SLTDA’S Sustainable Tourism Certification recognizes 37 hotels
Sri Lanka Tourism Development Authority (SLTDA) initiated the National Sustainable Tourism Certification (NSTC) as the 1st step towards making the tourism industry sustainable with the technical and financial assistance of Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN) of UNDP in mid-2018.
After the successful completion of the process, the 1st batch of hotels wasawarded and recognized for their impressive sustainable practices on 5th August at Ape Game, Battaramulla with the participation of Tourism Development, Wildlife Minister John Amaratunga, CEO of Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) Randy Durband and Dr. Mihee Kang, Director Asia and the Pacific of GSTC.
“Tourism Consumes high energy be it water, food, usage of sensitive places or the environment and more tourists lead to more impact on the environment, good and bad. It is important to thoroughly think about how to mitigate the negative impacts while properly managing the above and the answer is - Sustainability which respects the nature, culture, society and ecosystem massively.
That is exactly what we intend to do through NSTC – Initiate, measure and monitor the best sustainable practices of the industry and recognize them
which in return will provide us with global opportunity, national benefits locally with long term stability. 90 percent of the tourism sector key players are from the private sector and we hope this will drive them towards sustainability and we can proudly position Sri Lanka as a Sustainable Destination,” Upali Ratnayake, Director General of SLTDA who is also the pioneer behind brining the certification to Sri Lanka shared.
This project was designed considering the current importance given to sustainable tourism globally, and to successfully compete as a highly demanded destination. The global context was considered in designing the project with the facilitation of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) so that the certification will be relevant not only to Sri Lanka but also internationally.
An MOU betweensri Lanka Tourism Development Authority and Global Sustainable Tourism Council was also signed at this occasion.