The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) criteria were created to provide a common understanding of sustainable tourism. Some of the uses of the GSTC Destination criteria include the following:

• Serve as the basis for certification for sustainability;
• Serve as basic guidelines for destinations that wish to become more sustainable;
• Help consumers identify sound, sustainable tourism destinations;
• Serve as a common denominator to enable information media to recognize destinations and inform the public regarding their sustainability;
• Help certification and other voluntary destination-level programs ensure that their standards meet a broadly accepted baseline;
• Offer governmental, non-governmental, and private sector programs a starting point for developing sustainable tourism requirements;
• Serve as basic guidelines for education and training bodies, such as tourism schools and universities;
• Demonstrate leadership that inspires others to act.

This section pertains to application of the criteria involved with sustainable management, including light and noise pollution:

1. The destination has guidelines and regulations to minimize light and noise pollution;
2. The destination encourages enterprises to follow these guidelines and regulations.

Indicators are as follows:

1. Guidelines on light and noise pollution are produced and promoted to tourism enterprises;
2. Identification and monitoring of potential sources of noise and light pollution related to tourism;
3. Mechanisms to enable residents to report noise and light pollution, with follow-up action.

Source:: Global Sustainable Tourism Council
Data updated on 28 Febuary 2023