Voluntary Initiatives for Sustainability in Tourism
VISIT News

ITEM 2 - Membership update



The number of accredited businesses linked to VISIT is ever increasing. Recent news is that the Danish Green Key and the Clef vertes have amalgamated into one certification system and this leads us to discuss whether the new green key is one member ecolabel or if each national body should be treated as a separate label. This will form part of our discussions in 2006-7. In addition the Milieubarometer is negotiating its future as a label with the green key with the objective that within 2 years the green key and barometer will operate as one green key label. Overall the number of ecolabelled products has increased to 1639 members.

A number of new associates joined VISIT in 2005-6 and these vary from academic institutes working with ecolabelling to private consultancies operating certification schemes. SEA Ltd joined visit and since becoming a member has undertaken 17 accreditation audits for the EU flower, TUV Hellas has a similar role and this associate member role in an international body represent one of very few methods where EU flower practitioners can meet together and exchange best practice and other development ideas.



One issue which has arisen during the 2005-6 year was the application of the Austrian ecolabel. Unfortunately changes to their auditing system resulted in the label not meeting the 21 key requirements for full membership. The issue of the 21 key requirements and a broader discussion on updating these requirements will form part of a VISIT discussion at the WTM in November 2006.

Full members No. of businesses Country Remarks
Green Key 90 Denmark  
Green Certificate Latvia 50 Latvia  
Green Tourism Business Scheme 938 United Kingdom  
Legambiente Turismo 318 Italy  
Ecolabel Luxembourg 22 Luxembourg  
Milieubarometer 200 Netherlands  
Steinbock Ö-plus 21 Switzerland  
Total Members 1639    

Associated members Country Remarks
SEA Ltd.   Scotland Approved 2005
Leeds Metropolitan University   England Approved 2005
TUV Hellas   Greece Approved 2005
NFI   Austria Project Partner
Ecocamping e.V.   Germany Approved 2004
Ecotrans e.V.   Germany Project Partner

Applications / Interested parties Country Remarks
Umweltzeichen   Austria Not Approved
La Clef Verte   France ?
PAN Parks   Hungary? ?
Ecolabel Scheme   Malta ?
Biosphere Hotels   Spain ?
Cataluña Ecolabel   Spain ?

Sept 2006