Intercruises Shoreside & Port Services, a company that provides shore assistance services and port operations to the ocean and river cruise industry, has achieved certification from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) for its sustainability management system (SMS) and its experience development process.
Intercruises successfully completed several audits conducted by Control Union, an independent global certification organization accredited by the GSTC.
“With this certification, we are driving sustainability forward and can now further support our partners’ sustainability efforts by providing GSTC-certified shore excursions that cruise lines can offer their guests,” said Virginia Quintairos, Director of Business Development at Intercruises. “Our goal is to have our own portfolio of shore excursions—thousands of experiences worldwide—certified to GSTC criteria within the next 12 to 18 months.”.
On a GSTC-certified shore excursion, everyone involved in the experience has been assessed against GSTC criteria to ensure a more sustainable approach. Intercruises, which operates in more than 50 countries and offers thousands of shore excursions in hundreds of ports, is the first international shore excursion provider to achieve GSTC certification for its experience development process and Management Safety Strategy (MSS), developed in-house by the Intercruises team.
“By obtaining certification for each of its regional locations, Intercruises is taking a significant step in the external verification of sustainable practices in its operations,” said Randy Durband, CEO of GSTC. “Its customers can be assured of a significant degree of sustainability, with a continued positive impact.”.
The Intercruises Sustainability Team, in collaboration with local destination teams and partners, uses the Sustainable Tourism Management System (SMS) combined with GSTC criteria to monitor and assess the entire shore excursion supply chain, including activity and tour operators, restaurants, local businesses, guides, and transportation providers. Intercruises Sustainability Experts will provide detailed reports and advice to all individual destination partners on how to improve their specific practices to become part of GSTC-certified shore excursions, and on how to obtain GSTC certification themselves. In addition, partners have access to an online platform where they can find sustainability best practices based on their specific activities.
The Intercruises SMS has been developed in-house and is based on established digital platforms, ensuring data integrity and guaranteeing complete transparency. Most of Intercruises' existing shore excursions will be assessed within the system during 2022, with the aim of having a comprehensive portfolio of Intercruises GSTC-certified shore excursions available to cruise lines and customers by 2023.
