The 2nd Meeting of Working Group on Tourism Standardization was held virtually on June 6, 2023.

Inaugurating the event, Mr. Jasur Rajabov, Director for Tourism of ECO Secretariat, highlighted that defining common harmonized regional tourism standards will help enhance ECO region’s brand as a high-quality tourist destination with improved global profile and image. 

In her presentation, Dr. Mihee Kang,Global Assurance and Asia-Pacific Director of Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), informed on policy development, adopting global standards and certifications, and developing ECO standards based on the global criteria and ECO certification programs. The presentation was followed by a Q&A session allowing for participants from the Member States raise their comments and questions. 

The meeting, inter alia, reviewed institutionalization of the quality standards in regional tourism. The representatives of the Member States agreed to share their national list of tourism standards for jointly developing standards for hotels and accommodation as a pilot initiative.

The 3rd meeting of the working group is scheduled to be held on August 2, 2023.