Members of the Green Destinations Certification Program and pursuing Green Destinations Certification are subject to the following procedure.
Upon signing a Certification Agreement, applicant destinations receive login details for the GD Assessment & Reporting System, a manual to guide the applicant around the platform, and shall proceed through the following steps of the assessment and certification procedure.
Engagement Phase
The destination coordinator completes the online Green Destinations Standard and Indicator reports. Assessment is done according to the reporting instructions and Guidance provided at each individual criterion or indicator, including the explanation of compliance and upload of supporting documentation. After the destination coordinator has completed all criteria and reviewable indicators, s/he notifies GD Secretariat and request a verification.
GD Secretariat performs a technical check to see a) whether the self-assessment has been performed at sufficient detailed level to request verification; and b) to see whether the assessment has the potential of leading to an Award level.
If this is the case, the Verification procedure (3) starts within 10 working days after submission of the self-assessment.
If this is not the case, the destination shall be notified via e-mail within 10 working days after submission of the self-assessment, including details of any omissions.
The technical check shall also define whether the applicant’s information and evidence is likely to result in ‘Certified’ level recognition. If this is the case and the applicant has indicated upon registration to pursue ‘Certified’ status, a Verification and Audit procedure shall follow (5).
“Green Destinations Certified” status is the ultimate type of recognition and is awarded to destinations that comply with all mandatory Green Destinations Standard (policy) criteria.
In order to assure the independent nature of the Green Destinations Certified status, this status will only be assigned after an on-site audit by an independent 3rd party Auditor, ordered by Green Destinations. This on-site audit will be repeated every 3rd year.
The audit shall be communicated by e-mail to the destinations at least 3 months prior to the planned audit performance, allowing both applicant and auditor to prepare for the audit.
“Certification” and associated license to use the ‘GSTC Chain of Custody’ logo can only be issued by Green Destinations as the Certification Body. Operating Organisations (Green Destinations license holders and ‘Representatives’) are not entitled to issue certification (the scope of Green Destinations’ GSTC ‘Accredited’ status to issue Certification does not include outsourced certification activities).
The procedure to select and allocate auditors to applicant destinations is as follows:
The auditor reviews the online checklist and obligatory documents in preparation for their onsite visit.
When auditing members with a language different from that Green Destinations’ recognised standards (English), Green Destinations will undertake the audit in that local language. The language of an auditor is a critical part of the audit allocation process.
Preparation
On-site Audit
iv. The auditor ends the audit with a closing meeting with key staff in which:
v. If the auditor needs to contact any additional stakeholders, they advise the member at the closing meeting.
After the audit
Based on the results from the Verification, the auditor issues an Audit report to the Operating Organisation, that will evaluate the auditor’s report and make a motivated Advice on the ‘Certified’ status to the Green Destinations Awards & Certification Committee. The Secretary of the Committee shall appoint a Committee Rapporteur, who will review the Verification report and the Advice, and may raise queries to the auditor on assessment details. A second Rapporteur will be appointed by the Operating Organisation. The Rapporteurs will take a final decision on behalf of CB. If the two Rapporteurs cannot come to an agreement within one month, the Secretary of the Committee will appoint a third Rapporteur.
In case of ‘Green Destinations Certified’ status, the Committee Rapporteurs have several options for their final verdict:
1. To grant unconditional certification
All criteria have been met. Non-essential corrections might be needed which will be evaluated during the next scheduled audit.
2. To postpone certification
There are (essential) non-conformities, but they could be corrected. The destination is enabled to correct certain elements within a defined time period. Once corrected they are checked by the Operating Organisation, and reported to the Secretary of the Committee. Based on compliance the Certification is provided.
3. To grant conditional certification
Certification is provided but the destination is requested to correct certain elements within a defined period of time (to be agreed beforehand with the destination). In case the corrections are not done the Operating Organisation may withdraw or suspend the Certified status.
4. Not to grant certification
The destination does not comply with the mandatory criteria and non-conformities are serious in nature or number. Compliance on the short term is not expected. The process is completed and the destination should request for a new certification if they wish to do so, or the destination can request to be issued a pre-certification Award based on its audited scores.
In case of B) Postponed Certification; or B) Conditional Certification; Green Destinations shall invite the Member to correct any non-conformity identified within a specified time period and to inform Green Destinations when this rectification has been completed.
The review of post-audit improvements is done principally by the Secretariat, supported by the Certification Committee and involved auditor. If non-conformities are not corrected within the specified time frame, the destination will automatically invited for a re-audit.
Post-audit improvements’ guidelines shall effectively manage the verification process.
Applicants that have been granted an Award or Certification status shall receive:
The Certification document shall identify:
The successful applicant hall be consulted about the presentation of their Certificate and an Award Flag at a local, national or international Award ceremony. Award presentations can also take place at an appropriate tourism fair (e.g. Vakantiebeurs Utrecht, FITUR Madrid, ITB Berlin, WTM London).
Awarded Destinations can order extra flags and banners (at a cost basis), which can be displayed throughout the destination’s territory during a 24-months period, until renewal of the Award or Certification status is required.
Upon issuing the Award, the Destination shall be featured on at least the following channels:
Green Destinations certification is valid for 3 years, but the first recertification shall take place within 2 years after the initial certification is granted. 18 months after application the Awarded destination shall be encouraged to thoroughly update the information and evidence on the Green Destinations online platform. The assessment of the re-application shall follow the same procedure as outlined above and take into consideration the coherence between the improvements indicated in the previous one and the integration of the suggestions and the recommendations made by the Operating Organisation on behalf of the CB.
When a Member is due for re-verification, the Operating Organisation:
Auditor selection process
In principle, Green Destinations shall not allocate the same auditor to for Award & Certification Renewal
Auditing and Certification process
For the re-verification, Green Destinations will further follow the initial audit and certification process as described in step 3.
Awarded or Certified destinations are required to always keep an updated file of their status towards the mandatory criteria in the online system and to immediately notify the Operating Organisation in case it does not anymore comply with the certification standard on the basis on which it has been certified.
The Operating Organisation remains the right to conduct an audit more frequently in case serious doubts occur. The costs for such audit are with the Operating Organisation. In case however serious non-conformities are found which would result in the suspending the certificate, the destination is required to pay for the cost of such audit.
[1] Travelife is a Certification Programme for Tour Operators and Hotels, and a GD Partner.