Royal Caribbean Cruises and Sabre Holdings, whose brands include Travelocity, are among the travel industry heavyweights that are lining up behind standards set by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council.

The council recently commended the companies for being among "the first group of global travel and tourism corporations to publicly commit to promoting sustainable tourism products and services recognized by the GSTC."

The firms include Amadeus, Melia and TUI Travel. According to the council, each firm has "committed to using the GSTC Criteria ... as the reference for sustainable travel."

The council's mission is to foster sustainable tourism and travel practices, and the organization considers its criteria as "the worldwide minimum requirements for tourism businesses of all size to approach sustainability."

To advance its mission, the council recognizes companies, organizations, cities and other travel destinations that adopt and apply the criteria as their standard for sustainable industry practices.

Also, the GSTC now recognizes standards within the industry that meet those laid out in the council's criteria. Just last month, the council announced the first batch of standards to pass the organization's review process. They are:

• The Bundesministerium für Land und Forstwirtschaft, Umwelt und Wasserwirtschaft's Austrian Ecolabel for Tourism
• The Costa Rica Tourist Board's Certification for Sustainable Tourism
• The Ecotourism Australia's Ecotourism Standard
• The Ecotourism Australia's Advanced Ecotourism Standard
• The Ecotourism Ireland's Ecotourism Ireland Label
• The European Ecotourism Knowledge Network's European Ecotourism Labelling Standard
• The Fair Trade in Tourism for South Africa
• The Instituto de Turismo Responsable's Biosphere Hotels
• The Japan Ecolodge Association's Environmentally Sustainable Accommodations Standard
• The Rainforest Alliance's Standard for Tourism Operations
• The Sustainable Travel International's Sustainable Tourism Eco-Certification Program

Royal Caribbean and Sabre are among the travel, tourism and hospitality companies that are working to reduce the environmental impacts of their operations and share the lessons they've learned with others.

"Travelers and agencies need simple tools to find and purchase sustainable travel offerings," said Leilani Latimer, the director of Sustainability Initiatives a Sabre Holdings and a GSTC board member, in a statement. "The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria helps by harmonizing the numerous global certification programs in the marketplace to provide travelers with clear and trustworthy sustainable travel choices."

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