Sustainability as enrichment

The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) was founded in 2007. This organisation is committed to establishing basic standards in the wide-ranging field of sustainability and to making them comparable.

The criteria of the GSTC are divided into the following four basic pillars:

• Management
• Socio-economics
• Culture
• Ecology

The certification process sets out the methods, procedures and timing of the review to ensure independence and credibility. External auditors by Vireo have reviewed our sustainability report and will review our progress annually.

In Brixen and the surrounding area, we work consistently and with commitment on the issue of sustainability and are one of only a few regions in Italy with a GSTC sustainability certification.

The Sustainability Label South Tyrol is based on the criteria of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), which were developed to provide a uniform understanding of sustainable tourism.
These criteria can be divided into four different areas:

• Management
• Socio-economy
• Culture
• Ecology

The sustainability label enables destinations and accommodation/gastronomy businesses to make their commitment to sustainable development visible to all. Because sustainability is a long-term path, there are three levels of the label, which are checked by an audit. For each level, different criteria have to be fulfilled, whereby the third and highest level corresponds to the GSTC certification and is thus internationally recognized.

As part of the sustainability certification, a residents' survey was conducted in Brixen/ Bressanone, Vahrn/Varna and Franzensfeste/Fortezza in collaboration with IDM Südtirol and Eurac Research in spring 2023 and early 2024. The aim of the survey was to find out respondents' expectations, satisfaction and concerns about local tourism. The population was also asked about future demands on the destination. Protection of nature and landscape, focus on quality rather than quantity in tourism and improvement of traffic flows are the top priorities. 

A guest survey was conducted at the beginning of 2023. The majority of these guests came from Germany (55%), followed by Italy (25.2%) and Austria (7.4%). The survey results showed that 74.3% of respondents chose their own car as their preferred means of transportation to get here. In Bressanone itself, around 48% of guests continue to use their car, while 37.1% switch to public transport. The guest card is known to 85% of participants, with 28% using it daily. Satisfaction with the value for money of accommodation, gastronomy, shopping and activities in is high. The main reasons given for a visit were the beauty of nature, spending time with family and friends, the regional cuisine and a homely feeling.