What is it?
Certification scheme issued or operated by Global Sustainable Tourism Council.
Regulatory recognitionGlobal baseline criteria referenced by tour operators and booking platforms
Standards & schemes · Certification scheme
GSTC Criteria (sustainable tourism)
Global Sustainable Tourism Council
Which version is current?
Profile version 2. Official information last verified 24 August 2026.
Who and what does it cover?
- Geography
- Global
- Sectors
- Tourism, hospitality, destinations
- Scope
- Operator / destination
What does it require?
Global baseline criteria for sustainable tourism: the Industry Standard v3.0 has been split into Hotel Standard v4.0 and Tour Operator Standard v4.0 (transition to 30 December 2028), alongside the Destination Criteria; GSTC accredits certifiers and recognises equivalent standards.
What it does not demonstrateThe scheme does not by itself prove that a particular product, site or organisation holds a current certificate; its scope and validity must be checked.
How is conformity assessed?
GSTC-Accredited certification bodies; GSTC-Recognised standard equivalence pathway
Grievance mechanism—
Who makes the decision?
Global Sustainable Tourism Council
Assurance arrangementGSTC-Accredited certification bodies; GSTC-Recognised standard equivalence pathway
Chain of custody
Not specified in this profile
ISEAL membership—
Conditional relationships
Claims it may support
A relationship does not mean that the standard proves or validates every use of a claim.
Legal context
Laws referencing it
No reviewed law references are published.
Dictionary
Dictionary concepts
Version record
What has changed
- Version 2Initial profile published after recorded site-owner/editor review of the complete standards batch.
- Version 1Initial private editorial draft imported from the reviewed standards handover.
Last verified 24 August 2026. This neutral profile is informational and does not recommend, rank or endorse the standard.