Sustainable Tourism

DESTINATION NORTHERN ONTARIO ACHIEVES GLOBALLY RECOGNIZED CERTIFICATION IN SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

Destination Northern Ontario is excited to announce that it has achieved Gold Level Sustainable Certification from Greenstep Solutions, following its recent commitment to the Sustainable Tourism Pledge. This pledge demonstrates Destination Northern Ontario’s dedication to improving business sustainability performance through 2030.

This pledge demonstrates Destination Northern Ontario’s dedication to improving business sustainability performance through 2030. The certification from GreenStep was awarded following a rigorous assessment, review, and verification process.

The process required Destination Northern Ontario to assess sustainability performance across four categories: environmental, socio-economic, natural and cultural, and management using GreenStep’s sustainable certification criteria. The criteria have been formally recognized as meeting the standard for sustainable organizational management by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council and is aligned with the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.

The sustainable tourism program is delivered by GreenStep, an award-winning sustainability consulting firm and Certified B Corporation established in 2008. GreenStep has helped thousands of businesses measure and improve their sustainability performance.

Their sustainable tourism programs provide assessments, certification and training for tourism businesses, operators, and destinations. "I'm proud to see that Destination Northern Ontario (RTO13) achieved Gold Level Certification status based on our GSTC-recognized criteria. This is another important contribution to the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario's efforts to ensure that the province is the destination most committed to sustainability in Canada," stated Angela Nagy, President & CEO, GreenStep. "Northern Ontario abounds with natural and cultural beauty, and I’m excited to see that the region is being led by a sustainability focused organization like Destination Northern Ontario."

Destination Northern Ontario is committed to measuring and improving its sustainability performance annually by working on the following initiatives: • Develop one sustainability strategy and a sustainability product development team to discuss and analyze the available research and the recommendations for sustainable tourism outlined in the Destination Northern Ontario Tourism Product Development Strategy.

• Implement waste reduction and recycling programs across our offices and events and adopting sustainable procurement practices by sourcing environmentally friendly products and services.

• Evaluate the current database of tourism businesses already committed to sustainable practices and incorporating a "sustainability" tag for easy identification.