Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment, and decent work for all.
Reduce inequality within and among countries.
Sustainability
Why establishing, capturing and communicating on accessibility is so important
The word ‘sustainability’ is now on everyone’s lips. In most cases, however, commitment to sustainability is limited to environmental considerations and the carbon footprint of a trip or travel service.
Sustainability in the hotel industry means more than just energy efficiency or locally sourced products. It also means ensuring that everyone has equal access to travel. This includes accessibility – as well as clear, reliable information about it.
The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are a universal call to all countries, regardless of their economic status, to promote prosperity and protect the planet. They recognise that overcoming poverty must go hand in hand with strategies that promote economic growth and meet a range of social needs, such as education, health, social protection and employment opportunities, whilst also tackling climate change and environmental protection.
There is a close link between the Global Sustainable Tourism Council® (GSTC) criteria and the SDGs. By meeting the GSTC criteria, you are helping to achieve the UN’s SDGs. The GSTC criteria take economic, environmental and social aspects into account. Destinations and organisations wishing to contribute to the SDGs will find the GSTC criteria and other GSTC-recognised standards to be effective tools to help them rise to the challenge.
Basically, 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) have been set in the areas of the environment, the economy and social issues:
Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable.
What are the relevant social goals:
Goals for inclusive sustainability:
Point 8: “Decent employment opportunities in tourism, particularly for young people and women, and measures that promote greater diversification through tourism value chains can enhance the positive socio-economic impacts of tourism”
Goal 10: “By 2030, empower all people, regardless of age, gender, disability, race, ethnicity, origin, religion or economic or other status, to lead self-determined lives and promote their social, economic and political inclusion”
Target 11: “By 2030, ensure universal access to safe, inclusive and accessible green spaces and public spaces, in particular for women and children, older people and people with disabilities”
Even though the term ‘accessibility’ does not appear explicitly in the 17 Goals, ensuring accessibility is a fundamental building block for the inclusion and equal treatment of all people. Only in this way can everyone participate in tourism services – both as staff and as guests and customers.
It is also essential to provide accessible information about the offers and services, and to ensure that they can be booked independently throughout the entire customer journey:
“Do good and talk about it!”
There is now an overwhelming number of certificates and labels in many sectors, which are intended to highlight the extent – however limited – of sustainability and the activities of companies. For customers and those affected, however, these certificates are often unclear or incomprehensible, and they do not reveal the actual sustainable activities and achievements behind them. Furthermore, the sheer number of different certificates makes it virtually impossible to compare products and services objectively.
However, especially regarding accessibility, it is crucial to provide a detailed description of how it is implemented, so that customers know exactly what they are getting. For this reason, we (act) do not intend to launch yet another accessibility certificate onto the market; instead, we aim to use our concept to highlight the actual accessibility features and make this information available to those affected at the point of sale to support their decision-making.
Furthermore, service providers and hoteliers can use our Access Statements to easily document and demonstrate their accessibility initiatives within the scope of the CSRD. Our Access Statement is an ideal tool for this purpose and helps all customers who require this information on accessibility.