Sustainable Tourism Development

The Blue Community Consortium provides an opportunity for coastal communities, businesses, and organizations to declare their own work to protect, enhance, and restore coastal habitat and marine environments through their own sustainability efforts.  

Recognized as the first member of the UNWTO International Sustainable Tourism Observatory (INSTO) network in North America, the Blue Community networks globally sharing its best practices while simultaneously learning from the best practices of other INSTO members from around the world.  

Each INSTO member develops their own speciality or expertise.  For the Blue Community that area is coastal habitat and marine environments and developing sustainable tourism management plans.

The oceans are under increasing threats from pollution, overfishing, impacts of climate change including coral bleaching, ocean acidification, and increased storm intensity.  The Blue Community Consortium is responding to these issues with ocean clean up programs, improving ocean literacy, supporting ocean champions, ecosystems restoration, and programs to adapt and mitigate the impacts of climate change.

Unless policies for protection of the oceans and promotion of ocean sustainability are increased, coastal communities are likely to experience adverse impacts.   

Blue Community is a place for learning and sharing those best practices which mitigate those impacts. 

The good news is that every community has the opportunity to do its part to reverse current trends.  Every community has its own unique challenges and opportunities to become part of our Blue Community and sharing your community success with others.

The Blue Community has developed a new certification process based on the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria, the One Planet Living framework, the 12 Blue Community strategies, and the science of planetary boundaries.    The emphasis on coastal habitat protection, restoration, and enhancement for accommodations and resorts.  

The new certification program is strongly rooted in the science of planetary boundaries and the proven 12 Blue Community strategies developed in collaboration with the Walt Disney Company.

In addition the Blue Community program is presently working to support the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria for communities and destinations seeking to become sustainable, reduce disaster risks, and improve their economy through eco-friendly tourism.