Page 160 - Sustaining Accommodation SMES

8 Implications for Policy and Practice

supporting dissemination of good practices
Visibility of successful implementation experiences plays a critical role
in reducing uncertainty and encouraging replication. Associations can
contribute by documenting and disseminating good practices through:
• Base studies illustrating concrete implementation pathways.
• Benchmark reports enabling comparison across firms and destina-
tions.
• Practical guides translating standards into actionable steps.
• Video materials that support accessible and scalable knowledge
transfer.

Systematic dissemination of good practices empowers smes to act by
demonstrating feasibility and relevance rather than aspiration alone.

8.4 Regulation
The transition toward sustainable tourism requires coherent regulatory
frameworks and complementary voluntary mechanisms. iso 21401 pro-
vides a structured framework that can be adopted through both regula-
tory (top-down) and self-regulatory (bottom-up) approaches. The mast
project recommends integrating the standard and its tools into policy
frameworks at multiple governance levels (local, regional, national, and
European).
This section introduces how governments at different levels and indus-
try actors can mobilise regulatory and self-regulatory pathways to insti-
tutionalise sustainability across tourism accommodation.

embedding iso 21401 in regulatory frameworks
Public authorities can use a variety of regulatory instruments to incen-
tivise or mandate sustainability adoption, here below we present a set
of possible different tools and initiatives. Incorporating iso 21401 into
strategic frameworks creates policy coherence and establishes sustain-
ability as a guiding principle of tourism development. This includes:
• Referencing the standard in regional and national tourism laws.
• Aligning sustainability roadmaps with iso requirements.
• Recognising the mast tools as official supporting instruments that
facilitate compliance.

Such integration provides clear signals to industry actors and rein-
forces the legitimacy of the standard.

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