foster all the appropriate policies related to sustainable approach to the tourism development and establish which of them our partners consider more relevant and applicable for their town and neighbourhoods. Moreover, our Vademecum is also available on the website of CIUDAD: many of these methodologies are already known, applied in the European Countries and elsewhere. Nevertheless, some of them are not yet known or not yet applied to a large scale: they deserve to be diffused and adopted in many specific sectors of the tourist policy, by both public and private Organizations and Institutions. This Vademecum is specifically fitting to the historical moment: nowadays, United Nations celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Earth Summit or Conference of Rio de Janeiro (from 3 June to 14 June 1992) concerning the Sustainable Development, resulted in its 5 basic documents: ‐ Rio Declaration on Environment and Development Rio, ‐ Agenda 21 ‐ Forest Principles ‐ Convention on Biodiversity, ‐ Framework Convention on Climate Change Therefore, our Project, for an interesting coincidental occurrence, completes and implements its general and specific objectives at the same time of that celebration: within 6th July 2012, all the partners conclude their respective final Conferences, adopting actions and initiatives (inclusive of this Vademecum) corresponding and correlating with the Second Rio Conference of the United Nations. All the partners are grateful to European Commission for this opportunity and decide to do their best for a continual commitment in favour of “sustainability” (in tourism and also in other sectors) and a permanent co‐operation in the future for any reciprocal assistance or new common project, as purposed in the 8 Proposal of Memorandum of Understanding1. 1

Report on the networking activities Memorandum of Understanding, July 31st 2011.

Tab. No. 1: Catalogue of the main sustainability accreditation or certification for Tourism & Travel Industry

LIST OF ACCREDITATION AND/OR CERTIFICATION GUIDELINES FOR SUSTAINABILITY OF TOURISM AND ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY OF TOURIST DESTINATION

SOURCE OF ACCREDITATION AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

APPLICA‐ BILITY TO CERTIFI‐ CATION PROCESS

INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS AGENDA 21 for Tourism UNTWO – United Nations Tourism World Organization and ICLEI – The International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives EMAS (Ecological Management and European Union Audit Scheme) & ISO 14000 ISO –International Standardization Organization ECOLABEL (Ecological Quality Mark of European Union the products) PILOT EXPERIENCES AND PROJECTS ECOMOST‐ European Community Model of Sustainable Tourism ECoNETT

European Commission

Information network on tourism and environment, created in 1995, on advice of the World Travel and Tourism Council and of the XXIII GD, together with the XI and XII GD, the UNWTO, the private industry (ETOA, ECOTRANS, EUROPARTNER, AUIA) INSURED ‐ Instruments for sustainable European Union regional development PRIVATE OR PUBLIC/PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS Green Procurement and IPP ‐ European Union Integrated Product Policy Greening Shops and saving costs UNEP‐ United Nations Environmental Programme Eco‐labels in Tourism ICEA, Bio Holidays, Bio‐Hotels Association, Bio‐Land Association, EHC (Eco Hotels Certified) Bayerisches Umweltgütesiegel für das The Bavarian State Ministry of the

YES

◙

Gastgewerbe Certification (Tourist Services and Facilities Certification) Blue Flag For the quality certification of coasts Orange Flag for historical villages and small towns Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria

Environment and Public Health FEE International (Foundation for Environmental Education) (DK)

◙

Touring Club Italia (I) Private ONG

◙

United Nations Foundation

For each type of guidelines, our Vademecum presents: ‐ a short introduction with the main elements and relevance to CIUDAD ‐ the implementation of their adoption and application ‐ their referent organizations and institutions (both public and private) to ask assistance and practical tools ‐ their available partners within Ciudad Projects (if applicable)

Chapter 1

INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC ORGANIZATIONS AND INSTITUTIONS: Proposals for adopting accreditation and/or certification of sustainable tourism quality

Proposal N.1: Adoption of Agenda 212 What is Type of sustainable quality assurance: (X) Accreditation ( ) Certification

AGENDA 21 IN TOURISM The adoption of Agenda 21 in tourism, as WTO suggests in its documents, could be considered one of the best practices. Agenda 21 is a comprehensive programme of action adopted by 182 governments at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), the Earth Summit, on 14 June 1992. It provides a blueprint for assuring the sustainable future of the planet, according to the definition of “sustainable development” proposed by the Brundtland Report3: “Sustainable development is development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs”. It contains two key concepts:

In our Vademecum, we devote a great room to Agenda 21, being the most important document for the Local Authorities, in their process for the adoption and application of Local and Sustainable Development of the City and its surroundings. Moreover, the integrated approach of that Document and its participatory methodology, make it coherent with the general and specific objectives of the mission and vision of our Project CIUDAD. The complete text of the Agenda 21 can be found in the website: http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/agenda21/index.shtml Also in the website of Sustour www.sustourism.net 3 Title: “Our common future”. Denomination is due to the Chairman of the UNCED, Ms. Gro Harlem Brundtland: she lead the team responsible of the preliminary document (1987) preparing the Summit of 1992 (see: http://www.un‐documents.net/wced‐ocf.htm )

• •

the concept of 'needs', in particular the essential needs of the world's poor, to which overriding priority should be given; and the idea of limitations imposed by the state of technology and social organization on the environment's ability to meet present and future needs."

Sustainable development is the kind of development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet While not legally binding, Agenda 21 has moral and practical force: in essence, Agenda 21 represents a commitment to an important strategic thrust, which requires specific initiatives from all levels of society and from business communities (who become “stakeholders” of the Action Plan). Without commitment from these groups, the objectives set by the Agenda 21 will not be achieved: its greatest strength lies in the fact that it is not produced by experts for government consent, but rather is negotiated, word by word, by representatives of the governments (mostly by “local governments and authorities”) together with the civil society groups, business and industry, and the public at large. Each of these groups must be involved in implementing the actions specified by the Agenda 21 in order to ensure success and guarantee the future of our planet, starting from local communities, according to the European governance model called “bottom‐up”.

What it means in sustainable tourism For the sustainability of tourism production, local authorities and the tourism private sector are the key stakeholders. They have to formulate their own Integrated Quality Management programme at the local or subsector levels. To this end, they need specific orientations and guidelines as a result of a multi‐stakeholder voluntary process broadly based on regional, local and non‐public stakeholder involvement. Bodies representing the tourism industry, regional and local authorities and civil society interests need to involve themselves with commitment in this process, contributing with their knowledge, experience and views and promoting the messages to public and private players at the various territorial levels. As the largest industry in the world, Travel & Tourism has a unique and leading role to play in achieving the aims of the Agenda. Agenda 21 for the Travel & Tourism Industry describes the actions required, in order to ensure the “integrated quality of tourist destinations”: the consequences of inaction could be serious, bringing in the short term potentially irreversible damage to the landscapes, wildlife, monuments and buildings, and cultural diversity on which tourism depends. In the long term, inaction could result in environmental and economic catastrophe. Agenda 21 aims to help local government departments with responsibility for Travel & Tourism, national and regional tourism administrations and agencies, representative trade organizations, Travel and Tourism companies, fulfil their potential to achieve sustainable development. 10

Objectives A significant empowerment of Travel & Tourism economy to: create economic value for resources whose conservation would otherwise be seen as having no financial value (wildlife, natural areas, forests, architectural heritage, cultural heritage, traditional ways of life etc.); provide the incentives and means for environmental enhancement of areas such as city centres and old industrial sites, including the creation of new employment and jobs in the “intangible” economy ; establish essential infrastructures for water plants, waste management and recycling, renewable energy sources ; favour the local produces, the green procurements, Greening Shops and saving costs, bio‐architecture, car free cities (or “transition towns”), all types of environmental certifications4

How it works: tools for achievement Application methodology: Promoting Institution or Organization Procedure to be implemented at local level Procedure to be implemented at national and international level Start up and first steps Performance and outputs (effectiveness measurement) For the steps to be programmed and processes to be implemented, see please the annexes below.

Extension of the Network Proposed The network of references represents for the partner cities an opportunity to establish steady relationships, to enlarge their Urban Dialogue and Development, to enrich their capacity building in specific competencies, to enhance the governance style and practice in specific actions of urban policy and development. The reputation of the partner cities will be increased and their visibility in the international scenario will be better shown. The referents of the network proposed are available to convey in their communication tools (web sites, newsletters, magazines etc.) the information contents and images (actions, decisions, events etc.) that partner cities would like to be known in a large audience, all across Europe.

A certain number of certifications and/or accreditation for ecological and sustainable approach to Travel & Tourism Industry are presented in the following parts of the Vademecum.

Number of the Municipalities associated to Regional Coordination of Agenda 21: 27 (in the Province of Venice: 5, that’s Venice, Chioggia, Caorle, San Dona’ di Piave, San Stino di Livenza) Number of the Municipalities and Local Authorities associated to National Coordination of Agenda 21: 268 Tools for communication convey to the network: - WEB SITE: http://www.a21italy.it/IT/

Presentation of the main Referents

The National Coordination of the Agenda 21 in Italy, is an Association (NGO) composed by Municipalities and other Local Authorities that adopted Agenda 21 for the Sustainable Development. It has been created in 2000 and its mission is: -

to support the associates in their actions in progress, to diffuse information and news about the best practices and the initiatives, events and outcomes of the Agenda 21 in the associate members to collaborate with European Union, Italian Government, Regions, Local Authorities and all other international networks for common events and actions (conferences, education, projects, partnership for European tenders etc.).

2. ICLEI's global work ‐ A worldwide movement of local governments : ICLEI is a global organization, with 14 offices around the world that serve member cities and local governments in their region. ICLEI and its members believe, that we need local solutions to the global challenges we are facing. Through its local, regional and international programs, and projects, ICLEI works with local governments to generate political awareness of key themes in the area of sustainability. Web site: (http://www.iclei.org/index.php?id=iclei‐home) ICLEI supports local governments in finding and implementing local solutions to global challenges by - helping local governments to establishing plans of action to meet their locally defined, concrete, measurable targets - working toward meeting these targets through the implementation of projects and by offering tools that help local governments to reach their goals - evaluating local and cumulative progress toward sustainable development and making the commitments and actions of local governments known on a global level - working in partnership with regional, national and international organizations and institutions to ensure an international framework that supports local action

Main sources, documents and guidelines Sources from websites: ‐ http://www.un.org/geninfo/bp/enviro.html ‐ http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/ ‐ http://habitat.igc.org/agenda21/rio‐dec.htm ‐ http://www.cbd.int/ ‐ http://www.iclei.org/ ‐ http://ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sectors/tourism/sustainability‐ competitiveness/index_en.htm ‐ http://eur‐lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=CELEX:52007DC0621:EN:NOT ‐ http://www.sustainbale‐cities.org/partner.html Documents (available in PDF format) ‐ Text of the Agenda 21 (UN) ‐ European Charters and Declarations concerning Agenda 21 ‐ European Commission_Agenda for a sustainable and competitive tourism_en.pdf ‐ European Commission_Agenda pentru un turism european durabil şi competitiv_ro.pdf

Annex N.1: Adoption of Agenda 21 Tab. No. 2: Flow chart of the Agenda 21 application FRAMEWORK OF THE A21 PROCESS AND WORK IN PROGRESS LOCAL AUTHORITY Decision to adopt Agenda 21 and to involve citizens in its implementation

Identification of the resources (human and financial)

Invitation of all the stakeholders and social representatives

Analysis of the environmental, social cultural and economic resources of the territory concerned – swot analysis

STEPS FOR THE FORUM ACTIVITIES

Facilitation of the participatory action, communications and evaluation

CONSTITUTION OF THE CITIZENS FORUM

REPORT ON THE ENVIRONMENT STATE

Definition of the strategic objectives

Strategic level

Definition of the priorities

Priorities in the actions to be promoted

Definition

target and indicators

programmes and actions

Elaboration of

ACTION PLAN AGENDA 21

PUBLIC DEBATE IN THE FORUM OF CITIZENS ADOPTION OF THE PLAN

REALIZATION AND IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN

MONITORING AND REVIEW

Tab. No. 3: Explication of the Process in Agenda 21 adoption and implementation ACTORS

ACTIONS

IMMEDIATELY AFTER

First Actor: Local Authority (Usually City Hall)

Official Deliberations to introduce and adopt Agenda 21

→

Seminar for the local decision makers Seminar for training Public Officers responsible to be referents of the Agenda 21 application and implementation

→

ENTE LOCALE CON LA COLLABORAZIONE DI ALTRI ENTI, AGENZIE,ASSOCIAZIONI ED ESPERTI

Environmental Report

Workshop stakeholders Communication and Information Campaign for the citizens on Agenda 21 Selection and /or election of the participants to the Citizens’ Forum Management of the Forum and Focus Groups

FORUM

Designing of Local Sustainability Projects Establishing the general and specific objectives to be achieved Expected Results to short and long terms Priorities of the strategy

CITY HALL

Implementation of the Sustainable Development Plan and its actions in progress

→

STEPS IN PROGRESS • Adhesion to the Aalborg Charter • Involvement of the City Council and commitment for the appropriate budget

Awareness and training for the Public Authority’s Officers and Counsellors

Analysis and research on the environment condition of the area concerned and first environmental audit Awareness and social animation of all the civic players, representative associations and stakeholders Official acknowledgement and constitution of the Citizens’ Forum and Focus Groups and decision of their operational agenda

→

Plan for the Sustainable Development of the City or territory concerned (in the case of CIUDAD Project: inclusive of tourism sector)

→

Agenda and Gantt Diagram of the actions purposed and monitoring of their effective application

Tab. No. 4: GANTT DIAGRAM FOR THE AGENDA 21 IMPLEMENTATION (suggestion to be applied to the actual condition of the applicant) ACTIVITIES Adhesion to the Aalborg Charter Seminar for the decision makers Seminar of for the Public Officers to be Referents Approbation and budgeting for the Agenda 21 Workshop for stakeholders Communication and information campaign for the citizens Environmental Report and Audit Training for the Forum’s Facilitators Constitution of the Citizens’Forum Management of the Citizens’ Forum and its operational agenda Secretary and monitoring team

MONTHS 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18

Annexes N.2: Pilot experience of Agenda 21

Calvià: Local Agenda 215 Fig. No.1: Quality Mark of the European Sustainable City Award

The Calvià Local Agenda 21 was one of the first applications of the Agenda 21 to tourism sector. The high quality of that experience obtained the European Sustainable City Award in 1997 and stays an exemplary model with successful results. From the beginning of the project, the local agenda has put emphasis on bringing together the viewpoints of the different sectors having interests in the geographic area. Thus, several channels of participation have been used such as ‘The Forum of Citizens’ for general matters and Special Commissions for thematic affairs, as well as further consultations and polls for the public. The most important aspect for the final strategy of the Local Agenda 21 is that it counts on the widest possible voluntary support of the population. The method used by the experts is the one known in the planning sphere as "methodology of alternative scenarios", widely used in long term planning because of its descriptive capacity and for the possibilities which it offers for comparing possible future alternative situations, which can be reached through the application of different policies. Three alternative scenarios have been elaborated: one to short term and two to long term. The latter emerged from the correction of undesirable tendencies by the introduction of suitable and timely measures and decisions. Using more than 1000 indicators, this methodology has allowed for the identification of the sectors that were in balance and those that were not. The Local Agenda programme began in November 1994 and ended in 1996. 5

Source: Ajuntament de Calvià – “Calvià Agenda Local 21.La sostenibilidad de un municipio turistico’, Calvià 1997.

Funding Sources and Costs The Calvià Council financed the project with support from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and the Balearic Government. The European Commission provides additional funding for some concrete projects. Context The tourism development of Calvià, the most important in the Balearic Islands, began with the first boom of international tourism in Spain in the sixties. Since then, especially in the first two decades, the model of tourism development has been based on short‐term interests, unlimited construction out of tune with local conditions, and an unsustainable exploitation of exceptional natural resources. It was only at the end of the eighties that the effects of this inharmonious development became apparent. Thus, the formula of sun and beach type holidays, as well as the keystones of an activity that helped to finance the development of the Island were degraded. Moreover, tourism demand was falling off, and more significantly, tourism spending as well as tourism spending potential, was on decline. During that period, Calvià grew from 3.000 to 35.000 inhabitants. At the beginning of the eighties the Town Council of Calvià adopted a double policy. This involved an exceptional effort of investment to reduce the debt carried over from the earlier years and a town planning policy designed to uphold new tourism operations in the hope of modernising, improving and diversifying the local tourism industry. It had become evident that tourism was associated with many matters in the area: deterioration of the environment, gross overcrowding of the tourist zone, problems with renewing infrastructure, a steady decline of the allure of the region and the threat to local development dependent on the tourism sector. By adopting the "Calvià for Excellence"‐Plan in the nineties, the City Hall of Calvià launched a series of programmes aiming at improving the environment, redistributing the flow of visitors, reclaiming the coastal area and, finally, clearing out the huddled town centre, where necessary, by demolishing hotels that were considered offensive towards the environment. In the beginning of 1995 a decision was taken an the Town Council introduced the Calvià Local Agenda 21.

Fig. No. 2: The Sustainability Diamond according to Calvià Agenda 21

Strategy/Objectives In 1995, the Town Council drew up an Initial Document, as a first approach to Local Agenda 21. Widely circulated and discussed with many local groups and representatives, this document summarised the project's objectives, as follows: • • • • • •

Conservation of natural land and the sea environment taking into account carrying capacity and the pressures exerted by human activities. Local development based on sustainable use of available resources and priority to restoration of existing architectural heritage as opposed to new construction. A restored, modernised and environmentally improved residential and tourism urban area. Innovation of the tourism sector, opening to the new tourist demands. Residential conditions with good levels of social integration, quality of life and active participation in local life. A municipal authority capable of taking action with other administrations and private agents in order to achieve the mentioned objectives.

The criteria which inspired the Agenda's working methods were: • Integrated local development harmonising financial, social, cultural and ecological elements. • Consideration of basic concepts of sustainability in tourism destinations: the need to adapt to new tourist demands; consideration of the concepts of carrying capacity or desirable limits for change; a broad concept of tourism and environment; the need to renovate intervention instruments. • An overall vision of local and island space and a position of solidarity against global environmental problems.

•

Open working methods, harmonising municipal action, the work of experts, the participation of social agents through a Citizens Forum and full information to the whole population. • Capacity to coordinate the work of drawing up the Agenda with municipal actions so that it serves as a guide for major local actions from the outset. • Final proposals that can be specified in terms of action, initiatives and operating working programmes. The Local Agenda 21 of Calvià was drawn up based on the integrated system, according to Sustainability Diamond (Fig. No. 2)‐ 27 Fields of Reference and 775 Indicators have been adopted, to study and evaluate the situation, through a sort of SWOT analysis. The measures to be carried out included 10 actions lines and 40 initiatives that will allow to reach the expected results of the Plan. The 10 Strategic Action Lines were: • To contain human pressure, limit growth and help integral rehabilitation of the territory and its coastline • To support integration and quality of life of the resident population • To preserve natural and maritime heritage • To recover the cultural historical heritage • To support the integral rehabilitation of the urban areas • To increase the quality of Calvià as a tourism destination and look for less quantitative growth and more qualitative well‐being • To improve the quality of public transport and to promote cycling and walking • To develop a sustainable management of the environmental key factors: water, energy and waste • To invest in knowledge resources, and diversify the local economy • To promote innovation and capacity building of the municipal governance and to increase a joint public‐private investment capacity

Fig. No. 3: A view of Calvià

Therefore, the Local Agenda 21 has dedicated two years to drawing up and debating the contents of a Document for Debate at the Citizens Forum. The following steps have been taken: •

•

An integrated methodology and six reports were drawn up by different expert teams on Key Thematic Areas. These reports evaluated the initial situation in each Key Thematic Area, checked them against the prospective and completely restored settings and established recommendations, lines of action and initiatives to be taken. These reports were checked with the Citizens' Forum Thematic Commissions in which more than 150 citizens. In addition to the presentation and open discussion, the participants were able to evaluate individually three specific aspects in each Key Thematic Area: adapting the selected Fields of Reference to define each Key Thematic Area; evaluating their initial situation and future trends; adapting proposed actions for the future. Informing and obtaining population's opinion. The information in the Document for Debate is being circulated by various methods. An opinion survey is planned among all homes in Calvià in order to assess the degree of personal identification and preferences of the population with regard to the Action Lines and Initiatives proposed in the document.

Contact: Pablo de la Peña Ctra. Palmanova‐Calvià,

E ‐ 07181 Palmanova Email: turisme@calvia.com http://www.calvia.com Telèfon: +34 971 130 577 ‐ 971 130 868

Proposal N.2: Adoption of Environmental Management System: EMAS (Ecological Management and Audit Scheme) What is Type of sustainable quality assurance: ( ) Accreditation (X) Certification EMAS The term used to define the EU system of eco‐management and audit (EMAS) contained in the EEC Regulation n. 1836 of 29th June 1993 (first time), revised by the Regulation n.761 of 19th March 2001. It was originally restricted to companies in industrial sectors. With the first revision of the EMAS Regulation in 2001 (EMAS II), the scheme opened to all economic sectors including public and private services, inclusive of Travel & Tourism Industry. In addition, EMAS II was strengthened by the integration of the environmental management requirements of ISO 14001; by adopting a new EMAS logo to signal engagement to stakeholders; and by considering more strongly indirect effects such as those related to financial services or administrative and planning decisions. The latest revision of EMAS was published on 22 December 2009 (Regulation 1221/2009) and came into effect on 11 January 2010 (EMAS III). With the introduction of EMAS III, the scheme is globally applicable and no longer limited to EU Member States. With EMAS III the EU also introduced obligatory Key Performance Indicators (KPI) in order to harmonize reporting on environmental performance. Currently, more than 4,600 organisations and more than 7,900 sites are EMAS registered. The number of EMAS registered organisations increased from 2,140 in 1997 to 4,659 in 2011. The five most important reference sectors for its application are: • Industry • Energy

• Transport • Agriculture • Tourism and aims to limit the environmental impacts of any type of organisation or business. This system introduces an even more sophisticated and advanced method than EIA (Environmental Impact Evaluation) and gives a territory the opportunity to involve all the working activities in a voluntary programme of Best Practices in the environmental management. Moreover, EU introduced the Strategic Environmental Evaluation The EMAS Regulation includes the environmental management system requirements of the international standard for environmental management, ISO 14001, and additional requirements for EMAS registered organisations such as employee engagement, ensuring legal compliance or the publication of an environmental statement. Because of its additional requirements, EMAS is known as the premium instrument for environmental management. Because ISO 14001 is an integral part of EMAS, organisations automatically comply with the requirements that the international standard demands as well. However, EMAS registered organisations fulfil requirements that go beyond the scope of ISO 140016. The specific feature of the tourism and its creation of value, let many researchers and policy makers identify an appropriate approach to quality in destination management and in tourist services delivery. We note an increasing interest to this global view of tourist destinations and destination marketing and management as a “whole”. Tourism includes necessarily to find out as soon as possible specific forms of quality application: in spite of the modifications and improvements recently introduced in the ISO 9000 norms7, we have not yet the possibility to harmonize the quality requirements already existing in the industrial and services sectors with the quality requirements of the tourist products and offers. Nevertheless, the new editions of the ISO norms include some more key references to the service sector and environmental requirements than in the past: e.g. together with ISO 9001 we find a correspondence list between ISO 9001 and ISO 14001. Environment quality is more clearly involved into the tourism needs and such an approach to the destinations quality management and responsibilities therein seems to be the logical framework to be adopted. The practical application of ISO 140001 is not easy: the main reason is due to the fact that tourism production processes and elements involved are 6

The ISO 14001 is an international standard for environmental management developed in 1996 by the International Organization for Standardisation, the world’s leading developer of International Standards. ISO, a non‐governmental organization, is a federation of the national standards bodies of 149 countries, one each country, from all regions of the world. Its aim is the identification and development of International Standards required by business, government and society, in partnership with the sectors that will enforce them. Therefore ISO Standards spread an international consensus among the broadest possible number of stakeholder groups and are widely respected and accepted by the public and private sectors at the international level. There are no official statistics regarding ISO 14001 application; according to the Japanese company Corporate Risk Management web‐site (former ISO World) the certified organisations worldwide were 88.800 in April 2005. 7 The last edition is ISO 9000: 2008.

deeply different, though alternative, to the industrial production processes, particularly in the relationship between offer and demand, between producers and consumers’ expectations. In an accurate comparison between industry (especially manufacturers) and tourism, focused on the aspects concerning quality, the differences are considerable. For example, the main principle of the integrated quality in tourist destination management, is the “sustainability”. This paradigm could be assumed as the “key concept” of the differences between industry and tourism in production and consumption patterns. Tab. N.5: Comparison between the industrial vision and tourism vision

QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF THE INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION PROCESSES AND ITEMS ACCORDING TO INDUSTRIAL CULTURE/ VISION

QUALITY MANAGEMENT OF THE TOURIST PRODUCTION AND CONSUMPTION PROCESSES AND OFFERS ACCORDING TO TOURISM CULTURE/ VISION

The respect of the environment is considered a more a limitation than an opportunity and tries to be conform with the minimal requirements The quality of the place where premises are settled does not concern the consumer or client: it does not touch his purchase motivation, because object, item and packaging move to the place where consumer lives and proves , perceives and satisfies his needs and wishes.

The respect of the environment is considered as a basic “resource” and attractiveness factor: its conformity tries to come at best possible level Consumer (voyager, visitor, tourist) and tourist offers (with their respective places) form a unique motivation: they become a unit.

Therefore, we have to distinguish the quality management processes of the industrial organisations from the quality management processes of the tourist destinations and hospitality production and consumption. Value chain in tourism is much more complicated and multifaceted. Players are both social and natural, and success factors are environmental, cultural, educational, professional and temporal. Time is crucial in tourism, but still time is the unique factor we cannot rule or produce as we wish. We can refuse an item or purchase it later: time cannot be refused, while we experienced it. If time we experienced has quality, we enjoy it. If not, we cannot exchange it later. Time has no surrogates. Tourists, visitors, consumers of holidays need quality right now or no longer. Tourism has quality constraints unknown by industry: purchasing time to enjoy it (tourism) has no replay. It is another time. The excellence of the tourist services delivery and the processes therein, require a very good human resources and very high level of quality.

Objectives ISO 14001 and EMAS have similar objectives that can be summarised as follows:

•

• •

to promote continuous improvements in environmental protection through the implementation of appropriate policies, programmes and management systems within all organisations; to carry out objective, systematic and periodical evaluation of the effectiveness of these systems within business; to communicate the organisations commitment to sustainability.

How it works: tools for achievement By implementing one of the above mentioned regulations the organisation can receive a certificate. Certification is delivered by Certification Competent Bodies and is the official statement that the EMAS has been successfully and correctly applied. In order to integrate the environmental management system in the overall management system it is necessary follow a clear and systematic procedure, which is common to all management systems and described by the English acronym PDCA (Plan – Do – Check – Act), i.e. the steps that lead to the continuous improvement of the business activities. The 4 main steps to registration To receive EMAS registration an organisation must: • ties, products and services, methods to assess these, its legal and regulatory framework and existing environmental management practices and procedures ; • at delivering the organisation’s environmental policy as defined by top management. The management system needs to set responsibilities, objectives, means, operational procedures, training needs, monitoring and communication systems ; • with the organisation’s policy and programme as well as compliance with relevant environmental regulatory requirements ; • the environmental objectives and future steps to be taken to continuously improve the organisation’s environmental performance. The steps come one after the other and lead to continuous improvement, according to the PDCA mechanism and consists in the following activities: • •

•

Planning the management system: analyse, monitor and plan how to use available resources (water, energy, use of chemicals etc.); identify critical phases and plan appropriate measures in order to improve environmental performances. Implementing the management system: identify and formalise the procedures to adequately carry out activities and stress the importance of personnel involvement by delivering specific training on environmental impacts; enable communication about environmental aspects and impacts among interested parties. Checking and corrective actions: periodically check the efficiency of the management system. 25

•

Improvements: directly involve hotel managing staff in the identification of those actions which lead to the continuous improvement of environmental impacts; set relevant goals to achieve in order to foster change.

EMAS costs and challenges: Tourism organisations face some difficulties when implementing an EMAS. Some problems are common to private companies and to public authorities and can be summarised as follows: •

• • •

the need to provide many different facilities (i.e. duties of a public authority and facilities provided by a tourism company such as accommodation, recreation and entertainment, information, etc); the involvement of several different actors (customers, staff and suppliers); tourism companies, especially hotel and accommodation facilities, are usually small or medium size; seasonality of tourism activities which causes a frequent staff‐turnover.

High costs often limit the implementation of EMS; public financing or ad hoc agreements among corporate associations can help overcoming this obstacle. The time needed to implement an EMAS depends on the kind of tourism company, its dimension and its “starting point”. Organizations which have always paid attention to their environmental impacts and limited them by means of carrying out internal initiatives, have reduced considerably the time to implement ISO 14001 and EMAS. Generally speaking, we can say that, on average, a small/medium organisation starting from the beginning needs one year to implement an EMAS. Usually, 50% of the time required to obtain an environmental certification is spent to review the current situation in place and to effectively implement the System.

What it means in sustainable tourism Benefits for destinations and companies: since the quality of the environment has become one of the main attractive features of tourism destinations, both public authorities and companies, including accommodation and facilities, are increasingly integrating environmental aspects in their policies and management. It is clear that environmental quality and protection of natural resources are necessary to maintain the competitive advantage of a destination. Environmental Management Systems have therefore been approached and implemented by the tourism sector as well. On the one hand, private operators are becoming more aware of sustainability, and an environmental certification can enforce and communicate their commitment; on the other hand, certified Public Authorities in tourism destinations can play an important role in stimulating local tourist operators to adopt an Environmental Management System.

Furthermore, controlling and reducing environmental impacts produced by hotels is a way to contribute to the protection of the environment, which means preserving the landscape and protecting nature. All the stakeholders working in tourism, if inclined to think in terms of medium and long‐term development, can understand that their asset are their natural and cultural heritage. Private tour operators and public authorities should collaborate in order to sustainably manage their tourism activities and foster an integration between environmental public policies and private operators’ initiatives: both public and private sectors are essential in order to qualify the local tourism offer. Environmental Management Systems can offer interesting opportunities and benefits for tourism companies, and in particular for accommodation structures. As mentioned above, organizations from all sectors have already applied environmental management systems with different objectives and benefits. For example they were able to: • • • • •

Reduce and control environmental impacts and ensure compliance with environmental legislation; Improve their corporate image; Save resource, in particular energy and water consumption; Reduce the risk of accidents; Improve relationship with public authorities.

As for tourist accommodation facilities in particular, environmental management systems can have the following benefits: •

•

Meeting tourists requests and building an environmental image: EMAS is like a trademark. A tourist facility which implements an Environmental Management System is in line with the increasing tourists' awareness about environmental protection. Environmental awareness becomes more apparent on holiday, when the contact with nature becomes essential. This attitude has a major role not only in the choice of destinations, but also in the choice of accommodation. Those organizations which manage their activities in an environmentally‐friendly manner will be favoured. An increasing number of tourists tend to consider this as a sign of respect for the attractions offered by the holiday resort and to reward organisations with a sound environmental performance. Communication on environmental commitment increases the satisfaction of the environmentally aware client thus achieving the main objective of the tourism manager. Improving management activities: the Environmental Management System requires a better management of the facility’s internal activities that shall be planned and coordinated according to a clear distribution of responsibilities and formal practices

•

and procedures. Staff training, one of the Environmental Management System requirements is a tool to improve relations and increase staff competence. Contribute to environmental protection in the tourist destination: If the tourism facility is located in an area with specific environmental regulation or with relevant tourist flows, it can distinguish itself by paying particular attention to environmental aspects. Very often, in those areas subject to particular environmental regulation tourism activities are the only ones allowed. Areas with high tourist flows attract the attention of local authorities because of their economic potential. This is why those organizations applying EMS can benefit from a stronger dialogue with local institutions engaged in sustainable tourism policies.

Extension of the Proposed Network The network of references represents for the partner cities an opportunity to establish steady relationships, to enlarge their Urban Dialogue and Development, to enrich their capacity building in specific competencies, to enhance the governance style and practice in specific actions of urban policy and development. The reputation of the partner cities will be increased and their visibility in the international scenario will be better shown. The referents of the network proposed are available to convey in their communication tools (web sites, newsletters, magazines etc.) the information contents and images (actions, decisions, events etc.) that partner cities would like to be known in a large audience, far and wide in Europe. Tools for communication convey to the network: Eco‐counselling Enterprise ECE. It is a European‐wide cooperative network focusing on sustainable management, with emphasis on environmental issues. While the company was legally constituted in 2002, a number of associates started collaborating in 1987, the Year of the Environment8. For a networking with some European NGO committed in the EMAS application and capacity building: visit the website http://www.ecomapping.com/en/presentation/ECE.html .

Presentation of the main Referents International Institutions and Networks: - World Bank Institute: http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/WBI/WBIPROGRAMS - United Nations Environmental Programme (UNEP‐Division of Technology, Industry and Economics): http://www.unep.org/dtie/

Launched by the Brundtland Report “Our Common Future”, which paved the way to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), also known as the Earth Summit held in Rio de Janeiro from 3 June to 14 June 1992.

International Network for Environmental Management (INEM): http://www.inem.org/ United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): http://www.epa.gov/ (also for funding and aids)

ITALY: Number of the Organizations with ECOAUDIT application: in Italy are 1036, concerning 1440 sites. The most part of them are Municipalities and Public Authorities (20% of the total associated members): in our Project, the Tourist Destination of Bibione has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with both Kutaisi and Ungheni for a permanent co‐ operation and practical tools exchange9. Italian Committee for Ecolabel Ecoaudit: it has developed a scheme to train of consultants, auditors and verifiers who will work in the implementation of EMAS Find a full list of the schools involved with EMAS in Italy at: http://www.emas‐ecolabel.it/site/it‐IT/EMAS_Ecolabel GERMANY: Förderkreis Umweltschutz in Unterfranken e.V. Frankfurter Str. 7 97297 Waldbüttelbrunn Tel +49 (0) 931 – 40480148 E‐mail: info@fuu‐ev.de ESTONIA: Eesti Keskkonnajuhtimise Assotsiatsioon (EKJA) Lai tn 34, 10133 Tallinn Tel +372 627 6112 E‐mail: ekja@ekja.ee RUSSIA: Ecoline: http://www.ecoline.ru/index_en.html

Main sources, documents and guidelines Sources from websites: The most important web sites on the EMAS are: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/emas/index_en.htm http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/emas/tools/faq_en.htm http://www.inem.org/new_toolkit/ http://ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/tools/links_en.htm http://www.ecomapping.org/en/presentation/index.html: • EMAS Register: www.emas‐register.eu • EMAS Toolkit for small organisations: www.ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/toolkit/ 9

The text of this Memorandum is available on request to the mentioned Municipalities.

• EMAS Easy: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/emas/tools/emaseasy_en.htm • European Portal for SMEs: www.ec.europa.eu/enterprise/sme/ • Environmental Compliance Assistance Programme for SMEs (ECAP): ww.ec.europa.eu/environment/sme/index_en.htm http://www.eea.europa.eu The most important web sites on the ISO 14001 are: http://www.iso.org http://www.iso.ch/iso/en/iso9000‐14000/iso14000/iso14000index.html http://www.sinf‐mk.se/isosme/ Documents (available in PDF format): European Union_Emas_Regulation_2009_EN European Union_Emas_Regulation_2009_RO EMAS_ General Presentation_2011 EMAS_General Presentation_Slides_2011 EMAS_Rinaldi_Bibione_30.07.10.ppt Guidelines (available in PDF format): European Commission_Emas_ecoaudit_scheme_en Ecomapping_Emas guidelines_en Ecomapping_Emas guidelines_ro

Proposal N.3: Adoption of Environmental Management System: ECOLABEL (Ecological Quality Mark of the products)

What is Type of sustainable quality assurance: ( ) Accreditation (X) Certification

Ecolabel It is recognition, introduced by the EEC Regulation 880/92 of 23rd March 1992, revised by the EEC Regulation n. 1980 of 17th July 2000 and Regulation (EC) No 66/2010 of the European Parliament and of the Council, which establishes a community scheme to assign an environmental quality mark. As the eco‐management and audit systems (EMAS), even the ECOLABEL promotes a policy of environmental responsibility of the producer and the seller as well as of those who buy the product. The EU Ecolabel scheme is part of the sustainable consumption and production policy of the Community, which aims at reducing the negative impact of consumption and production on the environment, health, climate and natural resources. The scheme is intended to promote those products which have a high level of environmental performance through the use of the EU Ecolabel. To achieve this effect, it is appropriate to require the compliance criteria, in order to obtain the EU Ecolabel, to be based on the best environmental performance achieved by products on the Community market. Those criteria should be simple to understand and to use and should be based on scientific evidence, taking into consideration the latest technological developments. Those criteria should be market oriented and limited to the most significant environmental impacts of products during their whole life cycle. It is being widely applied in the tourist sectors all over Europe: one of the first and most famous pilot experiences in tourism the so called “Grüne Koffer” (Green Suitcase) worked out by the Őekologischer Tourismus in Europa to identify the types of compatible and socially responsible tourism. Strict evaluation criteria take into consideration the environmental policy of hotels, camping‐sites and restaurants, but also of travel agencies and tour operators: the award of the precious seal or mark certifies their commitment in the protection of the natural environment, resources and local culture.

Objectives The Ecolabel Ecological Criteria aim to limit the environmental impacts of tourism during the 3 phases of the service cycle: product purchasing, service provision and waste disposal. In particular, the Ecological Criteria intend to: • Limit energy consumption • Limit water consumption • Limit waste production • Encourage the use of renewable energy and of substances that are less harmful for the environment • Promote environmental communication and education • The following advantages are described in the official EU Ecolabel for tourist accommodation web‐site.

How it works: tools for achievement According to the general recommendations proposed by UNWTO, the “path” towards sustainability includes the following: 1.

5. 6. 7.

8. 9.

10. 11.

Consider a national certification system as an integral part of sustainable tourism development policies, strategies and objectives as well as an effective tool to implement them; Identify key stakeholders and potential target groups for certification programmes; 3. Develop the certification system through multi‐stakeholder consultation processes, involving all relevant interest groups, such as different government authorities (tourism, environment, transportation, finance, education, etc); tourism trade associations and other private groups; academic, education and research institutions, NGOs, consumer associations etc.; Coordinate an in‐depth research on the conditions and feasibility of a certification system, including aspects such as: existing legal and voluntary instruments affecting the tourism sector; experience of certification systems applied in other sectors within the country, like agriculture, forestry, and draw lessons from their experience for the tourism sector, certification criteria, operational mechanisms: application, verification, awarding, revision and inspection procedures; consulting and technical assistance for participants, marketing and communication funding; Provide finance and/or seek partners for co‐financing and providing technical contributions for the research, development and operational costs of certification programmes (e.g. different government departments, NGOs, academic institutions, international finance and development agencies, private foundations, etc); Ensure transparency throughout all the stages of the development and operation of the certification system and establish an appeal process; Clearly explain to the private sector the benefits, costs and other implications of certification systems; Develop incentives to motivate and encourage tourism companies to become certified, e.g. marketing incentives by giving priority at trade shows and nationally sponsored publicity, or ensuring access to environmental technologies, etc.; Consider issues affecting the sustainability of destinations as a whole, involving all tourism products and service providers; Pay special attention to equitable access to certification, especially by small and medium size firms, as they can have more difficulties in meeting the costs and technical requirements. Conduct pilot projects for testing and demonstrating the certification system; Prepare the market for certification, in order to reach a good demand level from tourism companies, and a critical mass at the initial phase to get the system running. Sustainable tourism activities should be the product of stakeholder participation and recognise the complexity of tourism development and management;

All the tools and the practices for this methodology of certification (and the other ones too) are available in the KRG (Knowledge Resource Guide on Sustainable Tourism), with the presentation of the experiences of the SUVOT (SUstainable and VOcational Tourism) and Network’s partners10 and show there are is common ground for activity. Step 1: Getting Started You first need to check whether your product is eligible and to know if your company can apply. Which products and services are eligible? Every product or service supplied for distribution, consumption or use in the European Economic Area market (European Union plus Iceland, Lichtenstein and Norway) and included in one of the established non‐food and non‐medical product groups is eligible for EU Ecolabel. Discover the full list of established product groups11 and the related product criteria. Who can apply? Producers, manufacturers, importers, service providers, wholesalers and retailers. Retailers can apply for products placed on the market under their own brand name Step 2: Getting Advice Once you have found the right product group and would like to start the application, we would advise you to contact your Competent Body immediately12. The Competent Body is the independent organisation that will treat your dossier. The Competent Body is responsible for evaluating your application and awarding the EU Ecolabel. It is also on hand from the moment you begin your application to give you technical support and to answer your questions about meeting the criteria. Your Competent Body can also give you further information about your fees schedule. The Competent Body will provide you with assistance throughout the application process. It also awards the EU Eco‐label and may help you market your products. If you have any questions at all, you can contact your Competent Body before, during and after the application process. The Competent Body will provide you with assistance throughout the application process. It also awards the EU Ecolabel and may help you market your products. If you have any questions at all, you can contact your Competent Body before, during and after the application process. 10

The Knowledge Resources Guide on Sustainable Tourism and SUVOT (co‐financed by European Commission for the European Transnational Programme INTERREG III) are presented below in the Paragraphs: Extension of Network purposed and Presentation of main Referents. 11 See: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/products‐groups‐and‐criteria.html 12 See: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/competent‐bodies.html: the competent bodies suggested are the nearest and more accessible (geographically): as matter of fact, our Partners can choose the Competent Body they prefer.

Case One: in the case of Ungheni (Moldova) the nearest and more accessible Competent Body is: Mrs Maria‐Daniela Toma Councellor Ministry of Environment ‐Directorate of Impact Assessment and Pollution Control 12, Libertatii Blvd, 5 RO‐Bucharest 70005 Tel +40 213 160 421 Email: dana.toma@mmediu.ro Internet: www.mmediu.ro Case Two: In the case of Kutaisi (Georgia) the nearest and more accessible Competent Body is: Ramazan, OYA, Che. Eng, MSc Ministry of Environment and Urbanism ‐General Directorate of EIA, Permission and Auditing Dept. of Environmental Qualification Services Branch of Environment Management System and Eco Label Sogutozu Cad No 14 / F Floor 18 ‐ Office 2 Block B Tel + 90 312 410 18 61 (is/office), + 90 505 255 10 59 (cep/mobile) Email:ramazan.oya@cevresehircilik.gov.tr Internet:: www.cedgm.gov.trYour product is made outside the EEA Step 3: Starting the application To get your EU Ecolabel licence, it is mandatory that you apply using the online application tool, Ecat_admin. You’ll need to register at the following address: https://webgate.ec.europa.eu/ecat_admin Download the E‐Catalogue User Manual. It will help you navigate the online system. If you have any problems using the system, contact your Competent Body. Step 4: Collecting the Evidence In order to prove compliance to the criteria for your product group, you will have to provide a dossier made up of the declarations, documents, data sheets and test results. The User Manual for each product group explains what you need to provide. You can find each of the user manuals in the full list of established product groups13. The printable EU Ecolabel check list is a useful tool to help you manage your dossier14. Competent Body is also on hand to 13

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/products‐groups‐and‐criteria.html http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ecolabel/ecolabelled_products/pdf/printable_checklist_en.pdf

help you figure out which documents and test results you need, as well as which laboratories qualify to carry out the testing. Product Testing – General Guidance • •

•

The applicant should meet the costs of testing and assessment of conformity with the EU Ecolabel criteria. The test laboratory should be preferably accredited under ISO 17025 or equivalent. You can contact your Competent Body. A list of accredited laboratories for most European countries is available on the European Accreditation Corporation’s website15. The applicant must submit all the required information about the laboratory to the Competent Body, which must approve the laboratory.

Step 5: Submitting the Application Once you’ve submitted the online application, you’ll need to submit the required paper file to your Competent Body. Within two months of receipt of an application, your Competent Body will assess your product against the criteria set for it. If documentation is missing, you will be informed and you will need to provide additional information. Your competent body may also organise a visit or audit to your products or service. Step 6: Ecolabel awarded If you meet the criteria and your dossier is complete, the Competent Body will award the EU Ecolabel to your product by creating a contract with you. Once that’s complete, you can use the EU Ecolabel logo on all the products that have met the criteria and on the associated promotional material. Step 7: Marketing your product with the EU Ecolabel Take full advantage of the EU Ecolabel through advertising and communication. Have a look at the logo guidelines below to understand exactly how to make best use of the logo. Your Competent Body can help and the European Commission also promotes the scheme. There is a range of marketing, promotional and communication material available, which you can use to help market your product. Once the EU Ecolabel is awarded to your product, the product will be displayed on the E‐Catalogue16, the new marketing tool that replaced the previous Green Store and gives you the opportunity to get through to your customers. We strongly recommend you to make the best use of this tool by updating the information and pictures about your products. 15

http://www.european‐accreditation.org/content/mla/scopes.htm http://ec.europa.eu/ecat/

The monthly EU Ecolabel News Alert and biannual Flower Newsletter often feature outstanding companies, providing a great marketing opportunity. Contact the Helpdesk (see below in the paragraphs: Extension of Network purposed and Presentation of main Referents), if you want to highlight an outstanding initiative of your company in the context of the EU Ecolabel. Keep informed by checking this website for news and make use of the marketing guide to discover what you can do to best promote your products using the EU Ecolabel. Don’t forget to advertise your Ecolabelled products at the point of sale or through your own communication channels.

What it means in sustainable tourism Certifications and Ecolabels basically serve three purposes, namely: •

•

To stimulate tourism service providers to improve their operations, aiming at greater environmental, economic, and social sustainability by providing incentives and technical assistance; To differentiate and distinguish tourism products and services that meet environmental, social, and economic standards beyond the level required by the legislation in force; To provide information to consumers about the sustainability of the tourism services available on the market.

Advantage 1: Show your high quality and environmental performance The European Ecolabel is the best way to tell your guests about your efforts regarding environmental measures and quality improvements. The European Ecolabel is a highly regarded official trademark based on strong and reliable criteria. The European Ecolabel is a guarantee for high environmental performance. Advantage 2: Eco‐efficiency for cost‐advantages Most of the environmental measures require some time and effort but on the other hand they add value to the service provided. They help to discover ecological and economic weaknesses in your enterprise and in some cases innovations might take place as a consequence. Reducing the consumption of natural resources like energy and water means a reduction in costs. Advantage 3: Sense of well‐being Environmental commitment stands for healthy living, healthy nutrition and a healthy environment for guests and employees. Environmentally friendly tourist accommodation

use natural building materials, have no‐smoking areas and avoid the use of hazardous chemicals. Linen is washed with more environmentally friendly detergents. Advantage 4: Meet the expectations of your guests Your commitment to the preservation of the environment will help you meet the expectations of your guests. They will recognise your high environmental performance as an “added value quality”. The European Eco‐ label helps to communicate this message. It is an advertising tool. It improves the holiday experience of your guests and supports your marketing activity. Most of the guests look for accommodation with positive effects on their health and many of them prefer accommodation in harmony with nature. The German Traveller Analysis 2002 showed that 41.8 % of tourists prefer environmentally friendly accommodation, 45.8 % want effective environmental protection at their destination and 59.1 % dislike outdoor waste pollution. Almost 50 % of the guests surveyed said that the state of the environment is very important, in particular for guests coming from Germany, Austria, Great Britain and France. Advantage 5: Reinforce your marketing tools As an Ecolabelled accommodation service or Tour Operator or other type of tourist player, you are entitled to use a number of marketing tools:

The official logo, can be used as a fixed element of your advertising brochures and leaflets. Marketing guide: successful marketing requires professional work. The guide contains written texts, hints, tips and a checklist. The efforts of the marketing team on media‐events, tourist events, advertising and PR‐ measures etc. will help you improve your image.

The use of the EU Ecolabel will distinguish your enterprise on the European market, as it is a trademark officially recognised throughout Europe. Apart from enhancing the image of certified companies, with the commercial benefits that such enhancement brings, certifications and Ecolabels are useful to promote higher levels of sustainability and quality throughout the tourism sector. Certification systems can benefit the society as a whole, the environment, governments, private companies and consumers as well. As for potential benefits for the society, it will benefit from certification systems that cover the three aspects of sustainability: social, environmental and economic.

Certified companies are supposed to generate benefits in these three areas, while reducing their negative impacts. Therefore, the contribution of tourism activities to the sustainable development of the host society will be more evident, more measurable and more accountable. Furthermore, the level of awareness on sustainability issues will be higher within the host society if the majority of tourism companies and/or destinations are certified. As for potential benefits for the environment, it is evident that certification systems and Ecolabels which include strict environmental criteria result in benefits for the local environment. Additionally, they can have a positive impact on biodiversity and climate change and on the environment as a whole. Furthermore, the widespread use of Ecolabels and certification systems in the tourism industry helps to generate environmental awareness among both tourists and host societies and will result in more caring attitudes towards the environment and cultural heritage.

Extension of the Network Proposed The Helpdesk It is able to answer your general queries about the EU Ecolabel scheme c/o BIO Intelligence Service S.A.S. 20‐22 Villa Deshayes 75014 Paris – France Tel +33 (0)1 53 90 11 75 Email: ecolabel@biois.com Interest Groups Industry: BUSINESSEUROPE Mr Alexandre Affre Adviser Environmental Affairs Av. De Cortenbergh 168 B‐1000 Bruxelles Tel +32 2 237 65 39 E‐mail: a.affre@businesseurope.eu CEA‐PME (European Confederation of Small and Medium‐sized Enterprises) Frederic Maas Avenue de la Renaissance 1 B‐1000 Brussels Belgium Tel +32 (0) 27 39 62 60 E‐Mail: info@cea‐pme.org

Retailers: EUROCOMMERCE Ms Géraldine Verbrugghe EuroCommerce Avenue des Nerviens 9‐31 B‐ 1040 Brussels Tel: +32 2 737 05 87 E‐mail: verbrugghe@eurocommerce.be Environmental organisations: EEB ECOLABEL SCHEME, GENERAL ENVIRONMENTAL NGO REPRESENTATION IN CRITERIA DEVELOPMENT Mr. Łukasz Woźniacki Blvd. de Waterloo 34 B‐1000 Brussels Tel +32 2 289 13 03 E‐mail: lukasz.wozniacki@eeb.org Internet: http://www.eeb.org Legislative issues ‐ Regulation revision: Mr. Stephane Arditi Blvd. de Waterloo 34 B‐1000 Brussels Tel +32 2 289 10 97 E‐mail: stephane.arditi@eeb.org Internet: http://www.eeb.org Consumers: BUREAU EUROPEEN DES UNIONS DE CONSOMMATEURS (BEUC) Mr. Łukasz Woźniacki Rue d'Arlon, 80 1040 Brussels, Belgium Tel +32 2 740 28 03 E‐mail:lwo@beuc.eu Internet: http://www.beuc.org

Presentation of the main Referents Ecolabel Index is the largest global director of ecolabels, currently tracking in 214 countries, and 25 industry sectors. This is home to an extensive list of certified ecolabels from around the world, and also provides up to date, relevant news and press coverage regarding

different ecolabels. An easy to use search tool facilitates easy access to all of the different information that this site has to offer both suppliers and consumers. http://www.ecolabelindex.com/ecolabels/ The Global Ecolabelling Network is a non‐profit association founded in 1994 to improve and develop the ecolabelling of products and services world‐wide: http://www.globalecolabelling.net/ International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD): How can business take advantage of the opportunities offered by sustainable development? Some useful pointers are provided by the IISD publication 'Business Strategy for Sustainable Development', written in conjunction with Deloitte & Touche and the World Business Council for Sustainable Development. http://www.iisd.org/business/

Main sources, documents and guidelines Sources from websites: http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ http://www.ecolabelindex.com/ http://www.turismo‐sostenibile.org/index.asp?lang=it (DG Environment European Commission) http://www.generationawake.eu/ (Resource efficiency campaign website) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/gpp/index_en.htm (Greening Public Procurement) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/sme/index.htm (Environment and SMEs (ECAP) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ipp/ (IPP‐Integrated Product Policy) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/etap/ (ETAP – Environmental Technologies Action Plan) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/greenweek/index.html (Green Week) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/awards/index.html (European Business Awards for Environment – EBAE) http://ec.europa.eu/environment/standardisation/index_en.htm (Greening Standards) http:// www.eu‐ecolabel.de Documents (available in PDF format) European Commission_com(2008) 39.pdf (Communication from the Commission to the European parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the sustainable consumption and production and sustainable industrial policy action plan, Brussels) Guidelines (available in PDF format): European Union_ECOLABEL_Regulation_2010.pdf 40

Ecolabel_logo_guidelines.pdf Ecolabel_marketing_guide.pdf Ecolabel_Ecat_admin user manual for Applicants.pdf Business_strategy_for sustainable development.pdf

Chapter 2

PILOT EXPERIENCES AND PROJECTS The best practices which paved the way to the sustainable development in tourism

Introduction: The best practices and experiences which paved the way to the adoption of principles and actions of sustainable development of tourism, deserve a mention, especially for their exemplary models and creativity use in the pioneer stage. The presentation of these experiences and project is very short, without the elements explained in the Chapter 1. Presentation:

A – ECOMOST (European Community Model of Sustainable Tourism) ECOMOST (1996) is a model that has been drafted by a research carried out by Mallorca (E) and Rodi (GR) in partnership, to which some research institutes and tourism consultancy offices of other European countries have collaborated such as: DWIF from Munich, Ashdown Environmental Ltd, Earthwatch Europe, NUR Touristic, Dr. Selwyn from Roehampton Institute, University of Balearic Islands . The coordination was made by IFTO. In order to test and analyse examples and improvement practices in the management of tourist destinations, according to the Sustainability principles, the very qualified Partners of ECOMOST set up and carried out one of the most appropriate and pioneer model: it summarized the approach inspired both to the Green Book on Tourism of the European Community (1995) and to the Agenda 21: the sustainable tourism was identified and confirmed according to an approach that foresees the integrated management of all the players of the system represented by tourist destinations. The fundamental matters the ECOMOST model tried to give a precise answer to, were: • What role tourism should play in the country • What is the value of its economic, social and cultural potential • What are the limits and the obstacles • How should resources be managed and how to settle priorities • What is the most appropriate set of rules framework • What is the most appropriate political framework The fundamental point was the achievement of a sustainable development and the adoption of the most appropriate "instruments" to carry it out through tourism.

The assumptions of ECOMOST were: • A strong ability in reading and explaining statistical data and previsions • A better and more resolute consciousness of the policy, above all regional and local, of the • value of tourism as a propeller of sustainable development • An integrated view of the tourist destination at least on a district scale • A constant attention to intercept the Best Practices, or the positive applications of models of sustainable tourism development, integrated and satisfactory for the consumers The objectives: The sustainability ECOMOST model made reference to the tourist destination as a whole: economic, ecological, cultural and social. This is in line with the requirements of Agenda 21 and the directories included therein: • that the resident population gains a benefit of welfare and wealth and keeps its own cultural and social identity • that the environment (the landscape, the site, the rural context, the mountains, the lakes etc) remains an attraction for tourists and visitors • that nothing is allowed or done to degrade or pollute the territory • that there exists an efficient and coherent political or governmental framework (of the area, of the district, etc) or clear and respected laws, efficient proceedings of integrated planning and the transparency and the bottom up (involvement) of the actors or players (stakeholders) of the system in the implementation of the actions. Dangers ECOMOST model was very explicit about the dangers that threaten the pursuit of sustainable tourism, in the sense that the following phenomena appear as indicators of “decline” (or danger) of whatever tourist destination: Permanent migration of the residents from the destination places outwards The occupation index of the accommodation facilities is decreasing without reliable short‐term explanations The level of the professional quality of the employees is low or decreasing The level of micro‐criminality is increasing The level of customers’ segmentation is rough and excessively heterogeneous Local transport services are inefficient and the private traffic excessive Carrying capacity is stressed too much in some moments and the seasonal distribution is concentrated too much The average age of the accommodation facilities or the year of the last restoration are too high 43

Assessment ECOMOST introduced an assessment of the potential of a tourist destination, in order to understand accurately the limits and the ties that keep it separate from a possibility of success within its competitive system. Only in this framework tourism regenerates a meaningful exchange among citizens of different origins, able to compare and express their preferences between what they leave (for example the city, crowded beaches, etc) and what they find. In this framework and only with these requirements, the increase of tourist flows becomes a “powerful means for the local leaders and for the same residents to appreciate and love their territory, to preserve it and suggest it as an accessible and enjoyable reality, as a symbol of the quality of life and hospitality”. The starting model suggested by ECOMOST is an INPUT‐OUTPUT analysis, conceived at the level of the cycle of tourist activities (supply side) and at level of prosumer cycle (demand) according to the sequence: suppliers, manufacturers, consumers and local communities. To test the output quality, an ex ante assessment and a monitoring or supervision at the output quality level must be organised. Beneficiaries: ECOMOST considered also the beneficiaries (and stakeholders) of the Sustainable Tourism Plans: ‐ The consumers: Sustainable consumption patterns ‐ The producers: Sustainable production patterns and sustainable supply chain ‐ The residents and local population: Tourism requirements in relation to and local resident needs have in some cases generated tensions in the economic‐social‐ environmental sustainability framework at destination level ‐ The quality of the environmental sustainable development and destinations’ carrying capacity ‐ The manpower and its empowerment: ECOMOST drew the attention to the very high numbers of workforce that lack continued employment and often suffer poor conditions, with negative effects on qualification levels, service quality and business competitiveness. This in turn leads to difficulties in attracting and maintaining the tourism workforce, and difficulties for tourism sector businesses and employees. ‐ The policy makers, especially those involved in the local communities: good public and private governance is the key factor to addressing these challenges and objectives and achieving sustainable production patterns thereby ‐ Cultural and natural heritage: wise land‐use and local cultural identity is expected to grow most. 44

Main references of the ECOMOST Project partners:

IFTO (co‐ordinator) The International Federation of Tour Operators (IFTO) is an association of trade associations representing tour operators from the major source markets of Europe. Its members carry approximately 70 million passengers on organised holidays each year. IFTO’s primary focus is in relation to the practical consequences of tour operating: the Organization created a Responsible Tourism Committee and published a Statement of Commitment, whose principal points are: • Enjoying ourselves and taking responsibility for our actions ‐ respecting local cultures and the natural environment • Giving fair economic returns to local people helping to spread the benefit of our visit to those who need it most • Recognising that water and energy are precious resources that we need to use carefully • Protecting endangered wildlife and preserving the natural and cultural heritage of the places we visit for the future enjoyment of visitors and the people who live there. Members of the Federation of Tour Operators are becoming increasingly aware of the socio‐ cultural, economic and environmental impacts of their products and services. In 2003, IFTO formed a Responsible Tourism Committee in order to provide tour operators a technical assistance on the responsible tourism practices into their core business. Contact: 1st Floor, Graphic House 14‐16 Sussex Road Haywards Heath, West Sussex RH16 4EA United Kingdom Tel +44‐1444 457900 E‐mail: general@ifto.co.uk E‐mail: ifto@fto.co.uk Internet: http://www.fto.co.uk

DWIF e.V Consulting firm for the tourism and leisure industry. Broad economic competence, a large store of exclusive data, a comprehensive range of methods as well as permanent, long‐time, highly qualified staff from different fields make up the basis of our consulting approach. By means of innovative and creative approaches for tourism research, monitoring and consulting, we create knowledge and provide the industry with new impulses again and again.

Contact: Sonnenstraße 27 D ‐ 80331 München Tel +49 (0)89 ‐ 26 70 91 E‐mail : info@dwif.de Internet: http://www.dwif.de/en/consulting‐focal‐points/

Ashdown Environmental Ltd The Company is an independent, specialist environmental consultancy founded in 1988. Ashdown provides professional services to private and public sector clients in all the major fields of environmental science, throughout the UK and internationally. Clients/projects are serviced by focused teams in each of our specialist disciplines which include environmental impact assessment, environmental audit, environmental management and risk assessment, air quality, ecology, contaminated land and noise and vibration. The Company operates a Quality Assurance system accredited to BS EN ISO 9001 and manages projects to BS 6079. Contact: The Oast House, Hodore, Upper Hartfield East Sussex TN7 4AR United Kingdom Tel +44 (0)1892 770881 Internet: http://www.edie.net/index.asp

Earthwatch Institute Earthwatch is an international environmental charity which is committed to conserving the diversity and integrity of life on earth to meet the needs of current and future generations. We work with a wide range of partners, from individuals who work as conservation volunteers on research teams through to corporate partners, governments and institutions. Contact: Mayfield House, 256 Banbury Road, Oxford, OX2 7DE United Kingdom General Enquiries: Tel +44 (0) 1865 318 838 E‐mail: info@earthwatch.org.uk

Project Enquiries: Tel +44 (0) 1865 318 831 E‐mail: projects@earthwatch.org.uk

NUR Touristic GmbH Tour Operator in Germany, it doesn’t exist anymore, because of a merger and acquisition by other Tour Operators.

University of Roehampton Contact: Erasmus House Roehampton Lane London SW15 5PU E‐mail: enquiries@roehampton.ac.uk Internet: http://www.roehampton.ac.uk/contact‐us/UK Tel +44 20 8392 3000

University of Balearic Islands (Universitat des les Illes Balears) Contact: Cra. de Valldemossa, km 7.5. E‐07122 Palma (Illes Balears). Internet: http://www.uib.es/ Tel +34 971 173 000.

B – ECoNETT (European Community Network for Environmental Travel and Tourism) ECoNETT is an information network on tourism and environment, created in 1995, on advice of the World Travel and Tourism Council and of the XXIII GD, together with the XI and XII GD (former General Directorates of the European Commission), the WTO, the private industry (ETOA, ECOTRANS, EUROPARTNER, AUIA). It has been one of the first and most excellent projects for the networking strategy: our Partnership CIUDAD aims at the same objective, with the creation of some permanent co‐ operation projects and with an extension of the networking to all possible partners. 47

Main references of the ECoNETT Project partners:

World Travel & Tourism Council The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) is the forum for business leaders in the Travel & Tourism industry. With Chief Executives of some one hundred of the world's leading Travel & Tourism companies as its Members, WTTC has a unique mandate and overview on all matters related to Travel & Tourism. WTTC works to raise awareness of Travel & Tourism as one of the world's largest industries, supporting 260 million jobs and generating 9 per cent of world GDP. WTTC advocates partnership between the public and private sectors, delivering results that match the needs of economies, local and regional authorities and local communities with those of business, based on: • Governments recognising Travel & Tourism as a top priority • Business balancing economics with people, culture and environment • A shared pursuit of long‐term growth and prosperity Strategic Priorities The Council regularly sets strategic priorities with a view to identifying those issues which most impede the operation or development of the sector. Currently, these issues can be divided into three: Freedom to Travel ‐ issues which affect the rights and abilities of ordinary people to travel, domestically or internationally ‐ and whether for business or for leisure purposes; Policies for Growth ‐ when governments or authorities act against ‐ or fail to act in favour of companies or organisations in the private sector, whose business is the creation of wealth and jobs through the operation or development of Travel & Tourism; and Tourism for Tomorrow ‐ known already as the name of the WTTC' s long‐standing awards scheme, that promotes and rewards the development of sustainable tourism ‐ Tourism for Tomorrow is how we summarise our concerns for the future of the Travel & Tourism sector, and how we act to ensure our children, and our childrens' children have the ability to have their lives enriched by the ability to travel and understand the world. Contact: European Community Network for Environmental Travel and Tourism (ECoNETT) c/o World Travel & Tourism Council 1‐2 Queen Victoria Terrace Sovereign Court London E1W 3HA United Kingdom E‐Mail: enquiries@wttc.travel Internet: http://www.wttc.travel Tel +44‐870 7279882 48

ETOA The European Tour Operators Association was founded in 1989 by a group of tour operators who wanted representation in Europe. After more than 20 years ETOA remains the only trade association offering European level representation for the interests of inbound and intra‐European tour operators, wholesalers and their European suppliers. Today, ETOA is the voice of European Inbound Travel, with over 500 Members. It aims: • To influence European tourism legislation so that it ensures members are provided with a viable environment in which to do business • To keep members informed of the latest developments in the issues that affect their business • To create commercial opportunities between buyers and sellers in the travel industry and act as a forum for cooperation between members Contact: 6 Weighhouse Street London W1K 5LT United Kingdom E‐mail: info@etoa.org Tel +44 (0)20 7499 4412

ECOTRANS e.V ECOTRANS is a leading European sustainable tourism multi‐stakeholder network of experts and organizations and is registered as not‐for‐profit organization under German law. Its headquarters are in Saarbrücken. ECOTRANS members include NGOs, academic bodies, research and consulting companies, tourism associations and individuals. According to the ECOTRANS statutes the projects and activities of the organization have a focus on research and development of solutions, knowledge networking and dissemination of information for making European tourism more sustainable. The organisation is founding member of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council 17 and the Global Sustainable Tourism Partnership18. ECOTRANS is executive body of the UN registered public‐private partnership DestiNet. Sustainable Tourism information and communications portal and is offering DestiNet Services for destinations and networks. DestiNet ‐ connecting sustainable tourism, is the new “network” generated from EcONETT experience. Moreover, it is an independent portal which brings together the global community of people and organisations working for making tourism more sustainable. DestiNet leads you to helpful organisations and information sources, potential partners for exchange and collaboration, tools and good practice examples, sustainable tourism certification programmes and their certified 17

http://new.gstcouncil.org/ http://www.globalsustainabletourism.com/

products and services world wide. It is administrated by ECOTRANS in partnership with the European Environment Agency (EEA), the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), and the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). DestiNet is officially reregistered as a United Nations "Partnership for Sustainable Development". With support from the European Commission (CIP Programme) DestiNet is used for the creation of Sustainable tourism knowledge networks for competitive and sustainable European tourism on local/regional, national and international level (FAST‐LAIN project 2011‐ 2012). In the field of Ecotourism DestiNet is used to build and manage the European Ecotourism Network (EEN)19. Certificates and awards use DestiNet to show their certified businesses, services and destinations on the global Market Place and the Atlas of Excellence. DestiNet invites you to use show your own organisation with your sustainable tourism related activities, your tools, good practices and events on DestiNet ‐ with links to your website for further information. If you coordinate a network or manage a destination you can get your own folder for knowledge networking in your language on DestiNet. The many features will allow you to manage all your contacts and activities in your protected section and to publish good practices and certified tourism as "green map" on the global DestiNet Market Place. Contacts: Futterstr. 17‐19 66111 Saarbrücken Germany Tel +49 681374679 E‐mail: contact.destinet@ecotrans.de Internet: http://destinet.eu/topics Chief Site Administrator Herbert Hamele Tel +49 681374679 E‐mail: herbert.hamele@ecotrans.de ICT & Sustainable Tourism Strategist Gordon Sillence Tel +351 912373124 E‐mail: gordon.destinet@ecotrans.de Web Application Development Miruna Badescu miruna.badescu@eaudeweb.ro Tel +40 21 2221522

http://www.ecotourism‐network.eu/

C – INSURED (Instruments for sustainable regional development) INSURED (Instruments for sustainable regional development) was an executive body of the European Community Programme “Environment and climate” (1996‐1998): its goal was to foster indicators and best practices of sustainable and eco‐compatible approach and management of the regions concerned. INSURED created a set of indicators and best practices in tourism, with specific interest to the accommodation facilities, in order to achieve their full compatibility with the environment quality, especially in the protected areas. A summary of that proposal is in Tab. No.6: Tab. No. 6: Indicators and corresponding behaviours to be adopted

The key indicators

Corresponding behaviours to be adopted (only some exemplary statements)

A – Environment quality in general

a.1. Saving consumption of the resources (water, energy, soil etc.) a.2. Reuse of the materials, products and recycle a.3. Practices of energy preservation through the employment of renewable materials and technologies a.4. Adoption of measures for the preservation of protected areas (parks, forests, rivers etc.) a.5. Sustainable mobility and carrying capacity monitoring (slow tourism, car sharing, bike etc.) to encourage the use of public transport and ecologically compatible means of transport for the mobility a.6.Assessment of the real and potential impact of the tourist activities on health, the environment, a.7. Promotion and realization of “greenways” b.1. Local produces are preferred, especially those coming from countryside and craft (e.g. wine) b.2. Plant sustainable infrastructures for transport (railways, ports, airports, channels, acqueducts etc.) and other industrial sectors b.3. Involvement of all the economic players in tourist policy (e.g. through the application of Agenda 21) b.4. Adoption of an Integrated Territorial Marketing and an unique brand b.5.To introduce in the tourist and hospitality industry the quality certification b.6. Protection of the environment and the population, involving in this objective both the tourism consumers and the enterprises, the local institutions and the population itself c.1. Respect and valorisation of the local culture and traditions c.2.Assessment of the real and potential impact of the tourist activities on the social values’ system and local

B – Local Economy

C – Socio‐cultural identity

culture c.3. Training programme that involves all these ‘creative’ methods of communication and ‘education’ for customers and consumers, to make them aware of this new system, both inside the host enterprise (actions of energy and water preservation, differentiated waste collection, security measures, etc.) and outside (to give preference to the use of collective transport or bicycles, to favour and encourage the enhancement of the surrounding territory, of its environmental, architectural, artistic and cultural heritage, to inform the tourist about the worth of this heritage, employ specialised staff along ‘alternative’ itineraries in order to ease the ‘usually’ congested areas of tourist flows, etc.) c.4. Rehabilitation and reuse of the local architectural heritage (e.g. ancient churches, castles, manors, villas etc.) c.5. Valorisation of the archaeological and historical sites c.6. Quality of the standards with particular attention to the problems of the elderly and disabled, the consumer’s safety, security, integration of the tourist activities in the environmental context c.7. Rehabilitation of the historical city centres and traditional rural villages

Contact: INSURED was promoted by DG XI (not existing now). Nevertheless, the “source” of this Model was a Program “Environment and climate” 1996‐1998.

Chapter 3

QUALITY OF TOURISM CERTIFICATION AND/OR ACCREDITATION SYSTEMS provided by private or public/private organizations and institutions

A ‐ GREEN PROCUREMENT Green purchasing and Integrated Product Policy (IPP) in tourism sector is one of the most important EU Initiative20. IPP may be defined as “an integrated approach to environmental policy aiming at the continuous improvement of environmental performance of goods (products and services) at all phases of their life cycle” A crucial role is played by Green Public Procurement, which is about integrating environmental considerations into the purchasing decisions of public authorities. Public Authorities are indeed major consumers in Europe, spending some 16 % of the EU’s Gross Domestic Product. By opting for goods and facilities that respect the environment they can make an important contribution towards sustainable development. Green Public procurement covers areas such as the purchase of energy efficient computers and buildings, office equipment made of environmentally sustainable timber, recyclable paper, electric cars, environmentally friendly public transport, organic food in canteens, from renewable energy, air conditioning systems complying with environmental solutions which can significantly reduce its environmental impacts. By promoting green procurement, Public Authorities can provide industry with real incentives for developing green technologies. It is also important to communicate your green purchasing policy to a wide range of stakeholders, including present and future suppliers, service providers or contractors, so that they can take it into account. Co‐operation between purchasing authorities is another way of increasing access to environmental expertise and know‐how and of communicating the policy adopted to the outside world. Green purchasing in tourism sector GPP in a tourist destination can improve the environmental impacts of municipal facilities and at the same time show the Public Authority’s environmental commitment to visitors (i.e. by adopting environmental methods such as ecological buses for public transport or green

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/ipp/home.htm

energy systems in public buildings). Moreover, a municipality that implements GPP will be an example for private operators. The Application of “Green purchasing” in tourism facilities limit the environmental impacts of their business. A large and important business sector such as tourism can play a relevant role because it has the potential to create a “virtuous circle” in the market: hotel managers and other tourism facilities providers can encourage, on the one hand, the production and the supply of more environmentally friendly products and, on the other hand, raise their clients’ awareness. An existing tool that can help avoiding confusion is the EU Ecolabel. Other national environmental labels and certifications have the same objectives. These tools are however much more popular among consumers than hotel managers and operators who usually buy professional products and facilities. When these labels are not available, the best products can be chosen according to the type of materials, ingredients and packaging used; guidelines and training are therefore fundamental instruments to encourage green purchasing among private operators. Application Pattern in the Tourist Destination of Jesolo Lido (Venice)

• • • •

Municipality of Jesolo (Venice),AJA (Jesolo Hotels Association), APT (Tourist Office) are involved in the CIUDAD Project. They achieved a financial support within the Life 2001 Environment programme. The project aimed at applying Integrated Product Policy to the tourist service in the area of Jesolo Municipality. The project’s targets were as follows: Settling the service from an environmental point of view Identifying and quantifying the chances for environmental improvement Ensuring the involvement of the persons concerned Identifying the more suitable policy tools for the achievement of environmental improvements through the implementation of the IPP pattern.

The main activities were the following: • Night accommodation; • Restaurant activity; • Moving on the territory; • Territory and open spaces management The IPP Action Plan was made of about 20 actions.

Contact: The most fitting reference for the European Commission is: Directorate C: Sustainable Resources Management, Industry & Air

Director Soledad BLANCO Tel + 322 299.51.82 Advisor Herbert AICHINGER Tel 322 296.69.54 C.1 Sustainable Production & Consumption Pavel MISIGA tel 322 299.44.20 Deputy Head of Unit Gilles VINCENT Tel + 322 296.95.14 C.2 Waste Management Julio GARCIA BURGUES Tel + 322 296.87.63 C.3 Industrial Emissions, Air Quality & Noise Thomas VERHEYE Tel + 322 299.88.29 E-mail: for everyone of these European Officers, compose please email like: firstname.lastname@ec.europa.eu

B ‐ GREENING SHOPS AND SAVING COSTS GUIDE OF UNEP Fig. No. 2: Main Components (values) of the sustainable development

(source: UNEP, GREENING SHOPS AND SAVING COSTS.A Practical Guide for Retailers,2006)

The retail sector has become the heartbeat of modern lifestyles around the world. Due to their unique position in the supply chain ‐ being the hubs for consumers and producers ‐ shops play a very important role in facilitating a shift towards sustainable consumption and production patterns (SCP)21. Increasingly retail companies are implementing sustainability strategies or adopting environmental management schemes for their own internal operations. Many of them also green their supply chain and inform customers about what they do in this field.

http://www.unep.fr/scp/procurement/

First of all: being environment‐friendly or sustainable does not have to be costly! “Greening shops” can result in substantial savings and benefits for retailers. The emphasis is really on how retailers can proactively manage their operations in line with the notion of sustainability, thus saving costs and enhancing the profitability of their stores. The Guide of the UNEP is the “reference manual” for this accreditation system. Its main steps are: • “Retail Sector and Sustainability”: it highlights the effects of changing lifestyles and overconsumption, and underlines the importance of SCP for sustainability in the retail sector. • “Managing Sustainability in Retail Operations” provides a step‐by‐step approach for implementing Cleaner Production (CP) and Environmental Management Systems (EMS) in retail stores. Here, the methodological framework based on Plan‐Do‐Check‐ Act (PDCA) cycle is supplemented by simple tools and techniques to help the stores in minimizing the environmental impacts of their operations and realize cost savings. • “Suppliers and Sustainability” highlights interesting tips on how the stores can work with their suppliers for sourcing environment‐friendly products and for “greening the supply chain”. • “Consumers and Sustainability” features some inspiring ideas and case studies on how to involve customers through effective communication and advertising campaigns to ensure the recognition and success of retailers' sustainability practices. All the urban destinations and historical centres involved in the project, will sign a common commitment to organize their retails’ sector according to the greening shops and saving costs guide.

Fig. No.3: The cycle of the greening purchase

(source: UNEP, GREENING SHOPS AND SAVING COSTS.A Practical Guide for Retailers,2006)

Contact: Ms.Solange Montillaud‐Joyel Associate Programme Officer Tel + 33 (0)1 44 37 76 20 E‐mail: unep.tie@unep.fr M. Farid Yaker Programme Officer Tel + 33 (0) 1 44 37 76 34 E‐mail: unep.tie@unep.fr

C – BIO HOLIDAY FARMS, BIO‐HOTELS, ECO‐HOTELS AND BIOLAND CERTIFICATIONS The certification of environment‐friendly touristic structures falls within a wider and more ambitious project aiming at restoring the Italian rural patrimony with a view to promoting sustainable tourism. ICEA (Italy), Bio‐Hotels Association (Austria) and Bioland Association (Germany) have entered into an agreement aimed at launching the original idea of organic hotels, which was first realized in Austria (2001) by a group of hotel managers who shared the vision of holidays in tune with nature and then extended to Germany on the growing wave of environment‐conscious operators and tourists.

ICEA ICEA (Istituto per la Certificazione Etica ed Ambientale – Insitute for Ethic and Environmental Certification) promotes Sustainable Tourism, signifying that kind of tourism which: a) protects, restores and safeguards the natural and cultural heritage of the areas involved; b) respects the specific characteristics of each locality, in terms of environmental diversity, architectural consistency, cultural and social resources and relevant economic development. Certification of “Bio Holiday Farms” in compliance with the ICEA standard of Eco‐Bio Tourism ICEA’s Inspectors visit every Holiday Farm associated with ICEA in order to check compliance with the ICEA standard.

BIO‐HOTELS ASSOCIATION The BIO‐Hotels primary outcome is to support and realise a different, sustainable and economic way of achieving their economical goals and work. That determines most of their decisions, as well as their touristic offers. Underneath all that you will find their beliefs, for example that organic agriculture is better than conventional or that it is important how a company treats the environment and employees. Based on this awareness they wanted to be in integrity with the daily work and wanted to convert their hotel into an organic hotel – one of the first stages to becoming organic was to change the eatables. In 2001 some hotel owners had a meeting and decided to realise together their common goals. One of the first accomplishments they had was that combined they had solutions to the individual challenges and therefore everybody gains from this shared knowledge in their development. The BIO‐Hotels have a Certification/Control agency in each country. These are officially authorised organisations and are a standard in organic farming. Here it is important to have complete proof that the member applies all rules. This also means that he keeps the promises given to his guests. Offences against our rules detected by the control agency will be presented to the BIO‐Hotels Board members, which will be sanctioned accordingly (and can even lead to the exclusion of the member).

BIOLAND ASSOCIATION Bioland is one of the leading environmental associations in the German‐speaking countries, a large network with many partners. To be members of “Bioland“ Association means: 1. that the BIO‐Hotels work together with Bioland on questions of guidelines and in publicity/marketing; 2. that organic food products are supplied by contracted suppliers recognised by Bioland; 3. that the guidelines of ‚The BIO‐Hotels’ are complied with and confirmed by certificate; 4. that adherence to this agreement is controlled in the framework of the scrutiny of the „BIO‐Hotel“ guidelines by control bodies authorised by the State.

Organic Farming It was a passion for nature from which broadly based expertise developed, ranging from carefully worked out rotations in cropping to detailed knowledge of the needs of animals. At the Bioland farm they are cared for with organic animal food, derived mainly from their own production, have plenty of room, straw in the stalls and are able to roam. When we operate in partnership with nature, we need neither chemicals, GM nor preventive medication. Bioland accepts responsibility for all the self‐imposed restrictions and maintains them in accordance with the highest international standards and guidelines. Because the raw products have a much better taste of their own, there is absolutely no need for artificial aromas or synthetic additives. Bioland farms are certified every year by control authorities recognised by the State. Over and above this, unannounced sampling is carried out all the time. For years, Bioland and BIO‐Hotels have been cooperating closely. The visions we hold in common have led to successful and expanding collaboration which is reflected in our slogan „Safe to eat“

EHC (ECO HOTELS CERTIFIED) This certification stands for more ecology, more sustainability and more regionalism in a business. It is certification of sustainably operating tourism businesses and takes account of their total resource use. The CO2 data are collected and evaluated against similar businesses, using an anonymous benchmark system, and this means they can be compared with the best in the particular segment/category (class). This evaluation also identifies where specific improvements could be made. Contact: "Bio Hotels" Certification to "Die Bio‐Hotels" Standard For information, please contact: Mr. Paolo Foglia Icea ‐ Via Nazario Sauro, 2 I ‐ 40121 Bologna Tel +34 051/272986 E‐mail: ricercasviluppo@icea.info

Die BIO‐Hotels ‐ Verein für Angebotsentwicklung & Marketing Brunnwald 400 A‐6465 Nassereith . E‐mail office@biohotels.info Internet www.biohotels.info Eco hotels certified E‐mail: office@organic‐network.com Tel +43 (0)5265 / 200 46 Internet: www.organic‐network.com Bioland Association Ron Schmid Tel +43 676 522 65 61 E‐mail: ron.schmid@organic‐network.com

D – Bayerisches Umweltgütesiegel für das Gastgewerbe Certification

• • • •

The paper ‘Der Umweltbewusste Hotel – und Gaststaettenbetrieb’ issued in 1993 by the Ministry of Agricultural and Environmental Development of Bavaria was updated recently with further checklists concerning measures and practices about: • waste treatment, • choice of organic materials and food, • preference of wholesalers who use biodegradable packaging, conservation practices of water and energy, meaningful and coherent measures in marketing and promotion in favour of natural and cultural resources, measures related to transport and industrial plants, interventions of restoration and furnishing in the accommodation facilities and in rural areas.

The Government of Bavaria, in accordance with the document, has signed the Declaration of Nuremberg (1994)22, along with the hotel and catering associations, foreseeing an accurate

Signed by Bayerischer Hotel‐ und Gaststättenverband,Bayerischer Industrie‐ und Handelskammertag, BAYERN TOURISMUS Marketing GmbH.

monitoring of the environmental and quality criteria and parameters, and sustainability of tourist development as well as the pursuit of quality management policy. An analogous document was later issued also by DEHOGA‐ Deutscher Hotel‐und Gastaettenverband, which is the German National Federation of Catering and Accommodation Businesses. The "Bayerisches Umweltgütesiegel für das Gastgewerbe" certifies accommodation businesses and restaurants by assigning Silver or Gold (image)

Supporters:

Contacts: The Bavarian State Ministry of the Environment and Public Health Rosenkavalierplatz 2, D ‐ 81925 München, 0049 89 9214 00 http://www.stmugv.bayern.de/umwelt/wirtschaft/siegel/index.htm www.umweltpakt.bayern.de

E – BLUE FLAG CERTIFICATION The prestigious acknowledgement of Blue Flag (Blue Flag Award for Improving the Coastal Environment) certifies beaches and marinas in 37 countries across Europe, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, New Zealand, Canada and the Caribbean: issued jointly by UNWTO, UNEP and by the Foundation for Environmental Education in Europe (FEE) ,has become a more and more

impressive element to reward the destinations that adopt ecological and quality policies23 . The parameters by which an award is given are the following: • Water quality, which defines fully satisfactory bathing conditions for the tourists (absence of industrial waste, preventive measures for pollution accidents, service of civil dumping, quality of the air, absence of mucilage, etc.) • Cleaning of the beaches and preservation of sandy shores • Actions of environmental education of the resident and tourist population • Suitable and differentiated waste collection • Restrictions to city and water traffic • Measures for the admission of disabled and other guests with special needs • Bathing protection and safety (rescue, etc.) An example of the parameters adopted: ENVIRONMENTAL EDUCATION AND INFORMATION • Information about the Blue Flag must be displayed • Environmental education activities must be offered and promoted to beach users • Information about bathing water quality must be displayed • Information relating to local eco‐systems and environmental phenomena must be displayed • A map of the beach indicating different facilities must be displayed • A code of conduct that reflects appropriate laws governing the use of the beach and surrounding areas must be displayed Application Procedure The municipality can apply for the Blue Flag. For a marina, the marina owner applies for the Blue Flag. The responsible local authority files the application form (with enclosed documentation) and sends it to the National Jury. For beaches approved bathing water data from the previous year has to be submitted as documentation together with the application as well. To be eligible for the Blue Flag a beach/marina has to fulfil all imperative requirements and a maximum number of guideline criteria. The approved applications and the dispensation cases are forwarded from the National Jury to the International Jury. A Blue Flag awarded beach/marina is only awarded for one season. By renewing the award each season the Programme ensures that the beach/marina is constantly living up to the criteria. During the season, the national environmental protection agency is controlling the bathing water quality data.

An important note for Kutaisi (Georgia) and Ungheni (Moldova), partners of the Project CIUDAD: as it may be easily inferred, the ‘Best Practices’ this award refers to in terms of parameters and standards are applied everywhere, even in our rural destinations, with the exception of strictly specific aspects such as those concerning bathing.

The national organisation and the International Blue Flag Coordination are furthermore performing control visits to the Blue Flag sites. In all cases of non‐compliance with imperative criteria, the Blue Flag will be withdrawn. Blue Flag For Boats The small individual Blue Flag can be awarded to interested boat owners/users wanting to contribute to the Blue Flag Programme. The boat owner signs an environmental code of conduct declaring that he/she will act according the issues outlined in the code of conduct. The following issues are included in the environmental code of conduct: • I will not throw garbage into the sea or along the coast • I will not release toilet water in the sea in coastal waters and sensitive areas • I will not release of poisonous or toxic waste (oil, paint, used batteries, cleaning agents, etc.) in the sea. I will deliver these types of waste to the containers in the marina • I will promote and use recycling facilities (glass, paper, etc.) • I will use the most environmentally friendly products among paints, anti‐foulings, paint remover, detergents, etc, that are available and work efficiently. • I will instantly report pollution or other violation of environmental regulations to the authorities • I will not use forbidden fishing practice and I will respect periods when fishing is prohibited • I will protect animals and plants in the sea, including no disturbance of breeding birds, seals or other marine mammals. • I will respect vulnerable and nature protected areas • I will avoid damage of the sea bottom, e.g. in the way that I anchor • I will avoid disturbing fishery or fishing gear • I will not buy or use objects made from protected species or from archaeological underwater findings Contacts: FEE International (Foundation for Environmental Education) c/o The Danish Outdoor Council Scandiagade 13 DK ‐ 2450 Copenhagen SV Tel +45 3328 0411 E‐mail: secretariat@fee‐international.org or coordination@blueflag.org Inernet:http://www.blueflag.org/ FEE‐ITALY Via Tronto 20, I ‐ 00198 Roma

Tel +39 068417752 Email: info@feeitalia.org Internet: www.feeitalia.org ‐

F – ORANGE FLAG CERTIFICATION Orange Flag is a quality mark in use in Italy for the certification and qualification of historic small towns and typical villages, where the traditions, monuments and cultural footprints of the region are visible and traceable, even if not enough known : Orange Flag is promoted by Touring Club Italiano and could be object of mutual exchange of information about the definition, criteria for the assignment, procedures to be implemented to achieve the quality mark, the conditions for the use of the mark in the national and international promotion. Municipalities concerned must be placed in inner territories, without any marine coast, and have inhabitants up to 15.000. The adoption of Orange Flag Certification may include assistance from TCI in the fields of human resources and competencies enhancement, tourism promotion, planning and institutional development24 Objectives: ‐ ‐

To ensure sustainability of the area, especially for the mobility and carrying capacity To pave the way to the Integrated Quality Management through guidelines provided by European Union, National and International Charters on the sustainable tourism ‐ To promote and enhance the “culture” and “awareness” for sustainable tourism, for both the residents and visitors. This Mark aims to favour the tourist attractiveness of the internal villages, not well known and appraised, especially in the rural areas. Contacts:

Touring Club Italiano Corso Italia, 10 I ‐ 20122 Milano Tel +39 02.8526828 and 028526001 E‐mail: marco.girolami@touringclub.it Internet: http://www.touringclub.it/bandierearancioni and http://www.touringclub.it/ 24

Touring Club Italiano is available to pave the way to such initiative in partnership with the Municipalities of Kutaisi and Ungheni, through an appropriate project of co‐operation financed by national and/or international donors. A Memorandum of Understanding is proposed thereby.

Associazione Paesi Bandiera Arancione (Associations of the Municipalities with Orange Flag Certification) Via Doria 10, I ‐18035 Dolceacqua Tel +39 0184.206899 E‐mail: info@paesiarancioni.it http://www.paesiarancioni.net/

G – Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria for Hotels and Tour Operators (GST) In 2008, the Partnership for Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC Partnership) ‐ a coalition of more than 50 organizations working together to foster increased understanding of sustainable tourism practices and the adoption of universal sustainable tourism principles ‐ developed a set of baseline criteria organized around the four pillars of sustainable tourism: • effective sustainability planning; • maximizing social and economic benefits to the local community; • reduction of negative impacts to cultural heritage; and reduction of negative impacts on the environment. The Rainforest Alliance, United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), United Nations Foundation and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) initiated the Partnership in an effort to come to a common understanding of sustainable tourism. The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria are the minimum requirements that any tourism business should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain the world’s natural and cultural resources while ensuring tourism meets its potential as a tool for poverty alleviation. To develop these criteria, the GSTC 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 were analyzed and the resulting draft criteria received comments from over 2000 stakeholders. Since the launch of the criteria in October 2008, the GSTC has focused on engaging all tourism stakeholders – from purchasers to suppliers to consumers – to adopt the criteria. Some of the expected uses of the criteria include the following: • Serve as basic guidelines for businesses of all sizes to become more sustainable, and help businesses choose sustainable tourism programs that fulfil these global criteria; • Serve as guidance for travel agencies in choosing suppliers and sustainable tourism programs; • Help consumers identify sound sustainable tourism programs and businesses;

• • • •

Serve as a common denominator for information media to recognize sustainable tourism providers; Help certification and other voluntary programs ensure that their standards meet a broadly‐accepted baseline; Offer governmental, non‐governmental, and private sector programs a starting point for developing sustainable tourism requirements; and Serve as basic guidelines for education and training bodies, such as hotel schools and universities.

The criteria indicate what should be done, not how to do it or whether the goal has been achieved. This role is fulfilled by performance indicators, associated educational materials, and access to tools for implementation, all of which are an indispensable complement to the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria. The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria were conceived as the beginning of a process to make sustainability the standard practice in all forms of tourism. Application It is recommended that all criteria be applied to the greatest extent practical, unless for a specific situation the criterion is not applicable and this is justified. There may be circumstances in which a criterion is not applicable to a specific tourism product, given the local regulatory, environmental, social, economic or cultural conditions. In the case of micro and community‐owned tourism businesses which have a small social, economic and environmental footprint, it is recognized that limited resources may prevent comprehensive application of all criteria. Further guidance on these criteria may be found from the supporting indicators and glossary, which are published by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. Contacts: Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria C/o United Nations Foundation 1615 M Street NW, Suite 700 USA ‐ Washington, D.C 20036 Tel +1 202.887.9040 E‐mail: General Questions: GSTCinfo@unfoundation.org Membership: Harmony Lamm, Membership Team, GSTCmember@unfoundation.org Training & Workshops: Liza Agudelo, Senior Program Manager, lagudelo@unfoundation.org Internet: http://new.gstcouncil.org/resource‐center/adopt‐the‐criteria and http://new.gstcouncil.org/uploads/files/global_sustainable_tourism_criteria.pdf

Conclusions Tourist destinations are complex; in order to develop and qualify them, many ‘players’, elements and factors are involved, among them: local authorities, any kind of tourist firms, farmers and cattle‐breeders, producers of typical food and crafts, staff of the protected areas, of the recreational facilities, transport, tour operators, etc. The chain of values results from all the sectors that compose it and from the integrated quality of its composition: the beauty of the landscape is important (perhaps the main aspect of attraction), but also the preservation of culture and local traditions, gastronomy, accommodation facilities, reception and information. At the same time, the demand of sport, recreational activities and entertainment are more and more increasing. The traveller’s experience as well as the visitor’s and the tourist’s is varied and at the same time must be integrated, in accordance with the ‘global’ vision of the territory. The players are asked to develop in a more convincing way a very close cooperation among them, centred around common programmes and around quality management models, identifying an area quality certification which sums up the value and the contents of the promise (the claim). The tourist destination has to be seen in the same way in which a single firm should be considered and managed. This approach is sometimes hindered by a long tradition of parochialism, but it is necessary to overcome these trends which proved unproductive; it is the only way we have to make our territories competitive on the global market. Therefore, it is important to underline the role of the methodologies adopted through the Accreditation and Certification Proposals and Best Practices we have selected in our Vademecum: a fruitful benchmarking can suggest many precious and rapid improvements as well, because it gives us a model of analysis and permanent monitoring of our positioning in relation to the best competitors, offers the methodology to test customers’ satisfaction, to ensure a permanent improvement, creativity, creation of new products and services, total quality management in our tourist destination as a whole, with its landscape, territorial integrity, hospitality services, tourist offers and packages. Moreover,this can allow us to avoid mistakes, wrong investments, useless actions and waste, and to delay our commitment for the Quality in Tourism.