Last year ended well for sustainable tourism in Guatemala as a large group of businesses were awarded the Green Deal seal by the Asociación Alianza Verde's certification program. In December 2008, 27 Guatemalan tourism businesses were awarded that seal, as well as one business in neighboring Belize, with which the Asociación advanced its goal of expanding its impact beyond Guatemala's borders.
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The recent certifications had special significance because the program increased the stringency of its standards last year. But this didn't create too great an obstacle for Rupalaj Kistalin, an indigenous community tourism business in Guatemala's Sololá region whose members worked hard to comply with the certification requirements and earned a high score. Topping the list of newly certified businesses was the Casa del Caballo Blanco Hotel, in Belize's Cayo District, which demonstrated its commitment to sustainability with two years of hard work.
According to Denia del Valle, the Rainforest Alliance's sustainable tourism manager for Mesoamerica: "Given the current growth in tourism in Latin America, it is crucial that companies adopt sustainable tourism, if only to conserve biodiversity. Certification is an important tool for bringing about positive change, since it provides an effective guide for respecting local cultures and making responsible use of natural resources, while creating jobs and improving living standards in many communities."