BACKGROUND

A review of our trajectory in the promotion of responsible tourism

ORIGINS OF THE RESPONSIBLE TOURISM INSTITUTE

The Responsible Tourism Institute was born after the World Conference on Sustainable Tourism: Towards a New Tourism Culture, held in Lanzarote (Canary Islands, Spain) in April 1995; sponsored by UNESCO, UNWTO, the UNEP and the EU. The mission of the RTI has always been the promotion of the principles adopted in the conference, contained in the World Charter for Sustainable Tourism.

The RTI recognizes, through its different labels, grouped under the Biosphere brand, the competitiveness of the tourism sector by measuring its contribution to:

The Biosphere standard includes the contribution of tourism to sustainability based on the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), through the UNWTO’s analysis and indicators, the Global Compact, the EU indicators and the criteria of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).

The RTI has also been awarded several prizes since its creation, such as the European Environment Awards (2000), a special mention in the Green Wood Awards for Environmental Responsibility (2005) and the International Environmental Award (2006), issued by TUI AG, among others.

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Learn more about us through our philosophy and values.