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ECOCLUB, Issue 90
ECO INSIDER
Certification: The case of Nature’s Best®
By Johan Nyqvist*
The birth of a system
Following the increased awareness in the late nineties, when ecological labelling systems
boomed, Nature’s Best® aimed for quality where environmental issues were a natural part of
the concept. The Swedish Ecotourism Society (SES) has, since 1996, with enormous effort,
been working on a labelling system involving numerous organisations that represent
everything from animal rights and nature conservation to hunting and agriculture. The result
is a system prominently owned by SES together with Visit Sweden, the national tourism
marketing organisation and the Swedish Nature Conservation Society. To put it simply, the label consists of a set of base criteria
drawn from the basic principles of ecotourism and thorough in-depth criteria covering areas such as fishing, agrotourism and
horse riding. In the first place it aimed at tourism products, not enterprises, resulting in a development of solid and packaged
products and an overall improved quality in the company. Of course, high environmental and economical standards are required
for the company as a whole, but focusing on the product would create a marketing advantage for the companies labelled.
Although the Swedish tourism industry was underdeveloped (especially wildlife and cultural tourism) both nationally and
internationally, Nature’s Best® and the work that SES carried out was seen as important and as a means of developing the
industry. Thus, regional tourism organisations and the government looked upon it as a useful tool.
The raw material was there, with lush forests, lakes, mountains, animals such as Moose, Beaver, Capercaillie and Bears. The
Swedish countryside was still alive, as a remnant of a greater past before urbanisation. Red cabins, forests and green fields
where sitting there in the landscape, ready to be utilised by eager tourism entrepreneurs. However, as the quality sometimes lay
below what was expected and the good examples were difficult to differentiate from the not so good, a quality labelling system
was welcomed, in Sweden and abroad.
Initial training for meticulous scrutiny
The application procedure for Nature’s Best® is a quite long and meticulous one for the companies applying, promoting self-
improvement, as entrepreneurs are forced to describe and evaluate their enterprise thoroughly. The procedure is divided into
three stages, where the SES help desk is involved in the first, the independent examiners in the second, and a labelling
committee in the third. The committee is made up of representatives from the owners of Nature’s Best® and professionals
handpicked for their specific expertise in certain fields important to decision making. Typically it starts with an information
meeting about ecotourism and Nature’s Best®, held by SES, the regional tourism organisation or another stakeholder or project.
The company joins SES (not mandatory but favourable), and then gets more information and perhaps some advice over the
phone from the SES help desk. If a development program for tourism is running in the region there might be more counselling
and coaching through the project where everything from environmental advice to product development and local economy
policies are dealt with. In a dialog with SES the company decides if they are ready to apply for the label, and if so a “start-
package”, the right to apply is purchased from SES, together with a registration to the two-day basic ecotourism courses held by
SES. The start-package contains all the criteria, application forms and information, hints and standard forms for e.g.
environmental plans, local economy policy. The basic course, which is mandatory for all applicants, deals with most issues
regarding ecotourism, marketing, trends, international outlooks but also serves as a meeting ground for entrepreneurs from all
over the country to network and exchange ideas.
Arriving home from the course, most applicants are enthusiastic and ready to pursue the quest. The application is then sent to
the SES office, evaluated and sometimes additional documents are asked for. A complete application contains filled out and
signed criteria documents, a geographic analysis of nature and culture values, a policy for local economy, an environmental
plan, contracts with land owners and other stakeholders, maps, marketing material, descriptions of the enterprise and the
products applied for, references etc. If the application is complete, signed (the signature is a law binding promise) and passes the
test of the SES office, one or two examiners are assigned to visit the company for one or two days.
A trainee examiner attends initial educational courses to gain further insight into the system and then joins a senior examiner on
a visit to a tourism company that applied for the label. The trainee examiner must then attend three trainee examinations before
they can be in charge of an examination. Teamed up with different senior examiners each time, in different regions and different
kinds of tourism companies, a trainee gains experience of how to work and tackle all kinds of issues that might appear in an
examination.
Getting behind the scene
After receiving the application documents, the examiner will study the documents, look at the applicant’s website in order to get
an objective image of the business, and in general scrutinise the enterprise as closely as possible. They will then arrange a
meeting with the applicant (best not in peak season) and inform them of how the visit will be conducted. As an examiner, I
personally, try to book the same accommodation as the guests and to be picked up, transported and cared for as a guest, with one
important difference; I never attend a tourism product. I must admit that it feels very tempting to do so, but there are several
reasons why I do not. First, I would not get the chance to look “behind the scene”, where much information is to be found.
Secondly it would be very easy for the company to “put on a show” just for us, not at all similar to what the ordinary guest
