From the Guidelines Workshop: Tourism destinations with Ecolabel
What would you expect from a holiday region if you want to holiday sustainably? These and similar questions are currently being asked by our VKI experts together with some pilot destinations and external experts.
Clean nature? The possibility of getting from door to door by public transport? Regional products in the gastronomy and souvenir shops? Solitude or the encounter with many open-hearted people?
In December 2020, the Ecolabel Advisory Board commissioned the VKI to create an award for tourism destinations after a successful study. This project is also included in Plan T, the tourism strategy of the Ministry of Tourism.
What will happen?
Existing international initiatives will serve as a model and it is also intended that the Austrian Ecolabel will also be internationally recognised and comparable in this area. We have already reported on this here. For the Austria-specific requirements, it is particularly important to us to set local and regional accents and to make the implementation as practicable as possible. 19 destinations from all over Austria support the project as project partners, who critically examine our proposals and contents for practicability and contribute their feedback.
Where do we stand?
This year, an online discussion and an online workshop on the topic of "sustainable management" have already taken place. Based on the feedback from the DMOs, concrete criteria proposals are being developed, which will be presented to an expert committee for discussion in autumn.
Currently, the topic of "ecology" is under discussion, covering a wide range of topics from biodiversity and nature and, climate protection, air quality, light and noise to waste management and mobility.
We are already looking forward to the discussions with the tourism experts!
You can read more articles about this project here:
Travelling to Corona: What does sustainable holiday planning look like "after Corona"?
An Ecolabel for destinations? https://www.umweltzeichen.at/de/tourismus/nachhaltiger-tourismus/ein-umweltzeichen-für-destinationen