Four of the five main tourism agencies of the British Isles have joined forces to promote green tourism and unify the way sustainable tourism initiatives are certified.

Visit England, Visit Wales, Northern Ireland Tourist Board and Fáilte Ireland have developed a single system to endorse the quality of operations and criteria of sustainable tourism certification programmes operating in and across the countries.

The new endorsement process, undertaken by the International Centre for Responsible Tourism based at Leeds Metropolitan University on behalf of the national boards, will both provide independent assurance of which certification programmes are fit for purpose, and in turn will support all sustainable tourism certification programmes in these areas to improve their systems and criteria to achieve international standards.

It is the first time the national tourism authorities have come together to develop any such scheme, and a spokesperson described the development as a sign of "how seriously the sustainability agenda is being taken in each country".

Xavier Font from the International Centre for Responsible Tourism, said: "We are delighted to be working in collaboration with the tourist boards to make sense of sustainable tourism certification for tourism businesses and consumers. Their leadership is to be applauded, illustrating a consistent approach that raises the standard of certification and their market appropriateness."

Over the past few years, a number of certification schemes specifically tailored for the tourism industry have become available to tourism businesses across Ireland and the UK. However, there has recently been calls to ensure that only bona fide schemes are endorsed and promoted.