Ecolabels deemed vital tools for eco-tourism development

With the fast movement of the global trends in the tourism sector, one big advocacy that is aggressively emerging is the green program.  

"Everybody are now thinking green and are taking responsibilities on environmental protection," said Enver Loke, the project leader of Frescuela Holding, a sustainable development consultancy firm in Netherlands during his presentation on "Ecolabels in the tourism industry and the voluntary initiatives for sustainability in tourism" during the seminar of community-based rural tourism in Cebu.

Loke pointed out that with today's fast-paced society, the travel industry is faced with the challenge to take a lead role in the responsible management of the environment especially that the sector have also been directly or indirectly contributing to the after-effects of environmental degradation such as climate change and global warming with the excessive use of our water resources and other environmental biodiversity.

In terms of sustaining these eco-tourism products that are capitalized by the sector, Loke said that 'ecolabels' can be practical tools which the industry can maximize.

Ecolabels said Loke are accreditation labels given by specific green advocacy groups that serve as an international benchmark highlighting the proper realization of environmental advocacies.

Loke stressed that ecolabels can also be important tools for the tourism and hospitality business. For with ecolabels, the industry can better understand how to manage their businesses aside from becoming another aspect of rendering their corporate social responsibility to the community. Ecolabels are also deemed important for cost-saving to reduce operational cost of a tourism-based undertaking because it can helps save energy, conserve water and land resources and manage waste products properly among others.

So far, there are about 100 tourism ecolabels all over the world, said Loke. Examples of these are the blue flag label, which is used for accrediting the cleanliness of marine resources like beaches and infrastructure like marinas. Another is the smart voyager label used for tours and cruises, travel life for accreditation of tour operators in their practice of buying and selling products that promotes the green advocacy.

"In the future, ecolabels could be used to check the quality of your accommodations and different destinations. It can become a tool used to establish businesses that will care for the sustainability of our environment. – Rhia de Pablo