About us
Summary & Background
"Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment, and host communities"
Sustainable tourism development guidelines and management practices are applicable to all forms of tourism in all types of destinations, including mass tourism and the various niche tourism segments. Sustainability principles refer to the environmental, economic, and socio-cultural aspects of tourism development, and a suitable balance must be established between these three dimensions to guarantee its long-term sustainability.
Thus, sustainable tourism should:
- Make optimal use of environmental resources that constitute a key element in tourism development, maintaining essential ecological processes and helping to conserve natural heritage and biodiversity.
- Respect the socio-cultural authenticity of host communities, conserve their built and living cultural heritage and traditional values, and contribute to inter-cultural understanding and tolerance.
- Ensure viable, long-term economic operations, providing socio-economic benefits to all stakeholders that are fairly distributed, including stable employment and income-earning opportunities and social services to host communities, and contributing to poverty alleviation.
Why STO-Egypt?
STO-Egypt aims to promote sustainable tourism practices in Egypt by providing tourism stakeholders with reliable data and information on tourism trends, environmental impacts, and socio-economic benefits of tourism. By doing so, the project seeks to support evidence-based policymaking and decision-making in the tourism sector.
STO-Egypt Goals
- Paying attention to the cultural & environmental heritage through its documentation & dissemination.
- Participate with the concerned authorities in setting requirements, specifications and standards for various eco-tourism activities within the governorates, taking into account the specific laws to preserve the environment in accordance with local and international standards.
- Participation in the development of a national strategy for the advancement of eco-tourism in Egypt in cooperation with the competent authorities.
- Providing advice and expertise on how to establish specialized eco-tourism and how to supply it with renewable energy while preserving natural resources and rationalizing their consumption.
- Preparing comprehensive studies on eco-tourism in Egypt and listing the institutions and bodies working in this field locally and internationally.
- Participation in the establishment of training courses for workers in the field of ecotourism.
- Participation in setting up a relief system for eco-tourism in remote areas.
- Cooperating with similar local and international organizations and contributing to the activation of regional and international agreements.
- Participation in local and international conferences related to the service and protection of the environment and holding conferences, seminars and exhibitions related to ecotourism.
- Participate in setting guarantees that guarantee the preservation, development and exploitation of natural reserves in accordance with pre-thought-out controls and standards.
- Participate in raising community awareness and setting up social and environmental projects for the development of local communities by supporting voluntary activities.