MOT & ESOI collaborate for eco tourism

A memorandum of understanding (MoU) was signed between the Ministry of Tourism, Govt. Of India and the Ecotourism Society of India (ESOI) to propagate the cause of responsible and sustainable tourism to the next level. Vinod Zutshi, Secretary – Tourism, said, “ESOI works towards promoting sustainable and responsible tourism practices so we have joined hands with them since our agendas are the same. ESOI will partner with us and assist in sensitising the travel trade first, and then the general public.” It was also announced that a 10-year road map for advocacy and certification under the Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India will be charted. Steve Borgia, Honorary President, ESOI, said, “This MoU is also going to set a plan-of-action for the next 10 years for sustainable and responsible tourism.  The planning needs to be aggressive. Regional workshops will also be organised at various cities all over India with different guidelines for each destination.” ESOI, through stakeholder consultations will formulate criteria and classification guidelines for certification for the accommodation and tour/travel operators within the STCI guidelines and later develop standards for destinations which will also be in sync with the internationally accepted Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria. The two bodies previously formulated and published the Sustainable Tourism Criteria for India (STCI) and plan to put these practices to the forefront through the MoU.