Announced at the GSTC Global Sustainable Tourism Conference in Singapore, these initiatives support the Singapore Green Plan 2030 and reinforce Singapore's commitment to fostering sustainable practices across the tourism sector.
The GSTC Attraction Criteria, developed with support from STB, is the world’s first global standard specifically designed for attractions. This is the latest set of Criteria following those developed for hotels and tour operators, destinations and MICE. This new standard aims to create a common foundation for sustainable practices worldwide, with certification for attractions set to open in early 2026 following the onboarding and GSTC accreditation of certification bodies in 2025.
Contributing to the sustainable development of the MICE industry, the MICE Venue Sustainability Playbook offers a practical guide for MICE venues to manage their carbon emissions. Its development follows a pioneering national MICE Industry Carbon and Waste Baseline exercise conducted in 2023, which gathered sustainability data from six purpose-built MICE venues in Singapore. This baseline revealed an average attendee carbon emission of 14.13 kg, with energy use accounting for 94% of MICE venue-related emissions. Leveraging these findings, the Playbook provides practical recommendations on energy efficiency, waste management, and water conservation, in line with advancing their sustainability ambitions. The playbook features including a decarbonization framework, best practices from purpose-built MICE venues and international counterparts, and a consolidation of whole-of-government support schemes to drive decarbonisation.
Additionally, the Singapore MICE Sustainability Certification (MSC) Framework is now GSTC-recognized. This marks the first MICE standard recognized by GSTC for aligning with the GSTC MICE Criteria, effectively positioning Singapore’s MICE sector in line with global sustainability standards.
Singapore’s efforts have also earned recognition in the Global Destination Sustainability Index 2024, where it ranked first in Asia Pacific and seventh globally.
