Sustainable Tourism Made Clear – How We Measure It, What It Means, and How You Can Contribute

Travel in a way that leaves value behind. At i-dest.com, we showcase destinations and service providers that responsibly shape the future of tourism through transparent and concrete facts. Instead of the usual generalities, we show you exactly what a location does for nature and local communities—making it easy for you to make decisions that truly matter.

International Principles, Targeted Questionnaires

To build on a solid foundation, we derive our evaluation criteria from the global standards of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). However, the operations of an entire region and a family-run guesthouse operate on different scales, so we tailor the assessment to the type of entity:

Destinations are examined across 6 comprehensive topics: destination-level governance, nature and environmental protection aspects, protection of local communities, and tourism management practices.
Service Providers and Attractions are evaluated across 10 detailed topics covering daily operations, reducing environmental impact, supporting local values, and responsible management.

These questionnaires cover responsible operations, community livelihoods, cultural heritage protection, and environmental conservation. Together, they provide a complete picture.

We also map these criteria to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The SDG icons displayed on each profile indicate which goals the location's practices align with—helping you find the topics that matter most to you.

International Principles, Targeted Questionnaires

Transparent Metrics, Without Exaggeration

On the evaluation sheet, we show clearly and simply how many expectations apply to a specific topic and how many of those criteria the location has fulfilled. We do not use grades or rankings, nor do we order search results based on these figures.

The responses are provided directly by the service provider or destination. Practices that have been personally verified by our editorial team are explicitly marked.

Every type of service and attraction is evaluated according to a customized set of criteria, further enhancing transparency.

Transparent Metrics, Without Exaggeration

Facts and Experiences: The Reality Behind the Numbers

A single set of numbers doesn't tell the whole story of what experience awaits you. That is why we highlight the essential points for every location from two perspectives:

What the location does in daily life: You will see concrete examples of how they protect surrounding natural values, where they source fresh ingredients, and what they give back to the local community.
What you can do during your visit: You get practical tips on how best to travel there, which local options to try, and which small decisions truly make a difference.

Facts and Experiences: The Reality Behind the Numbers

Personal Presence and Responsibility

When developing our platform, we look beyond the documentation: we personally visit our partners. We get to know the hosts, observe their daily operations, and verify on-site what lies behind the available data. Through mystery shopping and regular audits, we ensure the information stays up to date.

Whether an editorial verification has taken place on a profile is always clearly marked. Where no on-site visit has occurred, the service provider or destination assumes responsibility for the published data.

Our verification reflects our own professional work; it is not an independent audit or an official certification. If a location holds an independent, third-party certification, we display it separately alongside the issuer's name.

Inspiring Best Practices – Editorial Content

An exemplary initiative can be inspiring even if the location is not an official partner of ours. We consider it our mission to share these worthy examples with as many travelers as possible.

These locations are designated as "Editorial Content". In these cases, we highlight the example itself and the spirit of the place—measurement data, unverified figures, and evaluation sheets are not published for these profiles.