It has been a year of soul-searching for the greater travel and tourism industry within the context of biodiversity and climate crisis amidst the continuing pandemic. However, we may be at a turning point. The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) has ramped up efforts and on-the-ground actions to cement greater sustainability across the travel and hospitality sectors. Via increased cooperation across the value chain including OTAs, Corporate Travel Management organizations, as well as hotel brands, the GSTC takes a central role in industry-wide coordination and standard setting for sustainability certification. Transparency and action matters to travelers that want to make informed decisions and to hospitality enterprises keen on future-proofing their business model in uncertain times. Discussing those topics and providing a 2022 outlook are: Randy Durband, CEO, Global Sustainable Tourism Council and Willy Legrand, Professor of Hospitality Management at the IU International University of Applied Sciences in Germany.

Timeline:
00:29 —
Introduction
00:35 —
Lasting changes in consumer travel behavior post-Covid?
03:39 —
Was last year's COP26 a turning point for travel suppliers?
06:10 —
Traveler trends: What GSTC learned from insights with OTAs
09:00 —
Are consumers aware of sustainable certification in the booking process?
12:33 —
Corporate travel: Business travel is wounded but certainly not dead!
15:34 —
The more consolidated corporate travel segment has a great source of power in ESG
18:00 —
Hotels: ESG is generating increased demand from brands in search of a global standard
20:40 —
Education: GSTC update on GSTCs education/training resources
23:20 —
ESG & hotels: Randy and Willy share their views on what hotels can/will expect in 2022
26:00 —
The hotel franchise model is a barrier: Owners need to get on board
30:20 —
Climate change and biodiversity - A quest for common measurement and reporting tools
33:30 —
Closing


About GSTC
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) establishes and manages global standards for sustainable travel and tourism, known as the GSTC Criteria. There are two sets: Destination Criteria for public policy-makers and destination managers, and Industry Criteria for hotels and tour operators. They are the result of a worldwide effort to develop a common language about sustainability in tourism. They are arranged in four pillars: (A) Sustainable management; (B) Socioeconomic impacts; (C) Cultural impacts; and (D) Environmental impacts. Since tourism destinations each have their own culture, environment, customs, and laws, the Criteria are designed to be adapted to local conditions and supplemented by additional criteria for the specific location and activity. Visit gstcouncil.org