Kamploops will host November 1-2 the "TOTA Annual General Meeting & Tourism Summit" at Hotel 540. An appointment which signifies the worldwide confirmation that the Thompson Okanagan region is working to meet the sustainability criteria that will position it on the tourism map through increased competitiveness. Competitiveness and sustainability which that was recognized by the prestigious "Biosphere Destination" certificate.

Only six months after signing the Letter of Commitment for Responsible Tourism, Thompson Okanagan became this Wednesday the first 'Biosphere' sustainable destination in the Americas. The Biosphere Destination certification is a seal awarded by the Responsible Tourism Institute, an organization linked to UNESCO through a Memorandum of Understanding and partner of the UNWTO and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. This certificate recognizes the quality, environmental sustainability and social responsibility of Thompson Okanagan as a tourism destination; a prize for the work done by the tourism sector achieved through public-private collaboration.

Patricio Azcárate Díaz de Losada, Director of the Responsible Tourism Institute, attended the "Annual General Meeting & Tourism Summit" to present the reasons Thompson Okanagan has been awarded the Biosphere Destination category. Azcárate will also be on Thursday during the "Aligned for Sustanability" session, from 10:00 am to 10:45 am, in which he will share a panel with Angela Nagy, CEO of Green Tourism.

To be a member of the “Biosphere Destinations Community” is to belong to a destination club whose sustainability is guaranteed by globally agreed criteria in conferences sponsored by UNESCO and UNWTO. The “Biosphere Destinations” are destinations that carry out an integral measurement of their contribution to the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) and to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change through the guidelines set forth in the World Charter for Sustainable Tourism +20.

The Biosphere Destination seal is based on a certification system that, in addition to establishing quality and environmental criteria, includes sustainability requirements such as social responsibility, conservation of cultural property, satisfaction of tourists' expectations and the improvement of the quality of life of the population that welcomes tourists. The tourism sector in the region of Thompson Okanagan will be, thanks to the certification, recognized as the main industry at a local level, capable of promoting, through its transversality, the responsible and sustainable management in economic, sociocultural and environmental terms of its heritage.

Click here if you are interested in our certification of sustainable tourism