General sites
International year of Ecotourism
Directories
Discussion groups

General sites

http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/
The homepage of one of the most important players in the field of sustainable and eco-tourism, offering a lot of useful information and links.

http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/tourism.htm
The tourism homepage of the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. The Commission at its seventh session in 1999 considered tourism as an economic sector and held a multi-stakeholder dialogue on the topic. The page links to important decisions and documents.

http://csdngo.igc.org/tourism/tour_index.htm
Site of the CSD-NGO Steering Committee Tourism Caucus . In the UN-Commission on Sustainable Development, participation of non-governmental major groups is facilitated. The CSD-NGO steering committee is the body that allows NGOs to participate. The site presents Position Papers and Statements, and a report the 1999 Tourism Dialogues.

http://www.un.org/esa/agenda21/natlinfo/countr/uk/index.htm 
UN Site with information on sustainable development arranged per country, including a part on sustainable tourism.

http://www.ilo.org/public/english/dialogue/sector/sectors/tourism.htm  
The web page of the International Labour Organisation dealing with labour conditions in the Hotel, Catering and tourism sector.

http://www.world-tourism.org/  
The homepage of one of the most important players in the field of sustainable and eco-tourism, offering a lot of information and links with a special part on sustainable tourism: 
http://www.world-tourism.org/frameset/frame_sustainable.html  

http://www.world-tourism.org/step/step.htm  
The homepage of ST-EP (Sustainable Tourism-Eliminating Poverty). The World Tourism Organization, the intergovernmental agency responsible for tourism, is joining forces with UNCTAD, the UN agency focusing on the world's poorest countries, in this initiative to creatively develop sustainable tourism as a force for poverty elimination.

http://www.gtz.de/tourismus/english/  
Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, a government-owned corporation for international cooperation with worldwide operations, is one of the biggest development assistance organisations involved in tourism.

http://www.planeta.com  
An extensive and complex site on eco-tourism (mainly in Latin America) with news articles, book reviews, best practises, a country database and with interesting online discussions such as: http://www.planeta.com/ecotravel/tour/certsummary_reports.html   on the pros and cons of eco-tourism certification.

http://www.conservation.org/xp/CIWEB/programs/ecotourism/ecotourism.xml  
Conservation International works to ensure that local people benefit from tourism, and that communities receive training and support to establish and manage their own eco-tourism businesses. The site gives an overview of a number of eco-tourism projects and the programs of CI.

http://www.turismo-sostenible.co.cr/EN/home.shtml  
The Certification in Sustainable Tourism Program - CST - is a product of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT). CST was designed to differentiate tourism sector businesses based on the degree to which they comply with a sustainable model of natural, cultural and social resource management. CST is regulated by the Costa Rican National Accreditation Commission and consists of a scale of 5 "levels" of sustainable tourism achievement. It is often mentioned as a best practice.

http://www.Tourismrights.org  
Website of Indigenous Tourism Rights International, an important organisation for indigenous peoples. Site does not have much content but is important for its contacts.

http://www.wwf.org.uk/researcher/programmethemes/tourism/index.asp  
The site of the UK branch of WWF offers a lot of useful information on sustainable tourism, for different target groups. It includes a document to assist tour operators to measure their ecological footprint:
http://www.wwf.org.uk/researcher/programmethemes/Tourism/0000000172.asp  and a tool to do that:
http://www.wwf.org.uk/filelibrary/xls/holidayfootprint.xls . It also offers a lot of downloadable documents:
http://www.wwf-uk.org/search/index.asp?strSearch=tourism&strScope  

http://www.studienkreis.org/engl/wer/main_wer.html  
The Studienkreis für Tourismus und Entwicklung (Institute for Tourism and Development) develops development related information and education in tourism. The site offers material for publication, on international contests (ToDO), about training and seminars for people employed in the tourism sector.

http://www.ecotourism.org/  
The Official Website of The International Ecotourism Society (TIES), with a lot of information on ecotourism. With a member part and a non-member part with information about doing market research, building an ecolodge, running a tour company and preparing field research. You can follow three major pathways to more information on Research, Conservation, and Business.

http://nature.org/aboutus/travel/ecotourism/  
In partnership with local conservation organizations, protected area authorities, local communities and ecotourism businesses, the Conservancy's Ecotourism Program is developing ecotourism operations at many of these places. Internationally, is working with local conservation organizations in more than 15 countries in the planning, development and management of ecotourism projects. The site offers information on the Ecotourism Program, Success Stories and Destinations.

http://www.equitabletourism.org/  
Website of Equations, an Asian NGO defending the rights of minorities and other target groups of development assistance. With information and articles on eco-tourism, women and children, coastal issues, tourism policy and cultural issues.

http://www.tourismconcern.org.uk/  
Tourism Concern is a membership organisation campaigning for ethical and fairly traded tourism. The site offers information on fair trade, campaigns (on porters (see also www.ippg.net), Burma, human rights, displacement, golf and Goa), resources and best practises.

http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/enterprise/services/tourism/index_en.htm  
Official site of The European Commission with information on tourism policy of the EC and member states. Offers information on Improving training and learning, improving the quality of tourist products, environmental protection and sustainable development, transport, culture, managing the impact of new technologies, small and medium-sized enterprises and available funding and instruments.

http://www.theinternationalcentreforresponsibletourism.org/  
The International Centre for Responsible Tourism is a new virtual centre that has been established to enable those moving forward a wide variety of initiatives to create Responsible Tourism to share information and publicise their work. It is a forum for those working in the destination countries and the originating markets. It shares best practice in all aspects of Responsible Tourism, offers a library of reports, working papers and campaign materials, a bulletin board for news and events, training opportunities from in-company courses to post-graduate awards.

http://www.propoortourism.org.uk/  
This website is developed by the English Development cooperation DFID. A recent research project 'Practical Strategies for Pro-Poor Tourism' has reviewed six case studies of pro-poor tourism interventions in Africa, Asia and Latin America. The project aimed to identify practical strategies that make tourism work for the poor. The conclusion drawn from the case studies is that PPT strategies can 'tilt' tourism, at the margin, to expand opportunities and benefits for the poor.

http://www.qttc.com.au/ecotourism/home.asp  
Informative site about ecotourism, mainly on Australia but with much more interesting information.

http://www.biodiv.org/programmes/socio-eco/tourism/  
The tourism page of the Convention on Biological Diversity. This site deals with the activities of the CBD, presents guidelines, case studies and the report on an important workshop in the Dominican Republic in 2001.

http://www.bigvolcano.com.au/ercentre/ercpage.htm  
Website with much information, mainly on ecotourism and focussed on Australia but with links to interesting themes such as accreditation & certification programs , codes of practice & operational guidelines , development, environment & sustainability , volunteer and community Tourism.

http://www.ihei.org/  
Site by the International Hotels Environment Initiative to promote responsible practises that benefit hotels and society worldwide. With a listing of interesting literature and a part on benchmarking (only available if you register).

http://www.stn.info.com.np/  
An interesting website on sustainable tourism in Nepal.

http://www.twnside.org.sg/tour.htm  
This website presents tourism articles in a developmental and environmental context, as well as tourism-related statements and action alerts. It focuses on tourism issues (mainly in Asia) affecting local communities and the natural environment and highlights voices who usually have little opportunity to influence policy-making structures.

http://www.responsibletravel.com/  
This site wants to enable travellers to find a diversity of pre-screened holidays provided by tour operators, accommodation owners and grass roots community projects. They pass the enquiry of tourists directly to the leading tour operators/hoteliers who provide the holidays on the site.

http://www.toinitiative.org/  
The Tour Operators' Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development is a voluntary initiative , non-profit, and open to all tour operators, to minimise their negative environmental, social and economic impacts while optimising their benefits and to implement these in their own operations. In the case study area, interesting experiences and lessons learned are offered.

http://www.retour.net  
The approach of the Retour foundation is that to achieve sustainable tourism, everybody can contribute. Whether you want to contribute as a tourist, an entrepreneur, a government, an NGO, a tour guide or otherwise, this site tries to give each of these groups frequently updated information on what they can do.

http://www.insula.org/tourism/index.html  
Website of the International Scientific Council for Island Development. With codes of conducts, best practice guidelines, environmental management systems in the tourist sector and standards.

A lot has been written pro and contra the year of ecotourism. The pro arguments are dealt with on the sites of the organisers.

UNEP: http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/ecotourism/iye.htm  

WTO: http://www.world-tourism.org/sustainable/IYE-Main-Menu.htm  

TIES: http://www.ecotourism.org/iye/index.html  

And for a more critical approach you can look at the site of Third World Network: http://www.twnside.org.sg/title/iye.htm  

http://webhome.idirect.com/~tourism/  
A comprehensive directory of links, intended for consultants, academics and researchers specialized in the tourism and hospitality fields. This index also includes information for those interested in international work and/or study abroad experience.

http://www.waksberg.com/index.html  
This site is intended for use by tourism researchers. It contains links to organisations which manage, consult, or research tourism, as well as tourism schools.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/travel/sustainable/  
National Geographic offers a very useful sustainable tourism resource centre with a lot of useful links for tourism professionals, tourists and residents

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Greentour/  
Greentour is an interactive forum for discussion, collaboration and networking aimed at exchanging information, experiences and ideas on people, issues, policies, possibilities, problems, perspectives, activities, case studies, practices , opportunities and options, R&D and socio-economic and cultural aspects relating to   ecotourism and to sustainable adventure travel, sustainable tourism , tourism marketing and industry, etc.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/green-travel  
GREEN-TRAVEL is the oldest sustainable tourism community on line.A discussion group on sustainable travel and tourism worldwide including Ecotourism and Adventure Travel... since 1991.

http://www.planeta.com  
Offers discussion groups on many topics related to eco-tourism and sustainable tourism.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tourism-csd
A list for the Tourism Caucus of the NGO Steering Committee for the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development. The Tourism Caucus is composed of non-governmental organisations working on issues of tourism, environment and development.

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