Ecoclub GeoFocus™

Participants included international and regional tourism stakeholders involved in developing and promoting sustainable tourism; including the public sector, hotels, tour operators, academia, development agencies, NGOs, consultants, and more. International participants came from Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia, and Oceania. This year’s Conference covered Destination Stewardship, Hotel Sustainability, Sustainable Tours, Experiences, and Attractions, and Sustainable MICE. Welcoming delegates, Turkish Minister of Culture and Tourism, Ersoy noted that Turkiye became (in 2022) the first country in the world to sign an agreement with GSTC for a national sustainability program at the governmental level. Already 200 accommodation facilities in Turkiye have fully met the GSTC Criteria. There were efforts to make this a green event, measures included accurately measuring and offsetting the carbon footprint of all delegates, reducing paper and plastic usage to a minimum, badges were made of recyclable paper with seeds, so it could be planted and converted into flowers, lanyards were given back to be reused, without single-use plastic during the conference, the use of local products, special menus with reduced meat dishes and tasty vegan and vegetarian options, gifts were hand-made and made from waste fabric, while the conference venue was also certified to the GSTC Criteria.