North America

Audubon Green Leaf™
Geographic Scope: United States
Sectors Covered: hotels
Description: Internationally recognized, the Audubon Green Leaf™ Programs provide hotels essential support to motivate and educate staff on environmental best practices. The eco-rating level requires a complete, professional audit of the entire operations, verifying a hotel’s eco-rating of one to five Green Leafs, while also providing an extensive recommendation report for the hotel to keep striving forward.

www.terrachoice.ca
 

Eco-Certified Sustainable Travel
Geographic Scope: North America
Sectors Covered: accommodations, visitor attractions, tourism operators, and transportation service providers
Description: Since 2002, Sustainable Travel International has been developing an eco-certification program for travel and tourism providers who incorporate financially viable, environmentally and socially responsible business practices into their operations. The program is being launched in 2006.

www.sustainabletravelinternational.org
 

Green Seal, Inc.
Geographic Scope: United States
Sectors Covered: accommodations including hotels, motels and lodges
Description: Since 1995, the Green Seal has been awarded to products that meet stringent environmental standards for the product category as demonstrated by rigorous evaluation and testing as well as a site visit. Green Seal standards are set so that they identify the most environmentally preferable products currently available; thus, they are leadership standards.

www.greenseal.org

Saskatchewan Ecotourism Accreditation Program
Geographic Scope: Saskatchewan, Canada
Sectors Covered: attractions, accommodations and guided tours
Description: The Ecotourism Society of Saskatchewan (ESS) accredits eco-tourism attractions and businesses which follow the principles of eco-tourism and meet criteria for quality and sustainable business practices.

www.ecotourism.sk.ca

Central and South America

SmartVoyager™
Geographic Scope: Ecuador's Galapagos Islands
Sectors Covered: tour boats
Description: This seal of certification gives travelers to the Galapagos assurance that they are traveling with an operator who cares about the conservation of the islands and has taken every measure to ensure that passengers enjoy a memorable and educational adventure without harming local and flora

http://www.ccd.org.ec/pages/turismo_en.htm
 

Brazil Sustainable Tourism Program
Geographic Scope: Brazil
Sectors Covered: accommodations and tourism operators
Description: The Brazil Sustainable Tourism Program promotes the adoption of sustainable practices in tourism through standards, training, information, certification and marketing. Coordinated by the Instituto de Hospitalidade (IH), they believe that all quality tourism should have sustainability inside. The program partners with the Brazilian Council for Sustainable Tourism (CBTS) and is supported by the Brazilian Export Promotion Agency (APEX), the Inter American Development Bank (IADB), Brazilian Ministry of Tourism and Brazilian Small Business Support Service (SEBRAE) and works together with the main stakeholders in tourism in Brazil.

www.sustainabletourismbrazil.org
 

Certification for Sustainable Tourism
Geographic Scope: Costa Rica
Sectors Covered: accommodations and tourism operators
Description: The Certification in Sustainable Tourism Program (CST) is a product of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT) consisting of a scale of 1 to 5 levels of sustainable tourism achievement. CST certifies tourism providers based on the degree to which they comply with a sustainable business model taking into consideration natural, cultural and social resource management.

www.turismo-sostenible.co.cr

Green Deal
Geographic Scope: Guatemala
Sectors Covered: accommodations, guides, restaurants, communities and tourism operators
Description: Since 1999, Green Deal has provided sustainable tourism certification based on process-based management systems and specific performance-based criteria that cover quality control, environmental, and socio-cultural issues.

www.greendeal.org