The subject of certification and certification systems is a vast, complex and at the same time topical subject, in recent years being increasingly associated with tourism and especially ecotourism. The concept of ecotourism and other sustainable forms of tourism have their origins in the ecological movement of the 1970s. Ecotourism became relevant in the late 1980s, after the Manila Conference on World Tourism in the 1981, where it was unequivocally stated that tourism causes more harm than good to people and destinations. To avoid this, emphasis has been placed on the development of ecotourism, that form of tourism that is often in a convergent relationship with nature. In turn, certification systems are processes designed to encourage and reward firms that choose to produce or market products that use the highest social and environmental standards in their production. Obtaining them involves consulting with a variety of stakeholders and uses primarily a performance-based system, but also a third-party audit. They may also include the creation or implementation of a management system to help establish better and more efficient environmental procedures. The basic purpose or motto of this type of program can be characterized as a risk reduction.
Read full articleEcoturism certification systems in the Danube cluster area
Loredana DRAGOMIR Alexandru DOBRESCU Mirela MAZILU
Abstract