About International Rules
About GSTC
GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council) is an international non-profit organization established in 2008 with the aim of promoting sustainable tourism and creating international standards for sustainable tourism.
It establishes and manages global sustainable standards, such as GSTC-I (Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria for Industry, 2008) and GSTC-D (Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria for Destinations, 2013, revised in December 2019 and now known as GSTC Destination Criteria).
The international criteria managed by the GSTC are the only one in the world developed under the direction of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), and their appropriateness is monitored in cooperation with more than 150 organizations around the world, including the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) and other UN agencies, private companies, and NGOs.
For more information, please visit the GSTC website:
Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC)
About the Japan Sustainable Tourism Standard for Destinations (JSTS-D)
Japan Sustainable Tourism Standard for Destinations (JSTS-D) is a set of guidelines for promoting sustainable tourism developed based on international standards managed by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).
It was developed by the Japan Tourism Agency in 2020 as a tool for local governments and destination management/marketing organizations (DMOs) to conduct sustainable destination management based on the results of a multifaceted assessment of the current situation.
For more information, please visit the Japan Tourism Agency's website:
The Japan Tourism Agency's
About Green Destinations
Green Destinations is a third-party certification organization accredited by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) that operates an award and certification system for tourist destinations.
The Green Destinations program supervises certification and benchmark awards, including the TOP 100 (officially known as Green Destinations Top 100 Stories), Bronze, Silver, Gold, Platinum, and Green Destinations. TOP 100 application is recommended as the first step, and applicants are required to self-report on the 15 sustainability criteria of the Green Destinations Standard (GDS) in the first year and 30 in the second year. Once deemed eligible, applicants are assessed on the Good Practices and asked to submit a Good Practice Story about their sustainable tourism practices. The region with the highest rating story is selected to the Top 100 list.
For more information, please visit the Green Destinations website:
Green Destinations
