Why Another Process?

The growth of responsible tourism and the increase in consumer demand has led to the industry developing certification, labelling, and awards schemes to grade businesses. This has resulted in literally hundreds of different schemes offering such services being made available on the market, each with its own 'one size fits all' approach.

Transparent

Whilst we believe the various schemes out there are useful since they help to undermine the industry's green-washers, they do little to highlight the achievements of those who are really making progress and setting the pace.

Have you ever wondered what it takes for a company to gain a certification standard or award for responsible tourism? Or whether your competitors really are achieving what they claim? By asking businesses to publicly report their annual achievements, we increase transparency in the field of responsible tourism and achieve our final goals – to remove the opaqueness inherent in other schemes and reduce false claims made by unethical businesses.

Tailor-made

Sometimes, 'one size' does not fit all – and this is particularly true of certification schemes. Using a set list of criteria, like many schemes on the market, there is no room for you to have your say in what's important, and relevant, to your business, your sector or your destination. You cannot properly demonstrate your priorities; for instance, water conservation is a lot more important in a desert than a rainforest and porter protection is more important for a trekking company than for an accommodation provider. With a tailor-made report, you can focus on what you think is important, for your business and your clients.

Obviously, this doesn't mean anything goes – there will be a list of minimum standards for each country of operation set by businesses that join the scheme and by the verifier of that country along with prohibited activities and behaviours which apply to any business. All these factors will be listed in the relevant Impact sections. If you have suggestions for activities and behaviours, which should be added to either section, please contact us.

Businesses that do not reach the minimum standards are not excluded from the scheme – it simply means these are the aspects which should be highlighted and set as goals for the coming years. However companies who violate the list of negative indicators, such as knowingly polluting a water source, will be excluded from the Responsible Tourism Reporting Initiative until they have proven these issues have been satisfactorily addressed.

Accessibility

When you are a small business your time is precious. Even though the schemes currently on the market provide set indicators which may be more appealing and less time consuming than creating your own tailor-made list, they will often include many indicators which are irrelevant to your business. As such, they require a huge dedication of time and work for little reward and therefore small businesses are often deterred from taking part. We wanted to create a scheme that allowed you to get your foot in the door no matter how small you are or how new you are to responsible tourism and reporting.

Independent Verification

Without external verification, your report can only be taken at face value. Adding third-party verification to you report adds validation and evidence to you business' claims. Even where a responsible tourism report is already in place, without independent verification a business risks permeating false claims, inadvertently or knowingly, and subsequently become guilty of green-washing. With the additional proof the Responsible Tourism Reporting Initiative can provide, you can offer solid, objective evidence to your stakeholders to validate your claims.