We are happy to present our new environmental tool – greentourism.eu, which helps maintain the competitiveness of European tourism industry, by teaching people how to make sustainable choices that preserve Europe’s heritage and environment.

Ecosystem Europe with partners in Finland, Estonia and Bulgaria developed the website, which is a resource for students, educators, and businesses such as hotels and restaurants.

“The website is a real hub for sustainable tourism. As well as providing a thorough overview of sustainable tourism – why it’s important, how it can be measured, what are international green labels and what’s their role in environmental management – the site is also a great tool for learning”, said Stefan Stefanov from the Centre of Inclusive Education in Bulgaria, one of the partners in the project.

The case studies on the site give an overview of European hotels that are pioneers in sustainability. Having made sustainability an important part of their business model, they are able to offer their clients an environmentally friendly service and act as role models for businesses and students.

Special attention should be paid to the best practices section of the site, which has 12 categories where businesses can make sustainable choices.

“The categories where hotels, restaurants and other tourism establishments can significantly save money by making the right improvements include water, energy, waste, but also green purchasing and transport. Communication and social responsibility, as well as the nature and cultural heritage aspects are equally important to consider when developing tourism sustainably in a region”, said Harri Moora, the SEI Tallinn’s Programme Director.

The greentourism.eu webpage is available in English and Bulgarian and will soon be translated into Estonian and Finnish. The webpage was developed as part of the project Green Ideas for Tourism for Europe, funded by Erasmus+, and carried out by Ecosystem Europe Association, Centre for Inclusive Education, and Vocational School of Tourism “Mihalaki Georgiev” – Vidin in Bulgaria, SEI’s Tallinn Centre in Estonia and Context Learning in Finland.

The website was introduced during three trainings held this summer in the project partner countries for environmental protection specialists, sustainable tourism experts, teachers and professionals from the accommodation sector.

And finally, please check out our video presentation of the platform.