Earlier this May, United Certification Systems Ltd. (UCSL) was honored to participate in the Conservation Collective’s Global Gathering 2025, held at Casale Panayiotis in Cyprus. The event brought together directors and teams from a global network of grassroots environmental foundations, each working to protect and restore ecosystems through locally driven initiatives.

Casale Panayiotis served as a fitting and symbolic venue for the gathering. As the first GSTC-certified hotel in Cyprus and a valued UCSL partner, it stands as a living example of sustainability in action.

The CC Global Gathering is held annually and is designed to foster collaboration, strategic alignment, and knowledge exchange among member foundations. This year’s theme, Impact, explored the tangible outcomes of environmental efforts across ecological, social, economic, and policy dimensions. The agenda included best practices for reporting, partnerships, and scaling community-based impact.

On May 5th, UCSL CEO Olga Shuvalova delivered a presentation to environmental foundation leaders on the role and relevance of GSTC Certification for hotels and tour operators. Her session provided a practical perspective on how sustainability can be embedded into day-to-day operations and how the GSTC Standards serve as a structured and credible guide for implementing it effectively.

The presentation sparked a lively discussion, with participants raising thoughtful questions across several interconnected areas. A central theme was the flexibility and scalability of GSTC Certification, especially how it can be applied effectively across a wide range of property types, from boutique hotels to large international chains. This led to a deeper discussion on how the certification framework supports continuous improvement, encouraging businesses to progress toward ambitious goals over time. For instance, properties are not expected to eliminate all single-use plastics in their first year of certification; rather, the process emphasizes measurable, staged advancement.

Another key topic was the importance of context-sensitive auditing. UCSL’s local auditors play a vital role in adapting the assessment process to reflect each property's national legislation, cultural context, and operational realities. This approach ensures that the standards are not only rigorous, but also relevant and applicable in practice.
Participants also explored how sustainability in tourism goes beyond physical infrastructure. It includes day-to-day operations, guest communication, and engagement strategies, even in complex or unconventional settings such as cruise ships.

Olga emphasized that the strength of GSTC Certification lies in its credibility, adaptability, and practical implementation. Rather than promoting idealistic checklists, the framework empowers businesses to make tangible progress that reflects their unique context and capacity.

A key insight from the gathering was the opportunity for GSTC-certified properties to deepen their impact by forming meaningful partnerships with local environmental and community organizations. In fact, the GSTC criteria (such as A10 and D3.1) encourage exactly this type of engagement, urging certified businesses to contribute to local conservation, community development, and ecosystem health initiatives.

Organizations like the Conservation Collective and the Cyprus Environment Foundation represent ideal collaborators in this regard, offering hotels and tour operators direct pathways to community-rooted sustainability efforts that are both measurable and impactful.

This gathering reaffirmed our belief that sustainability in tourism is most effective when it is locally grounded, globally informed, and practically implemented. We remain committed to supporting this vision through credible, context-aware certification and continued collaboration with leaders across the tourism and conservation sectors.

May 27, 2025