Vail first recognised sustainable tourism mountain resort

Vail’s certification sets standard for other mountain communities to follow

Vail has been officially certified as a Sustainable Mountain Resort Destination by Sustainable Travel International. The first mountain resort in the world to receive such recognition. It was the first resort to receive a Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) body standard in 2015.

The certifications naturally build on Vail’s already long history of sustainability and environmental activism, which was clearly evident even back in the ’60s, when the town made conservation a priority by adding a provision in their charter to protect open spaces.

Later Vail created the Vail Nature Center and Preserve, and established the 1% Real Estate Transfer Tax (RETT) to improve both parks and open spaces for recreational purposes.

Vail hopes to continue its momentum by pledging to have a net zero operating carbon footprint by 2030.

According to Sustainable Travel, each year Vail hosts about 2.8 million guests. With winter climate changing at an unprecedented rate, Vail wants to ensure that they’re doing their part to protect both the local economy and environment. The sustainable certification was only achievable through the collective hard work from the resort, the town of Vail, Walking Mountains Science Center, the U.S. Forest Service, and other committed public and private entities. The collaboration has taken considerable effort over the years to achieve the success they are seeing today.

As part of Vail’s green work  fruition the city provided local businesses with a sustainability training certification initiative called Actively Green. According to Walking Mountain Science Center, since enacting the program, over 217 businesses have received training and 57 went even a step further and became certified.

In addition to Actively Green, the town of Vail has been recognized through measures like their disposable bag ban and water quality initiatives. Sustainability efforts like these were all weighed considerably by Sustainable Travel International when determining Vail’s certification as a Sustainable Mountain Resort Destination.

When accounting for visitation and customers, Vail’s new certification will fare them well: Mandala Research found that 60 percent of U.S. travelers care about sustainability—and this concern for the environment often dictates the places they choose to travel to. Now that Vail is leading the way in sustainable initiatives for larger mountain communities across the world, hopefully other major resorts will be inspired to embrace more environmentally-conscious practices.

Vail is one of the Global Top100 Sustainable Destinations

Valere Tjolle

Valere is publisher and editor of Sustainable Tourism 0.2 to be published in September