Sustainable tourism in Europe – harmonisation of diversity and promotion of eco-labels

Europe is the leading Tourism region in the world – and since RIO 1992 all European countries are committed to Sustainable Development. “Sustainable Tourism” is a permanent task for all business partners in the international market. “Ecolabelling” is seen as a helpful tool to support the development and to raise the market share of “green products”, e.g. from 1% to 5-10 %. To achieve this the European LIFE project “VISIT” built a common platform for the many  existing Ecolabels based on a minimum standard for criteria and procedures, 12 leading Ecolabels meanwhile comply with the key requirements and promote their schemes and certified products to consumers and tour operators. Thus Europe contributes to the bulding of a global frame for Sustainable Tourism world wide.