GSTC to develop new criteria for tourism food service providers

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), with support from the Türkiye Tourism Promotion and Development Agency (TGA), is further developing the GSTC Criteria, the global standards for sustainable tourism, with a new set for tourism food service providers.

With the official name to be determined during the development process, this new set of GSTC criteria will serve as the industry's global sustainability standards for tourism-related food service providers.

Food and beverages are essential components of a destination’s intangible heritage and tourism offerings. With increasing demand, gastronomy tourism generates significant revenue and boosts employment in various locations.

However, this industry can also adversely affect the environment, local communities, and cultural heritage, GSTC said.

Development of the New GSTC Criteria

Given the ever-growing size of gastronomy tourism and the increasing demand for sustainable tourism, there is a need for global guidelines that inform sustainable practices that restaurants must follow.

The GSTC Criteria will allow industry players to manage their kitchens and dining facilities and services more sustainably, understand the basic elements for reducing costs by implementing sustainability policies and practices, and safeguard the ecosystems, biodiversity, wildlife, culture, and local economies.

The GSTC will add a new training programme related to sustainability in restaurants and tourism food service providers, expanding its renowned Sustainable Tourism Training Program.

“All of the specific sets of GSTC Criteria are widely regarded as ‘the global standards for sustainable tourism’ due to our highly inclusive process of developing them and because their foundation is UN-developed and compatible with the SDGs,” said GSTC CEO Randy Durband.

The application of these GSTC Criteria will have a long-term impact, as their continued use can significantly reduce negative environmental impacts, preserve local cultures and cuisines, and support sustainable consumption and production patterns.

Moreover, food sustainability is closely linked to the UN Sustainable Development Goals, particularly Goal 2 (Zero Hunger), Goal 3 (Good Health and Well-being), Goal 12 (Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns), Goal 14 (Life Below Water), and Goal 15 (Life on Land).

Advisory Group

During the Criteria development, a Criteria Development Advisory Group composed of up to 10 organisations from both public and private sectors will be formed.

The main objective of this group is to offer their expert opinion and comments to the GSTC technical team while GSTC will retain full oversight and control of the criteria development process.

The group will also encourage the restaurant industry to participate in the public consultation and feasibility assessment phases of the criteria development process.

International Standards Committee to Oversee

The GSTC's International Standards Committee (ISC) will oversee the entire development and revision process. The development and content of the ‘terms of reference’ (TOR) endeavour to comply with the requirements of the Iseal standard-setting code of good practice.

This also includes online and in-person public consultations, of which one public consultation workshop will be held at the GSTC2024 Conference in Singapore (November 13-16, 2024).

TGA’s Role

Following Türkiye’s success in the implementation of its National Sustainable Tourism Program, which was launched in 2022 in collaboration with GSTC, to accelerate sustainable practices in the Turkish tourism industry, TGA is demonstrating its commitment to sustainability by contributing to GSTC’s global efforts in driving sustainable tourism in the F&B sector.

Highlighting that Türkiye was the first country to enter into an agreement with the GSTC at the governmental level in 2022, Republic of Turkiye Minister of Culture and Tourism Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, said: “So far, we have verified and certified over 18,000 accommodation facilities under the ‘Türkiye’s Sustainable Tourism Program’, prepared as part of this agreement.

“Following this success in the accommodation sector, we launch the next phase of our sustainable tourism programme, expanding our efforts to include the food and beverage sector.

“The certification programme we will implement for the food and beverage sector, which will pioneer the world once again, demonstrates the continuity of our sustainability efforts in tourism while also increasing the number of our businesses providing services in line with GSTC criteria in the field of gastronomy.

“With this programme, which will be in harmony with our culinary culture that inherently embraces the concept of sustainability, we will continue to be an exemplary country in sustainable tourism worldwide.”

Turkiye’s Pilot Certification Test

The TGA will be launching a pilot certification programme under the National Sustainable Tourism Program. This programme will apply the criteria from the GSTC Industry Criteria and the revised indicators to assess the feasibility of certifying restaurants.