The criteria for Thailand’s Community-Based Tourism Development (CBT Thailand) has been used as an important tool for continuous planning, operating and evaluating outcome of community-based tourism development in Thailand.
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) announced that the Criteria for Thailand’s Community-Based Tourism Development, published by Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration (DASTA), has achieved the ‘GSTC-Recognized Standard’ status.
The Criteria for Thailand’s Community-Based Tourism Development (CBT Thailand) has been used as an important tool for continuous planning, operating and evaluating outcome of community-based tourism development in Thailand. It is a baseline standard to help evaluate strength and weakness of community throughout the tourism development process, so that community and coaching units can effectively build the capacity and fulfill community’s potentials. Most importantly, it can be used as a monitoring tool to help to prevent unwanted negative change in communities when dealing with tourism needs. The criteria help to build immunity for communities to be aware of their capacity and development standpoint, so the community can strive to yield the benefits from tourism while strengthening their local resource management which is the foundation for “Sustainable Community-Based Tourism Development”.
Achieving the GSTC-Recognized status means that a sustainable tourism standard has been reviewed by GSTC technical experts and the GSTC Accreditation Panel and deemed equivalent to the GSTC Criteria for sustainable tourism. Additionally, an organization that meets GSTC requirements must administer the standard. GSTC Recognition does not ensure that the certification process is reliable, only that the set of standards used to certify includes the minimum elements to ensure sustainability. The purpose of the GSTC programs is to reward genuine practitioners of sustainable tourism, which in turn builds confidence and credibility with consumers.
“By gaining GSTC-Recognized status for Thailand’s Community-Based Tourism Development standard, DASTA has affirmed that their standard blends universal sustainable tourism principles within the Thai socio-political context,” says Randy Durband, CEO of GSTC.
“For years, DASTA has coordinated with partners in various sector, namely academics and governmental agencies in tourism development, community development, representatives of communities, local administrations and experts in tourism marketing to develop the Criteria for CBT Thailand. Now it became the first standard in the world with the focus on community-based tourism development that has GSTC-Recognized status. This achievement proves that the community-based approach that DASTA has been rigorously worked on is accurate in accordance with the international standard”, says Dr. Nalikatibhag Sangsnit, Director-General of DASTA. “The Criteria for CBT Thailand is only a starting point for emphasizing the importance of community involvement in sustainable tourism development. We hope that our work in Thailand can be useful for other countries and DASTA will continue to improve our work to achieve GSTC-Accredited status soon,” adds Dr. Sangsnit.
To date, 11 destination standards, and 30 hotels and tour operators standards have achieved GSTC-Recognized status. The completion of these step-wise programs rewards standard owners for their commitment to sustainability while offering the market a proof that these standards adhere to international norms.
The GSTC will continue to work with organizations around the world to provide GSTC Recognition of standards for sustainability in travel and tourism. GSTC Recognition does not ensure that a certification process is reliable, only that the set of standards used to certify are equivalent to the GSTC Criteria.
GSTC-Recognized standard owners are encouraged to complete the Accreditation process which relates to the quality and neutrality of their certification process. Achieving a GSTC-Accredited status affirms that their certification process follows the highest international standards while further distinguishing their standards and processes amongst other certification programs. Learn more about GSTC Accreditation.
Tatiana is the news co-ordinator for TravelDailyNews Media Network (traveldailynews.gr, traveldailynews.com and traveldailynews.asia). Her role includes to monitor the hundrends of news sources of TravelDailyNews Media Network and skim the most important according to our strategy. She holds a Bachelor degree in Communication & Mass Media from Panteion University of Political & Social Studies of Athens and she has been editor and editor-in-chief in various economic magazines and newspapers.
