Background In Europe in 2000 there were around 40 eco-labelling schemes certifying the environmental performance of tourism services. They were notable for the high level of effort made and had developed significant experience, but their effectiveness in penetrating the mainstream tourism market was limited. The beneficiary and its partners felt that a basic standard with common principles and requirements for criteria and procedures would greatly assist promotion of the schemes and boost marketing support from tour operators and consumer associations. Consumers expect that the certified products, such as hotels and beaches, should meet practical and demanding criteria with a suitable verification procedure. Tour-operators are willing to invest in sustainable tourism, but need reliable and detailed up-to-date information about eco-labels and related environmentally friendly products. The beneficiary therefore developed a common strategy defined through a demonstration project. This project received support from some 30 key stakeholders in the sector, including the European Environmental Agency EEA (DK), The Dutch Touring club (ANWB) the German car association ADAC (The German Tour Operating Association), IUCN, WWF and eleven eco-label organisations. Objectives The general objective of the project was to demonstrate that eco-labelling can be an effective instrument in moving the European tourism industry and consumers towards sustainability. Detailed objectives were to: - Demonstrate how environmental indicators and benchmarks for eco-labels (accommodation and destinations) can contribute to an assessment of the environmental impact of various eco-labels and other instruments. - Demonstrate how an eco-label partnership can be achieved, leading to common standards and contributing to increased transparency, quality and joint promotion. - Demonstrate how labelled enterprises (in particular SME's) and products can be promoted as an important element of European tourism. - Demonstrate how consumer awareness and demand for environmentally friendly tourism can be increased by implementation of a European promotional campaign during the UN Ecotourism year 2002, and in 2003. Results The project, which ran from January 2001 to June 2004, was headed by Dutch beneficiary the European Centre of Eco Agro Tourism. It established a partnership with 12 regional, national and international eco-labelling schemes. Together with ECOTRANS, an independent coordinator, these labels based their work on the International Standards Organisation (ISO) 14024 standard for ‘Type 1 third party verified certificates for eco-labels’. All ISO requirements were assessed and adapted to the needs of tourism services in Europe. The VISIT (Voluntary Initiative for Sustainability in Tourism) eco-label was established consisting of 21 (pre-assessment) requirements that the participating eco-labelling organisations had to comply with. These included: . Political implementation of sustainability concepts – existence and evaluation of environmental management tools . Environmental indicators – transport, carrying capacity (land-use, biodiversity, tourism activities), use of energy, use of water, solid waste management . Social and cultural performance indicators –e.g. safety and acceptance of tourism by residents . Economic performance indicators – e.g. seasonal variations and dependence of the economy on tourism. By the end of 2003, all 12 participating eco-labels had successfully achieved compliance with the key requirements. They were: Legambiente Turismo, Italy; Blue Flag International; Steinbock Label, Switzerland; La Clef Verte, France; Das Österreichische Umweltzeichen fur Tourismusbetriebe, Austria; El Distintivo de Garantia de Calidad Ambiental, Spain; Zalais Sertifikats, Latvia; Ecolabel Luxembourg; Den Groenne Noegle, Denmark, Estonia, Greenland, Sweden; The Milieubarometer, the Netherlands; Green Tourism Business Scheme, UK; and Nordic Swan, Sweden, Denmark, Iceland, Finland, Norway. The project closed in June 2004, but the work continues. In the same year, the VISIT Association was established, with eight of the LIFE project eco-label partners as founding members. With more than 1,500 participating tourism enterprises, the association aims to continue the work of the LIFE project - to ensure that eco-labelling in tourism is successful, practical and responsible. In the longer term it is hoped that further developments will lead to the creation of a global forum and accreditation body for sustainable tourism certificates (between 2005-2010), which can investigate, recognise and promote tourism certification schemes worldwide. This project has been selected as one of the 24 "Best" LIFE Environment projects in 2004-2005