Dear colleagues and friends of sustainability,
You may have noticed in the press that booking.com has removed its own sustainability labeling from its systems. The background is a warning procedure due to “green-washing” in the Netherlands.
This is certainly a regrettable event for booking.com but an extremely positive sign for the topic of sustainability.
Since its foundation, Green Travel Index has focused exclusively on labelling sustainable offers that meet the GSTC criteria only which means our customers are safe! You can trust in data you receive from us that there is no accusation of “green-washing”.
Equally useful and important to know for the tourism industry is the distinction between neutral third party (external) certification schemes compared to own self-generated scorings, which do not undergo a neutral GSTC audit. The organization’s own scorings do not necessarily have to be assessed as critical. It is up to you which of the providers you accept. For this reason, we will indicate this distinction in future by stating that organization’s own GSTC certificates will receive 3 leaves and those awarded by third party certification schemes (according to GSTC) are marked with 4 leaves.
The booking.com case was a first sign for serious sustainabilty labelling. The EU legislator intends to issue a legal requirement for the future. The intent is to label only those services as sustainable which comply with the EU requirements. We will keep you informed about these updates and look forward to continuing to provide you with reliable data on the subject of sustainability.
Yours sincerely
Your GTI Team
