Green Tourism Conference. Copyright by ÖHV Florian Lechner.

European Tourism Going Green - Together we make tourism in Europe more sustainable!

Austria has been a pioneer in sustainable tourism for many years, but together we can achieve much more.

This was proven by the international "Green Tourism Conference" organised by the ÖHV, at which 70 certified best practice businesses (hotels, campsites, tour operators, apartment buildings) from six countries were presented. Eleven Austrian businesses were awarded the Austrian and European Ecolabel.

The European Tourism Going Green (ETGG2030) project supported by the EU funding programme COSME was brought to a fitting conclusion at the "Green Tourism Conference" at the beginning of May 2023. The goal of the project, to show different tourism enterprises across Europe the way to more sustainability as well as to certification with a recognised sustainability certificate and to support them on their way, was impressively achieved: a total of 70 enterprises from all six partner countries (Bulgaria, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Romania and Austria) were able to achieve certification with one of 10 different certification programmes.

The workshops held with the Austrian project partners during the project were moderated by Claudia Plot, who also presented the results at the conference and emphasised how important the exchange among the companies and learning from each other was for the success of the project and the wealth of measures taken. In Austria, Erwin Bernsteiner (Büro für Umweltfragen) accompanied the implementation of the certifications in an advisory capacity. The fact that external support by competent advisors can be essential for a successful certification process, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, was also emphasised by representatives from the other project countries, as knowledge about the certificates themselves and the conditions for obtaining them is not always sufficiently available.

However, all speakers agreed that there is now no way around the issue of sustainability in tourism and how important the commitment shown by SMEs is, as their innovations often make them pioneers and set an example for other businesses.

Claudia Plot presenting the study results. Copyright by ÖHV Florian Lechner.

The Austrian Hoteliers Association (ÖHV) has also played a leading role in the industry for years with numerous initiatives on the topic sustainability. It is almost superfluous to mention that the Green Tourism Conference was held as a Green Meeting certified with the Austrian Ecolabel, naturally in an Ecolabel establishment, the Austria Trend Hotel Savoyen. Finally, the evening event at the Luftburg Restaurant, the largest 100% certified organic restaurant in the world, provided an excellent setting for the informal exchange of ideas among the thoroughly enthusiastic conference visitors.