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Panaji: The state government has decided to put in place a green rating system in the tourism sector to assess the environmental sustainability across various sub-sectors of tourism, namely accommodation, adventure tourism, transportation and destinations.
The government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the German-based Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
The GIZ in its draft report submitted to the Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) said that the green rating system for tourism will evaluate business performance based on energy efficiency, water conservation, materials selection, indoor air quality and site planning.
A senior officer said the report mentions that green rating systems are focused on a variety of tourism sub-sectors which include ratings for accommodation with focus on reducing the environmental impact of hotels, resorts, and other types of lodging, rating systems for travel and tourism services includes businesses that provide travel-related services to travellers, such as tour operators, travel agents, and online travel agencies and green rating systems for tourism activities focus on reducing the environmental impact of activities that tourists participate in, such as hiking, biking, and whitewater rafting, etc.
Referring to the criteria for beaches, the officer said that the criteria are categorised as either imperative or guideline. Most beach criteria are imperative — the beach must comply with them in order to be awarded Blue Flag accreditation. If they are guideline criteria, it is preferable that they are complied with, but they are not mandatory. “It must be emphasised that the Blue Flag beach international criteria are the minimum criteria. A national operator can choose to have stricter criteria to what is outlined, as long as they are in the same line of philosophy as the Blue Flag international criteria. These more stringent criteria must be approved by the national jury and communicated to the international jury,” the officer said.
The officer said that if a beach that has Blue Flag accreditation does not comply with the Blue Flag criteria, the flag may be permanently or temporarily withdrawn from the beach.
The government has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with the German-based Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ).
The GIZ in its draft report submitted to the Goa Energy Development Agency (GEDA) said that the green rating system for tourism will evaluate business performance based on energy efficiency, water conservation, materials selection, indoor air quality and site planning.
A senior officer said the report mentions that green rating systems are focused on a variety of tourism sub-sectors which include ratings for accommodation with focus on reducing the environmental impact of hotels, resorts, and other types of lodging, rating systems for travel and tourism services includes businesses that provide travel-related services to travellers, such as tour operators, travel agents, and online travel agencies and green rating systems for tourism activities focus on reducing the environmental impact of activities that tourists participate in, such as hiking, biking, and whitewater rafting, etc.
Referring to the criteria for beaches, the officer said that the criteria are categorised as either imperative or guideline. Most beach criteria are imperative — the beach must comply with them in order to be awarded Blue Flag accreditation. If they are guideline criteria, it is preferable that they are complied with, but they are not mandatory. “It must be emphasised that the Blue Flag beach international criteria are the minimum criteria. A national operator can choose to have stricter criteria to what is outlined, as long as they are in the same line of philosophy as the Blue Flag international criteria. These more stringent criteria must be approved by the national jury and communicated to the international jury,” the officer said.
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