Ghassan Aïdi

Dear industry friends,

Sustainable tourism is on the rise : consumer demand is growing, travel industry suppliers are developing new green programs, and governments are creating new policies to encourage sustainable practices in tourism. But what does sustainable tourism really mean and how can it be measured and credibly demonstrated to build consumer confidence, promote efficiency.

In an effort to foster increased understanding of sustainable tourism practices and the adoption of universal sustainable tourism principles, a coalition of 24 organizations have come together to form the Global Partnership for the Sustainable Tourism Criteria (STC Partnership), and together are working to develop and launch the Sustainable Tourism Criteria at the World Conservation Congress in October 2008. These draft criteria are organized around the 4 pillars of sustainable tourism: effective sustainability planning; maximizing social &d economic benefits to the local community; reduction of negative impacts to cultural heritage; and reduction of negative impacts to environmental heritage.

Presently, the draft Sustainable Tourism Criteria are going through a global consultation process involving leading sustainable tourism experts and the Hospitality industry. As our member, we encourage you to lend your voice and input into the development of the Sustainable Tourism Criteria by participating in an online survey at :

To develop these criteria, the partnership has already consulted with sustainability experts and the tourism industry and reviewed more than 50 existing certification and voluntary sets of criteria already being implemented around the globe. In all, more than 4,500 criteria have been analyzed and more than 1000 stakeholders have commented.

I am proud to be selected with IH&RA to be a member of the STC Partnership, along with ASTA, Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, Choice Hotels, Conde Nast, Conservation Int’l, Convention on Biological Diversity, EcoTrans, Expedia, Federation of Tour Operators, Hyatt Hotels, Int’l Council on Monuments and Sites, Int’l Union for the Conservation of Nature, Instituto do Hospitalidade, Kenyan Ecotourism, Rainforest Alliance, Sabre/Travelocity, Sustainable Travel Int’l, The Int’l Ecotourism Society, UNEP, UN Foundation, UNWTO.

Together, we believe these criteria hold promise for bringing forward a common understanding of what sustainable tourism truly means, and unlocking tourism’s potential to protect and sustain the world’s natural and cultural resources while alleviating poverty and providing long term sustainable growth.

I do encourage you actively to participate online at this survey for your country, for your region and for the World where we do live and where our children and grand children will live.

Wishing you all the best.

Hope to see you all in Monterrey.

Dr. Ghassan AIDI

IH&RA President
[email protected]

Founded in 1946 in Paris, France and move to Geneva, Switzerland as of January 2008. The IH&RA is the only business organisation representing the hospitality industry worldwide. Its members are national hotel and restaurant associations throughout the world, and international and national hotel and restaurant chains representing some 50 brands. Officially recognised by the United Nations, IH&RA monitors and lobbies all international agencies on behalf of this industry, estimated to comprise 300'000 hotels and 8 million restaurants, employ 60 million people and contribute 950 billion USD annually to the global economy. For more information visit