Who We Are

Programa Hoteles más Verdes is the result of the work conducted by Asociación de Hoteles de Turismo de la República Argentina (AHT). It is validated by Instituto Argentino de Normalización y Certificación (IRAM) and recognized by the Argentine Ministry of Tourism.

Our program has been recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), placing it at the level of the most prestigious sustainable tourism certification programs of the world and both the program and all those Argentine hotels that achieve the certification in one of its levels will be part of GSTC’s Board and will receive a preferential treatment from the most important organizations and international tour operators of tourist distribution, promotion and marketing.

In 2011, AHT set “Hoteles más Verdes” program as one of its priority goals, which was implemented after an awareness and self-assessment stage of its member hotels and the launch of a Handbook of Good Practices (Keys for an Eco Responsible and Eco Efficient Management). A year later, the Program was expanded to the community through the “National Contest seeking the Best Sustainable Hotel Project in Argentina: Hoteles más Verdes”, aimed at recognizing and rewarding the best applied innovation projects to the integration of sustainability principles in the value chain of hotels in the country. The Contest not only is set out to recognize the initiatives derived from hotel organizations, but also it is open to universities, research centers, associations, foundations,

providers of goods and/or services for the hotel sector, providers of developed sustainability instruments and private parties related to o with track record within the hotel sector.

The Hoteles más Verdes Certification Program, which was presented by AHT in the 2012 Edition of the Annual Hotel & Gastronomy Meeting – Hotelga -, arises as a necessary result in the sustainable hotel management process.

It is a voluntary and third-party certification multiple-criteria based program that awards labels to those environmentally preferable products and services to other similar ones within the same category and based on life cycle considerations. Given the absence of a nationwide voluntary standard or ecolabel in Argentina, as compared to the increasing number of global sustainable tourism certification programs, AHT was determined to establish a national ecolabelling system, based on a standard that sets criteria at different levels, as a model to recognize and certify sustainable hotels.

This standard has been designed according to Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria established by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) for hotels and tour operators to apply for their international accreditation and recognition.

The Certification Program won the second place of Tourism Excellence and Innovation in the Non-Governmental Organizations Innovation category of the Ulises Awards of the World Tourism Organization, which recognize the initiatives managed by a non-governmental organization, which are inspiring and which, to attain their achievements, use innovation, association, governance and the participation of the civil society as key elements.

On February 4, 2019, the Argentine Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development declared the Hoteles más Verdes Program of environmental interest through Resolution 40/2019 published in the Official Bulletin.

The work with the Secretariat began at 2018 International Tourism Fair in order to be able to move forward on a joint agenda, which allows developing environmental and social impact projects, especially for the tourist sector.