The project to help develop El Tigre into a sustainable community tourism destination met the goals of the Programme for South-South Cooperation (PSC). These goals include: Sustainable tourism, Conservation and Sustainable Use of Biodiversity, Access to Sustainable Energy and Efficient Energy Use, Sustainable Chains of Production and Consumption, and Gender Equity. The three guiding principles of successful PSC project candidates are Equality, Reciprocity and Participation.

The Rainforest Alliance provides tourism entrepreneurs and community-based businesses in Latin America with the tools and training they need to become more environmentally and socially responsible, to compete in the marketplace and to contribute to the conservation of the local cultures and nature. Last year, we launched the Rainforest Alliance Verified program.

Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Association leads this project to bring first and innovative of Thailand Green Routes which all major supply chain and tourist destination will conform to sustainable standards to the market.CSR-MAP project bring good impact to Thailand sustainable tourism industry. Thailand benefits immensely from its position as a leading holiday destination for European tourists. However, Thai tourism actors agree that to maintain this position in the long-term, the industry must work to reduce the negative impacts of tourism on the environment and society.

Afghanistan, before becoming known mostly for guns and bombs, was a popular tourist destination, not only to the world’s “hippie” generation, but also as an attraction for those living in the region. Band-e Amir, which you may have heard of most recently in the news as it has become Afghanistan’s first National Park in April 2009, was actually meant to become a National Park in the 1960s, but political instability has put any development of the destination on hold until now.

Ruby Falls (Chattanooga, Tennessee), America’s deepest commercial cave and most-visited underground waterfall, receives over 400,000 visitors annually. This 80-year-old natural attraction with a 1928 Irish style castle, listed in the National Register for Historic Places, has in recent years been transformed into a more sustainable business operation with progressive energy-saving strategies, waste reduction efforts, and sustainable land use initiatives – and a Green Globe International seal to testify to the successful implementation of these sustainability efforts.

By Shams Uddin, Chitral Association for Mountain Area Tourism (CAMAT) – Chitral, in the extreme north of Pakistan, is home to 40,000 people, settled in more than 300 small villages boasting great cultural and natural diversity. These villages offer unique opportunities highlighting Indigenous arts, crafts and music, traditional sports, cuisine, and the fascinating local way of life. CAMAT has been promoting community-based, culturally-rooted and environmentally-friendly tourism in Chitral for the last one and a half decade.

Virginia Beach, the most populous city in the state of Virginia, was recently featured on Mother Nature Network (MNN), highlighting the various environmental efforts by the city – from “Virginia Green Travel Month,” which was started this year by Governor Tim Kaine, to the xeriscaping garden on “Mount Trashmore.” We asked Pamela Lingle, Communications Manager of Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) for more inside scoop on what the destination is doing to attract lovers of the environment and what’s in store for Virginia Green initiatives.

By Ian MacWilliam, Communications Officer, Aga Khan Development Network – Tourism in Afghanistan? It’s not what you expect from this remote and beautiful, but troubled Central Asian nation. Most media reports on Afghanistan talk of war and bloodshed, insurgents and explosive devices. What they rarely report is that most of the northern half of the country is in fact quite peaceful and that reconstruction and development are moving forward. A trickle of adventurous tourists is already arriving in Afghanistan, reminding Afghans of the heady days of the 1960s and 1970s

By Carolyn Wild – It’s hard to believe I’ve been involved in ecotourism development for over 20 years now. I remember when ecotourism was such a new concept that the first articles in the travel pages of magazines and newspapers always went to great lengths to define it. The controversy over what ecotourism is and the debate about whether protecting nature through developing tourism is an oxymoron were prevalent then and they are still with us today.