Costa Rica's Certificate for Sustainable Tourism (CST) and it's Five Leaf rating have become a model for making all of Tourism more "Green".
It has also become a important part of Costa Rica's Tourism Marketing Effort ("Costa Rica. No Artificial Ingredients").
This presentation explains how the CST Five Leaf System actually works.
ALL-INCLUSIVE PACKAGE PRICE IS PER PERSON AND INCLUDES:
Roundtrip hotel transfers • 3-night hotel accommodations in a Deluxe room
Hotel tax and service charges • All meals, drinks and snacks
Non-motorized watersports • Daily activities • Nightly entertainment and much more!
Why Start A Home Base Travel Business?D Kaye Arori
Make extra income doing something you and nearly everyone you know already do.
Travel is a TRILLION DOLLAR industry worldwide.
The Travel industry is growing at the rate of 23% faster than the global economy and accounts for 10.9% of consumer spending worldwide. Travel is the largest category of
e-comerce and will DOUBLE in the next 10 years.
ALL-INCLUSIVE PACKAGE PRICE IS PER PERSON AND INCLUDES:
Roundtrip hotel transfers • 3-night hotel accommodations in a Deluxe room
Hotel tax and service charges • All meals, drinks and snacks
Non-motorized watersports • Daily activities • Nightly entertainment and much more!
Why Start A Home Base Travel Business?D Kaye Arori
Make extra income doing something you and nearly everyone you know already do.
Travel is a TRILLION DOLLAR industry worldwide.
The Travel industry is growing at the rate of 23% faster than the global economy and accounts for 10.9% of consumer spending worldwide. Travel is the largest category of
e-comerce and will DOUBLE in the next 10 years.
The Onestival calls for Youth Empowerment through Creative Learning and Online Competition through Art and Filmmaking and ultimately leads to a Film and Visual Media Festival.
Stemming from the essence of the Egyptian Revolution, the Onestival beats through the heart of Social Media in a creative, artistic and passionate infinite ripple.
The Onestival leads, aligns and integrates all efforts at the individual and institutional levels towards the reconstruction of Egypt with a solid commitment that will, once again, inspire the world.
Pricing, Business Models, and What Things are WorthEnthiosys Inc
Rich Mironov's pricing workshop for SVPMA, 25-Apr-09. Focus on understanding customer's needs, value and natural units of exchange - before assigning prices or units or bundles. Group did teleportation pricing exercise.
The marketing advantage of the sustainable travel niche is the growing desire of consumers to “do well” while vacationing and traveling. That desire to “do well” has gone mainstream with the National Geographic estimating as many as 55-65 million U.S. tourists can be classified as geotourists, and geotourists spend 75% of the money spent on tourism. Understanding the basics of sustainable and socially-responsible travel can set you apart from other agencies and gain you more affluent clients.
The presentation addresses the ABCs of sustainable travel: 1)What defines a travel products as sustainable as well as socially-responsible, 2)how agents can confirm the sustainability of a travel product and 3) how to market consumers. Further, ASTA’s green program will be explained as well as the contents of the expanded ASTA Green Guide for Travel Agents.
Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) webinar recorded on September 14, 2017. From overtourism to transformative travel, what are some of the key trends relevant to sustainability issues and solutions in the tourism industry? The webinar has been delivered as part of the GSTC's Sustainable Tourism Training Program (STTP).
The Onestival calls for Youth Empowerment through Creative Learning and Online Competition through Art and Filmmaking and ultimately leads to a Film and Visual Media Festival.
Stemming from the essence of the Egyptian Revolution, the Onestival beats through the heart of Social Media in a creative, artistic and passionate infinite ripple.
The Onestival leads, aligns and integrates all efforts at the individual and institutional levels towards the reconstruction of Egypt with a solid commitment that will, once again, inspire the world.
Pricing, Business Models, and What Things are WorthEnthiosys Inc
Rich Mironov's pricing workshop for SVPMA, 25-Apr-09. Focus on understanding customer's needs, value and natural units of exchange - before assigning prices or units or bundles. Group did teleportation pricing exercise.
The marketing advantage of the sustainable travel niche is the growing desire of consumers to “do well” while vacationing and traveling. That desire to “do well” has gone mainstream with the National Geographic estimating as many as 55-65 million U.S. tourists can be classified as geotourists, and geotourists spend 75% of the money spent on tourism. Understanding the basics of sustainable and socially-responsible travel can set you apart from other agencies and gain you more affluent clients.
The presentation addresses the ABCs of sustainable travel: 1)What defines a travel products as sustainable as well as socially-responsible, 2)how agents can confirm the sustainability of a travel product and 3) how to market consumers. Further, ASTA’s green program will be explained as well as the contents of the expanded ASTA Green Guide for Travel Agents.
Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) webinar recorded on September 14, 2017. From overtourism to transformative travel, what are some of the key trends relevant to sustainability issues and solutions in the tourism industry? The webinar has been delivered as part of the GSTC's Sustainable Tourism Training Program (STTP).
CT Green Lodging is a partnership of the Department of Energy and Environmental Protection, the Department of Economic and Community Development (DECD), Connecticut Office of Tourism designed to:
*Promote the use of “green” practices by hoteliers
*Provide free publicity for those hotels that become certified with listings on their Agency websites
*CT Green Lodging hotels are also listed on AAA, Travelocity
Sustainable Tourism - Iceland Naturally Event | Williamsburg, VA | June 9, 2011David Brown
Defining sustainable tourism and how its capacity as a brand amplifier and marketing platform are relevant to all tourism businesses and destinations - specifically Iceland. Examples from San Francisco, TUI, Fairmont Hotels, National Geographic, and the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria
How a hotel can positively impact the local communities - www.BookGreener.com...www.bookgreener.com
View the recording of the webinar: https://goo.gl/7ORDGD
Amazing presentations from sustainability champions:
- Peter Richards - 15 years of professional experience in the ASEAN region, working at the crossroads of responsible tourism and community development.
Peter gives us great pointers on how to approach the subject with practical tips and examples.
- Aebe Christian De Boer, General Manager of Shinta Mani resort which attained third place in the 2013 TripAdvisor ranking of the World’s best Hotel. Being sustainable is the main reason of his success and you can discover why!
- Mark Dieler, owner of Red Monkey Lodge in Zanzibar.
The hotel champions local culture and initiatives. Their stance is plain and simple: be the antithesis of mass tourism. And it works for everybody
Tips, best practices to green your hotel, recording of the webinars:
www.bookgreener.com/connect
Our next webinar will be on waste management: https://goo.gl/dehcxR
Feedback wanted: tell us how we can improve our webinars and get involved
Contacts:
Me – alex@bookgreener.com
Christian - http://shintamani.com/ - gm.sr@shintamani.com
Mark - redmonkeylodge.com - mark@redmonkeylodge.com
Peter - peter.e.richards@gmail.com
We are aiming at building a new type of travel website that promotes the good hotels and that means a blend of sustainability and ability to deliver a great experience to their guests.
Help us make it happen by telling such hotels to register on http://www.bookgreener.com/propertyEdit.php
Now it is your turn: share your stories on how you are aiming at becoming a force for good!
Let’s have a positive impact.
Alex
A presentation highlighting new trends that have emerged and are emerging in the provision of tourism experiences in protected and Transfrontier Conservation Areas. These include a greater emphasis on a tour that includes the whole family, adventure tourism, reconnecting with oneself and one's family while on holiday, ecotourism, sleep outs and star gazing.
Travel responsibly: How can we make tourism sustainable (again)?
How Five Leaves are changing Eco-Tourism Marketing in Costa Rica
1. How Five Leaves are changing Tourism Marketing.Costa Rica's Certificate for Sustainable Tourism (CST)
2. Once upon a time, Costa Rica saved itself. By going green. It sounds like a fairy tale. A country that once was 2nd fastest in deforestation worldwide is now a world leader in ecotourism and rainforest protection. According to the annual Environmental Performance Index prepared by Yale University that ranks 163 countries based on their policy concerning both environmental public health and ecosystem vitality, Costa Rica appeared in the third place. A key element of this is a Costa Rican innovation: The Certificate of Sustainable Tourism, also known as the Five Leaf Program.
3. In 1996, Costa Rica invented CertifiedSustainableTourism. CST was the first program in the world that certified the environmental and socioeconomic sustainability of hotels. The program is voluntary, and the certificate is free. Today, more than 100 Costa Rican hotels have passed the CST. For more and more hotels, the Green Leaves of the CST are becoming a vital part of their marketing strategy.
4. The Vision: Sustainability in all kinds of tourism - from Eco to Luxury. The CST Five Leaf program looks at the travel industry beyond traditional green tourism. From bare-bones eco-lodge to luxurious golf resort: every hotel can apply the principles of caring for environment & community.
5. You know what 5 Stars will give you. But what does it mean when your see Five Leaves? We know that hotel stars tell us what kind of service and amenities we can expect from a rated hotel. In order to be a 3-star hotel, for example, you need to provide a hairdryer in the bathroom and a safe, among a myriad of other things. But its just as important to understand what the star system is not rating: The experience! You might easily have a nicer experience at some 2-star pensions than at 4-star hotels. The star system is all about transparency of features, not about how it feels. In the same way, the Five Leaves create transparency about the sustainability of a hotel’s operation.
6. In a nutshell: The more efforts a hotel puts into sustainability, the more leaves it gets. Costa Ricas CST awards between 1 or 5 leaves for how well hotels perform in these areas: how well the hotel treats nature around the hotel how the hotel impacts the local society and how the hotel helps the local economy
7. How does CST measure Environmental, Social and Economical impact. A CST auditing team visits the hotel and asks 150+ yes/no questions, divided into 4 categories: 1. Physical biological environment. 2. Hotel facilities 3. Guest services 4. Socio-economic environment A score is calculated for each of the 4 categories. The one with the lowest (!) score determines how many CST leaves are awarded. This assures that no category can be ignored by management.
14. How to find a hotel with CST certification. 1. The Costa Rica ministry of Tourism offers an up-to-date list of all certified hotels at http://www.visitcostarica.com/ict/paginas/buscador/fcrbuscaprod.asp?idprod=1. 2. Book through a travel agent that specializes in sustainable tourism. 3. If you want to book through a big travel site, simply check with the hotel management first. Hotels that passed the CST are usually good with feedback, because it is part of the certification.
15. The Five Leafs have become a more visible part of tourism marketing because more and more people want to enjoy their vacation, knowing their visit and their money does have a positive impact on the communities they visit. Choosing a CST certified hotel not only makes sure you reward those who try a little bit harder. The success also motivates other hotels in Costa Rica to join the program. And it it also supports the leading role that Costa Rica has in helping other nations develop their own Sustainable Tourism programs. Not bad for having a great time. What difference will Your choice make?
16. However, there is one thing that works even better in advertising than the Five Leaves. It’s called Pura Vida ;-) This presentation was created by Mario Gamper, Ideas will travel and Geinier Guzman, Manager of La Cusinga Rainforest Lodge All pictures were taken at La Cusinga Rainforest Lodge (Uvita), except pp 7. & 10 at Asana turtle hatchery.