Sustainable development of tourism destinations was also discussed at the Symposium. Four major building blocks for an environmentally sustainable tourism destination were identified –
• reducing carbon emissions,
• waste management,
• sustainable water management and
• biodiversity conservation.
Integrated territorial land-use management is essential to the planning and implementation of actions to improve the sustainability of tourism destinations. The Symposium concluded that it is not enough to fix some smaller issues or attempt to „greenwash‟ business-as-usual. In each destination a key strategic programme for these four aspects within a global sustainability plan needs to be defined under the leadership of a local, regional or national public authority.
Greening should not be viewed as a marketing campaign, but as a serious effort to become a truly environmentally and socially sustainable destination.
The Symposium endorses the efforts to develop the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria15 and the creation of a Tourism Sustainability Council, and recommends that tourism stakeholders support this move towards a global harmonisation of sustainability criteria for the tourism sector. This is particularly true when bringing regional and national certified products and services to the global green marketplace.
