Green maps: tourism is a challenge for sustainability

Reforming tourism is one of the most difficult and at the same time most fascinating sustainability challenges. On the plate is not the simple accounting of greenhouse gas emissions from travel and holidays, which also account for a remarkable 8% of all climate damage, practically as much as the entire European Union. Tourism is a complex economic system, it is both predatory and economically crucial for territories. It is an instrument of democratisation and cultural openness, but also a trigger of environmental problems and social uprisings, such as those against short rentals in cities. Moreover, unlike other sectors, more sustainable tourism also depends on our individual decisions, on what we choose to visit, on how we manage to stay in places. This is why sustainability certifications for the sector are becoming more numerous and important.

Research by Etifor, a spin-off of the University of Padua, had surveyed about fifty of them, before becoming the reference point in Italy for the world's most institutionally important certification. This is the Global Sustainable Tourism Council created in 2010 by the United Nations. As Diego Gallo, Etifor's director of tourism and local development, explains: 'Too many tourism certifications have been borrowed from other sectors, while this one not only comes from the UN, but is also specific to the sector and its needs'. Etifor's project in Padua began as a study project on the future of tourism, then became a practical tool that intends to offer the Gstc protocol to Italian tourist destinations. The first destination in Italy to be certified with the UN was Valsugana, a valley in eastern Trentino. Today there are fifteen certified destinations: there are Trento and Rovereto, but also Siena, Montepulciano and the Via degli Dei Apennine trail. "What the protocol requires is that the destination puts the visitor in a position to do his or her part to contribute to the well-being of the place and minimise the impact," explains Gallo. "Certifications work if they become a tool that can guide the market and consumer choices." The Gstc protocol focuses not only on environmental aspects, such as the reduction of energy consumption, emissions or waste, but aims at a broad management of tourism stress. According to Gallo, the sector is facing a vocation revolution: from marketing and promotion of territories to governance, because the problem is no longer attracting visitors, but managing them in the long term. Management is one of the pillars of Gstc certification: sustainable tourism is not just about renewables and waste collection, but broad strategies on how to protect territories and communities. "Vital functions of attraction, which draw on beauty, nature and art, need to be safeguarded. For tourism companies, these functions are strategic assets to be maximised," explains Gallo. "When the task of managing the destination is left to them alone, distortions are created. Instead, beauty and art should be treated as common assets to be preserved'. This is why the Gstc certification provides for the creation of a destination manager who balances the interests of the actors involved.

Another well-established organisation is EarthCheck. It has promoted the sustainability of Glasgow and Ireland and, more recently, of Zurich. The Swiss city achieved certification after a two-year process, which evaluated 76 quantitative indicators (such as energy and water consumption) and 366 qualitative criteria. Strengths included not only water management or renewables, but the public transport system, among the most efficient in the world, and the integration of green spaces in the city. All elements that improve the quality of life for both residents and visitors. In Italy, EarthCheck's partner is Terra Institute, for which Renata Rizzo works as a strategic consultant. Rizzo came here after working on the other side of the fence, as marketing director of a tourist cruise ship company. EarthCheck calls for environmental performance to be measured, but also the satisfaction and quality of life of the inhabitants, so that tourism does not have an excessive and negative impact on residents. Rizzo, too, considers the issue of governance to be central: "It allows us to move from extemporaneous initiatives, which may be right, but not incisive, to a strategy that integrates all decision-making processes. Only with a strategic vision that holds hospitality and quality of life together can we overcome the paradox of tourism, a sector that today is being jeopardised by its own success. According to Rizzo, 'certifications can be an answer to the problem of overtourism, provided we do not consider them as a simple sticker to put on the brochure, but as a design for the future to be built together'.

A GUARANTEE EARTHCHECK. ETIFOR. GLOBAL SUSTAINABLE TOURISM COUNCIL. TERRA INSTITUTE..