Launched at the World Conservation Congress in October 2008, The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC) are a set of 37 voluntary standards representing he minimum that any tourism business should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain the world’s natural and cultural resources while ensuring tourism meets its potential as a tool for poverty alleviation.

The GSTC were developed as part of an initiative led by Rainforest Alliance, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the United Nations Foundation, and the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). Over 40 of the world's leading public, private, non-profit, and academic institutions joined together to analyze thousands of worldwide standards and engage the global community in a broad-based stakeholder consultation process.

Today, the GSTC are being used by businesses and organizations around the world to better understand the complexities of sustainable tourism and to make sustainability a hallmark methodology in the way we all travel, learn, and do business.