National Sustainability Program in Tourism

Only in Germany there are about 35 certifications for sustainable tourism; worldwide, there are several hundred. Its goal is to accompany tourism stakeholders on their way to more sustainability, to make sustainable travel services more visible and to give travelers a quick overview of the sustainability of an offer. However, many certifications have decisive weaknesses: they are not very widespread, often not transparent and hardly comparable. Similarly, the penetration of individual certificates to the traveler is often very low. At the same time, studies show that the environmental and social responsibility in travel is becoming increasingly important to a large proportion of travelers.

National sustainability programs can resolve this contradiction and help certifications to become more meaningful and effective. But what programs are already available internationally today? And is such an approach also necessary and feasible for Germany? The German Tourism Association wanted to address and explore these and other important questions about sustainable development in tourism at an event on January 17, 2023.

We organized the event, provided technical support and also gave a keynote speech and participated in a panel discussion. About 100 experts from the tourism industry took part in this event, which was part of the CMT vacation trade fair.