Native Tours at GSTC 2021 Online Members Meeting

On December 9, Native Tours joined other Global Sustainable Tourism Council members from the Americas, Europe, and Africa for an annual meeting. Due to the Pandemic, this year’s meeting was again virtual.

SCREENSHOT OF A VIRTUAL TOAST AT THE 2021 #GSTC2021 SHOWING NT SUSTAINABILITY ASSOCIATE, BETH HAYDEN, ON THE TOP ROW, 2ND FROM THE LEFT.

Much of the content reflected the unprecedented time in the tourism industry. Chairman, Luigi Cabrini, opened with the question: Will post-pandemic tourism be more sustainable? UNWTO data on the importance of tourism to the global economy before the pandemic were shared, along with estimates on pandemic losses. There is a projected loss of 1.3 trillion USD from international tourism. 100-120 million direct tourism jobs are at risk.

UNWTO DATA ON THE GLOBAL IMPACT OF TOURISM PRE-PANDEMIC SHARED AT #GSTC2021.

While the news seems grim, the Pandemic has increased interest in sustainable travel and the belief in its importance. GSTC reports membership and training have increased dramatically during the past two years. Chairman Cabrini said training attendance has doubled since the pandemic. Native Tours and many other GSTC members have been planning how to return to travel more sustainably.

Sustainable tourism was defined by the UNEP and UNWTO in 2005 as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities.” In 2007, those two were joined by the United Nations Foundation and Sabre to form GSTC.

Native Tours was set up using the GSTC framework. Since it is so critical to who we are as a business, we are going to finish out the year by talking about the four pillars of GSTC: 1. Sustainability Management 2. Socal and Economic Benefits 3. Cultural Heritage 4. Environment. That content will initially be shared on our social media and combined into a blog post over the coming weeks. Native Tours is a proud member of GSTC and looks forward to building back better and supporting our destinations in increased sustainability.