SHILLONG: Tourism destinations across the globe are facing the problems of overcrowding and degradation of resources calling for an urgent need for sustainable tourism.
Programme director of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), Kathleen Pessolano speaking to a section of the media here said, “Destinations nowadays are experiencing overcrowding and degradation of resources. The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has announced, based on its members priorities, the top three issues that tourism needs to take into account for the future.”
“One is climate change, the second is protection of our destinations and the third is disruption. Degradation of tourist destinations is big problem, many destinations are struggling with managing well and sustainably and our criteria address how to do this as well,” she added.
She was in the city to deliver a lecture on Sustainable tourism at the Vice-Chancellor’s conference room on Tuesday. The US Consulate Kolkata has sponsored her visit here to meet with a few stakeholders in Meghalaya about sustainable tourism development.
She was also impressed with the heritage and tradition of conservation that the communities traditionally employ at Mawphlang heritage village.
She said, “I think there is a lot of potential for the heritage village that we visited to develop into a site that many can enjoy as long as they put in systems officially to protect and manage the resources there.”
Pessolano said that GSTC has not yet conducted any official assessment here in India although the GSTC offer this as a service.
“This community has a lot of potential to grow tourism as driver of economic development but the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), which I work for, sets standards on how to organize tourism and manage it well so that people can benefit from tourism without creating negative impact from tourism on local cultural and environmental resources which is very important so that tourism can continue to benefit communities for the future,” she added.
Stating that GSTC is the world’s leading standard setting body for sustainability of tourism, she said that GSTC sets a standard for hotels, one for tour operators and one for destinations.
“GSTC accredited certification bodies certify hotels, tour operators and destinations to GSTC standards so that people and companies when they are looking to purchase responsible travel options they can find them,” she said.
She added, “The Government of India has customized the GSTC criteria to the Indian context by setting sustainable tourism criteria for India and there is available on the website. So you can go and find the criteria and Indian businesses and communities can use this as a guide to develop their operations to manage tourism sustainably.”
GSTC is an NGO backed by the UNWTO (World Tourism Organization) which has a wide global membership and network with an aim to promote sustainable development of tourism.
