In 2018, we chose TourCert, a German non-profit organization for responsible tourism certification.
TourCert brings together experts in tourism, science, the environment, development and politics to certify companies that meet the highest standards of quality and social responsibility. This certification is based on several referencing systems:
- ISO 26000 defines, via guidelines, how organizations should contribute to sustainable development.
- ISO 14001 defines a number of requirements that enable companies to have an environmental management policy.
- The EMAS (Eco Management and Audit Scheme) regulation enables all organizations to assess and improve their environmental performance.
- The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC®) sets global sustainability standards for the travel and tourism industry.
- The Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) defines guidelines for the annual reporting of an organization’s sustainability activities.
This organization is present in Latin America, and its specifications combine environmental and social aspects, as well as quality in the ISO sense, in order to improve our environmental performance and our ways of working with our various service providers for the good of the planet and local communities, to the benefit of our customers.
TourCert helped us define our CSR strategy and obtain certification.
First, a diagnosis of our agency was established. This was followed by an action plan and strategy development phase, prior to the final audit and certification of our agency.
What our responsible tourism certification has brought us :
- good practices in sustainable development ;
- social and environmental responsibility ;
- differentiation in the tourism market;
- added value for our partners and customers;
- a new, more responsible way of working.
