BeCause has announced its partnership with Green Destinations to transform how destinations (including national tourism organizations), measure, track and showcase their sustainability efforts.
The partnership, announced this week at ITB Berlin, implements a universal reporting framework for members of the Green Destinations-backed Good Travel Alliance (GTA), a global initiative promoting responsible tourism. This framework will allow stakeholders to track the key sustainability performance indicators of hotels and tourism companies in their markets—including carbon emissions, water usage, waste management, energy consumption and certification status.
Travel businesses add their data to the framework, creating a centralized database in the BeCause platform accessible to GTA members. A destination management organization, for instance, can leverage this information to inform investment decisions, develop incentive programs, identify trends or launch targeted campaigns encouraging local businesses to pursue specific green certifications.
Standardizing this sustainability data, however, not only improves tracking; it encourages businesses to take action by creating a stronger incentive to adopt more sustainable practices. “The tool creates a level playing field for benchmarking and allows destinations to assess and compare sustainability metrics with confidence. Now, when they inquire about the sustainability impact measurement of tourism activities in their regions, they can trust that the data is accurate, standardized, and truly comparable,” said Albert Salman, president of Green Destinations.
To simplify participation, BeCause and Green Destinations are providing tourism businesses with free access to the Global Travel Alliance framework: Businesses that complete the framework will be automatically visible to GTA members via the BeCause platform. Organizations already using BeCause to manage their sustainability data can seamlessly map their existing records to the GTA framework, eliminating the need for manual data entry and significantly improving efficiency.
Once data is uploaded to the platform, it’s reflected across the hub’s entire ecosystem, eliminating inconsistencies and reducing outdated information. For instance, if a hotel renews or upgrades its sustainability certification, the updated status is immediately reflected across all bodies that rely on BeCause, ensuring travelers make informed choices that align with their values.
GTA destination members can now pilot the BeCause reporting and benchmarking tool. Early adopters will receive a 50 percent discount for the program’s first year once it goes live in June. The first pilot destination to have already signed up is the Spanish island of Lanzarote.
For more information, visit www.alliance.greendestinations.org.
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