The Certification in Sustainable Tourism Program - CST - is a product of the Costa Rican Tourism Institute (ICT). CST was designed to differentiate tourism sector businesses based on the degree to which they comply with a sustainable model of natural, cultural and social resource management. Firms that apply to the program are evaluated according to 4 categories:

1. Physical-biological parameter - evaluates the firm’s interaction with the natural environment.
2. Infrastructure and Services - evaluates management policies and operational systems.
3. External Clients - evaluates how well the firm invites participation of its clients in sustainability.
4. Socio-Economic Environment - evaluates interactions with the local community.

In each area the firm is asked a series of questions concerning how well it complies with standards previously established for sustainability in social, economic and environmental fields.  A rating is assigned to the company in each area with a final rating given according to the lowest level achieved in any of the 4 areas evaluated.  Based on that the firm is assigned to a “level” of sustainability.  The levels range from 1 to 5.  If the firm is assigned to level 1, for instance, it means that the firm has taken first steps to attaining sustainability.  A level 5 rating means that the company is outstanding in terms of sustainability.  The program is designed for all companies operating in the tourism field, but the first stage will only include lodging companies.  Certain incentives are provided for the firm to attain higher levels such as national recognition and international publicity and promotion.

Our Costa Rica Vacation company strongly supports the CST program and seeks to work with hotels that are in the CST program and that have attained levels of sustainability of at least 3 or higher.

Link to CST Program Website

This entry was posted on Friday, October 3rd, 2008 at 5:46 am and is filed under Costa Rica Tourism. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.