Thesis title: âThe development of community-based ecotourism - lumes

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15importance is their ability to raise environmental awareness among all stakeholderswithin the tourism sector (Hamele, 2001).Yet, the effectiveness of tourism ecolabels remains fairly low to date becausetourism certification in its current form is still largely “resource-based and incentiveledand not market-led” (Font, 2004, p.7). In other terms, this means that ecolabelscan only have a widespread impact in changing companies’ behaviour patterns oncethe core group of these companies has become large enough. Moreover, ecolabelshave been accused by the tourism industry of being extremely costly. This is a majorproblem especially for developing countries that have little economic potential tosupport ecolabelling as part of their national strategy. Thus, small and mediumtourism companies which operate in developing countries and wish to be certified,have no other option than raising the prices of their tourism services and products.This, none the less, results in benefiting unlabelled products and services or largemultinational tourism firms that can afford ecolabelling without transferring the extracosts to consumers (Sasidharan et al., 2002).Another problem often mentioned when discussing tourism ecolabelling is thatit is almost entirely focused on hotels and pays little attention to other types oftourism enterprises (Synergy, 2000 for WWF-UK). In addition, it is often argued thateven though most ecolabels declare protection of the natural environment to be apriority, there is little evidence proving that this is really the case (Font, 2001).Finally, some scholars regard the constantly growing number of ecolabellingprogrammes of varying scope, criteria and contents at the global scale as a source ofcustomer confusion, which seriously undermines their potential (Synergy, 2000 forWWF-UK; Font, 2002).4. OVERVIEW AND ASSESSMENT OF THREE REPRESENTATIVECERTIFICATION SCHEMES FOR TOURISM - WHICH COULD SERVE ASA MODEL FOR GREECE?Over the past few years, various schemes for the certification of theenvironmental performance of tourism enterprises have been developed, most of themin Europe. The vast majority of these schemes concern the accommodation sector, yetvery few of them have been designed for ecotourism certification in particular.Although they can be a useful tool for ecotourism planning and management, theirvalue is very often exaggerated, resulting in the common misconception thatcertification schemes are the only path to sustainable tourism (Sallows & Font, 2004).Actually, certification should not be regarded as the ultimate goal; it ratherconstitutes a mechanism which can only work properly when combined with soundgovernmental policies in terms of planning and monitoring. When these elements arelacking, then certification programmes in general deliver very poor results (Toth,2002). A relevant example of a tourism certification scheme that has been particularlysuccessful thanks to active governmental support and involvement is the case of theCST programme in Costa Rica, which will be discussed later in this chapter. Evidenceindicates that the CST program is strongly supported by the general regulatoryenvironment existing in Costa Rica and that lack of this government monitoringwould greatly lower participation in the CST. This implies that, traditional mandatorymechanisms should be used in other cases as well, in order to encourage the adoptionof voluntary initiatives within the tourism industry (Rivera, 2002).
16In an attempt to acquire a deeper understanding of tourism certificationschemes, three well-known and representative programmes will be analysed asfollows. Obviously, the vast number of certification schemes for tourism makes itimpossible to discuss all of them. The selection that was made covers three differentcertification programmes that operate either at the international or national scale andconcern different types of tourism. More specifically, an international certificationscheme for conventional tourism (“Green Globe 21”) 8 will be analysed first. Anational certification programme for ecotourism and nature-based tourism will follow(Australian “NEAP”) 9 and the analysis will be concluded with a national certificationscheme for sustainable tourism (Costa Rican “CST”) 10 . Although it would be veryinteresting to compare these also with a supranational certification scheme such as the“EU-flower”, this will be avoided as the latter is used to certify a wide variety ofproducts and services outside the tourism field as well, therefore it is not so relevantand comparable with the other three certification programmes discussed.Green Globe 21 is an international process-based certification scheme basedupon the environmental management system ISO 14001. The Green Globe 21programme applies both to tourism organisations and destinations. Its primaryobjective is to provide its members with a certificate that proves their compliancewith specific standards of environmental performance. The programme is open to allkinds and sizes of companies within the travel and tourism sector, as well as tohosting communities and protected areas. This scheme allows companies involved inconventional tourism, as well as hosting communities and protected areas, to obtainstepwise three different types of recognition, each one marked with a slightly differentlabel. More specifically, the first level is affiliation, the second level is benchmarkingand the final one is certifying. Affiliation is the first step for entering the programmebut it does not require any actual commitment for improving environmentalperformance at this stage. The second level presupposes the preparation of a report onenvironmental performance and, at this point, the company/destination is entitled touse the “Green Globe 21 Logo” for the first time. The third level is reached after athorough environmental performance assessment has been successfully carried out byan independent body. At this stage, every participant receives the Green Globe 21Logo with an added tick and, from that moment, is required to undergo an annualreview in order to maintain the acquired certification (Eagles et al., 2002; Griffin &DeLacey, 2002; Green Globe 21 Certification Programme Website, consulted on3/11/2004). The different Green Globe 21 logos are presented in figure 3:Fig.3 The three labels awarded by the Green Globe 21 certification programme(Source: Green Globe 21 Certification Programme Website)8 Green Globe 21 is currently undergoing major changes; hence assessment of its actual form would beimpossible. Due to this reason, the former version of the programme (valid until the year 2001) will bediscussed and evaluated.9 Nature and Ecotourism Accreditation Programme10 Certification for Sustainable Tourism
Page 1 and 2: Tourism Certification and Community
Page 3 and 4: 2ACKNOWLEDGEMENTSI would like to ta
Page 5 and 6: 41. INTRODUCTION AND RESEARCH METHO
Page 7 and 8: 6operate for six months every year
Page 9 and 10: 8and tackled immediately, the futur
Page 11 and 12: 10Many scholars have also attempted
Page 13 and 14: In addition, sustainable tourism co
Page 15: 14creating a stronger brand that is
Page 19 and 20: 18such as land use and biodiversity
Page 21 and 22: 20The CST is mainly a performance-b
Page 23 and 24: 22in Costa Rica. As tourism experts
Page 25 and 26: 24Tourist SpendingDirectImpactsTour
Page 27 and 28: 26economic well-being constitutes a
Page 29 and 30: 28policies and oversee the general
Page 31 and 32: scientific research regarding topic
Page 33 and 34: 32economic benefits will be generat
Page 35 and 36: 34This task is far from simple; it
Page 37 and 38: 36mechanisms such as tourism certif
Page 39 and 40: 388. LIST OF REFERENCESBendell, J.
Page 41 and 42: Issaverdis, J. P. (2001). The Pursu
Page 43 and 44: 42and Sustainability - Linking Cult
Page 45 and 46: 44IIA. MAP OF EPIRUS(Source: www.al
Page 47 and 48: 46III. CHECKLIST FOR ECOTOURISM PRO
Page 49: 48Part III. Economicopportunities f

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