Singapore Tourism Board Helping GSTC Create Sustainable MICE Standards

(07/04/23)  The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), with support from the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), is developing a new standards for both the MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conferences and Exhibitions) industry as well as for attractions.

GSTC has formed a MICE Criteria Development Advisory Group which comprises up to ten organizations from both the public and private sectors with established track record in hosting MICE events.

The main objective of the group is to offer their expert opinion and comments to the GSTC Technical Team while GSTC will retain full oversight and control of the criteria development process.

The advisory group will also encourage the MICE industry to take part in the public consultation and feasibility assessment phases of the criteria development process.

Art in Singapore. Picture by Steven Howard of TravelNewsAsia.com

The whole process of development and revision will be overseen by the International Standards Committee (ISC) of the GSTC. The development and content of the ‘Terms of Reference’ endeavor to comply with the requirements of the ISEAL Standard-Setting Code of Good Practice.

Later this year, GSTC will begin developing another set of criteria for attractions.

Randy Durband, Chief Executive Office at GSTC, said, “The development of GSTC MICE Criteria and GSTC Attraction Criteria will provide a globally-created and globally-applicable set of sustainability standards that serves as a platform for universal approaches to measurement, monitoring, reporting, and various forms of external verification needed to drive positive impacts from good practices.”

STB, together with Singapore’s industry associations, the Singapore Association of Convention & Exhibition Organisers & Suppliers (SACEOS) and the Association of Singapore Attractions (ASA), will provide feedback, consultation, and industry expertise for the draft criteria, and will also encourage industry adoption of the developed criteria once ready.

Singapore was recently certified as a sustainable destination based on GSTC’s Destination Criteria.

“The Singapore Tourism Board is pleased to support GSTC in the development of their industry criteria for MICE and attractions,” said Keith Tan, Chief Executive, Singapore Tourism Board. “Such internationally-recognised standards are important, as they help destinations and tourism businesses understand if their sustainability efforts are on the right track. We look forward to working closely with GSTC and our industry associations to provide a Singapore perspective and help the tourism sector contribute to a greener world.”

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