“Empowering local communities to make tourism sustainable”

September 2021

Global Green Destinations Days 2021
4-7 October

Tune in to the biggest annual event on destination sustainability

Curious to learn more about the current global sustainability challenges and solutions and get more insights from experts, from more than 20 countries and 6 different continents?

From Monday 4th of October 13:00 CEST until Thursday 7th of October 17:00 CEST we will take you on a journey of exciting sessions with numerous guest speakers, panel discussions, workshops, networking sessions and crucially needed dialogues. You don’t want to miss it, be a part of it!

We are proud to announce that each thematic day of the Global Green Destinations Days is hosted by a destination or tourism management organization resonating with that theme:

'National Strategies for Sustainable Tourism' day is hosted by the City of Athens.

'Nature, Culture and Overtourism' day is hosted by Niseko Town, with the support of the Japanese Sustainability Council

'Reducing Tourism's Impact on the Planet' day is hosted by the Slovenian Tourist Board.

Thank you to our hosts for making this event possible!

We are very excited to meet you there! To find out all details about the event and to register visit our website:

Global Green Destinations Days 2021

Celebrating our Green Destinations

Awards & Certification

Congratulations to Schouwen-Duiveland

Green Destination Certified and

QualityCoast Platinum 2021

“Holiday-island Schouwen-Duiveland will create a leading water-economy which will be the sustainable connection between living, working, caring and enjoying.”

The municipality of Schouwen-Duiveland aims to be a place of good living, working, caring and enjoying. The way to reach this goal is to create a sustainable society, in terms of nature, landscape and environment but also in terms of a fair social and economic society, providing equal chances for people to participate and develop in society and providing care and cure when people need it. Because of this goal, the municipality preserves the rich natural values of the diverse and highly valued landscapes, carries out policies to reduce pollution and waste, for energy-saving and CO2-reduction, reducing car miles and encouraging responsible and sustainable entrepreneurship.

Learn more about this destination in the Good Travel Guide:

Schouwen-Duiveland - Good Travel Guide

Congratulations to Azores

QualityCoast Platinum 2021

The destination vision and commitment relies on our strategy that is assumed as a leadership commitment by example and responsibility for the future, where the tourist feels that the Azores are effectively a reference, in a destination whose economic development is done with respect and in communion with the environment and culture, but mainly, by valuing people: the Azoreans and tourists.

Learn more about this destination in the Good Travel Guide:

Azores - Good Travel Guide

Congratulations to Noordwijk

QualityCoast Gold 2021

In its Environmental Vision 2030, Noordwijk states that it aims to be an Energetic 7-star Coastal Town with sustainability as the guiding thread. Noordwijk wants to be a municipality characterised by a green economy, a healthy and happy society, smart infrastructure, great biodiversity, low CO2 production, energy neutral, climate-proof, with a resilient closed water system and efficient use of raw materials.

For the sea, the beach and the dunes, Noordwijk wants to maintain and strengthen its high environmental value for residents and visitors, and keep it visible through the sustainable seals of approval 'Blue Flag', 'Quality Coast' and 'Fairtrade'. Noordwijk works continuously with other parties to ensure a clean and safe environment: clean soil, clean water, good air quality, and little noise pollution.

Learn more about this destination in the Good Travel Guide:

Noordwijk - Good Travel Guide

Global Green Destinations Days 2021
Join our workshops!

Climate Emergency

Wednesday 6 October, 11 am CEST I UTC +2

The Climate Emergency workshop showcases the START program Self-assessment tool (GGDD21 Survey on the Climate Emergency and Tourism Reset & Recovery) that addresses a wider range of climate challenges and prepares destinations to create an action plan to fight the climate crisis.

Reset and Recovery
Thursday 7 October, 1 pm CEST I UTC +2

Numerous destinations are developing new strategies to reset and recover from COVID-19. To really “build back better”, this workshop showcases the SDGs & Tourism Assessment & Reset Tool to assess and address a wider range of issues facing destinations, allowing to create a suitable roadmap towards more resilient and sustainable tourism.

Find out more here

Join the 2021 Top 100 Unveiling Ceremony

Join us in celebrating this wonderful collection of innovative, effective and transferable Good Practice Stories from 100 destinations across the globe inspiring responsible tourism leadership. This year we feature 100 destinations from 34 countries. The good practices main categories this year are Localizing the destination supply chain, Decarbonizing the destination supply chain, Culture & Communities, Environment & Climate, Nature & Ecotourism, and Tourism Reset & Recovery.

Make sure to visit our website to find out more about the 2021 Top 100 destinations and their stories:

Visit the 2021 Top 100 website

Good Travel Guide

What does the IPCC report mean for travel ?

Have you recently followed the news about climate change? Last August, the report on the climate emergency was written by the IPCC - Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. This is one of its “sixth assessment reports” (AR6) on The Physical Science Basis of Climate Change. It underlines the invariable consequences of humans on global warming, the growing greenhouse gas emissions, and the implications for the future. The Climate emergency crisis has and will have a substantial impact on travel as well.

What can you do about it?
Individuals and travellers have the power to make a difference in various areas: transportation, accommodation, food, choice of destination, and respectful behaviour.

Learn more about how to make a difference on the Good Travel Guide Blog:

Good Travel Guide Blog

Green Destinations kicks off its first online course!

Last September 20, Green Destinations launched its first run of the Sustainable Tourism Destination Management online course! Co-developed with Good to Great Tourism, the course offers insightful approaches on how destinations can contribute to sustainable development. Albert Salman, Green Destinations Founder and President, emphasized how learning is vital amid the climate and covid crises. He mentioned during his welcoming remarks, “…the concept of sustainability is subject to constant change, not least in tourism… We are constantly learning about what [it] means to the tourism industry. We hardly know what sustainable tourism will bring us tomorrow or next year or 2030.”

Focusing on uncovering the increasingly complex nature of sustainability and the tourism sector, the course aims to unveil the bigger picture of how tourism affects people and environments in destinations. It equips participants with simple, straightforward tools that can be used to help implement sustainable tourism initiatives in their destinations.

This initial run comprises 11 participants from seven different countries and will run until October 15, 2021. Stay tuned for future training offers!

Visit the Green Destinations Training Website

The last 2020 Top 100 Highlights

We would like to highlight the last three 2020 Top 100 destinations and Good Practice Stories related to their Islands & Seaside efforts. You can read the full stories here.

Bonaire, Dutch Caribbean

Bonaire brought awareness to its local community about the importance of having a clean, living environment to help the island become the world’s first Blue Destination. Selibon (Bonaire’s waste management company), the Public Entity of Bonaire, the Blue Destination workgroup and "Fundashon Boneiru Limpi i Bunita" started a campaign that encourages teamwork within the community in keeping their neighbourhoods clean.

North Island, Seychelles

North Island took the initiative to reduce waste production to minimize its negative impacts on the environment. A training program was created by North Island’s Training Department that covered the types of waste generated and the process of how to separate and dispose of each waste properly. North Island also worked on reducing its plastic dependency by removing single-use plastic from its operations.

Niue Island, Niue

The night sky has significance to the Niuean way of life, from a cultural, environmental and health perspective. Due to the growing interest in Astro-tourism, and the need to minimise light pollution, Niue sought to become the world’s first Dark Sky Nation. Economic benefits include local employment through night sky tourism. Environmental benefits include reducing light pollution and disruptions to wildlife with the installation of an LED system. Cultural benefits include the preservation of cultural astrological stories for future generations.