16 October 2025

From now on, the Sustainable Tourism Index calculator, which is based on the international sustainability criteria defined by the GSTC (Global Sustainable Tourism Council), is available free of charge to any tourism service provider and attraction. The new platform, which is available in 20 languages and  is available at the https://i-dest.com/szolgaltatoi-kerdoiv link, was presented to the international professional audience by Júlia Nagy, CEO of Innotime Hungary Kft., at a webinar organized by GSTC on October 14, 2025.

The aim of the platform is to enable tourism operators – be they accommodations, catering units, tourist attractions or program organisers – to test their own level of sustainability based on objective criteria and international standards. Thanks to the CROSSDEST INTERREG project, filling out the questionnaire can be done free of charge and without registration, in which case the data will not be saved anywhere, based on the answers, the system will generate a detailed assessment in PDF format, which can be used to establish development plans or even prepare sustainability reports – especially if their partners subject to ESG reporting obligations request data from their tourism suppliers. The questionnaire can be completed several times.

Quality Management Indices – objective, free-of-charge quick reports on family-friendly, cyclist-friendly, pet-friendly and accessible services

Also based on international standards (not based on domestic trademarks), the I-DEST quality management index system has been developed in the framework developed by Innotime Hungary Kft., which allows service providers to assess the suitability of their services in the following areas by answering objective questions:

  • Family-friendly services
  • Cyclist-friendly tourism
  • Pet-friendly hosting
  • Accessibility

In the system, users can choose which indexes they are interested in, and the ratings they receive based on the answers can also be saved in PDF, even without registration.

Why is registration good?

By registering in the system, even more options become available: the data recorded during filling in the form are entered into the internal database of I-DEST, and after logging in to the service provider dashboard, the following functions become available to users:

  • Examination of the link to each Sustainable Development Goal (SDG)
  • Evaluation of the extent to which the service provider meets the requirements of the Good Travel Seal international sustainable tourism certification
  • Deficiency analysis and assessment of suitability for qualification
  • Benchmarking module, which uses real-time aggregated data to show how the performance of the service provider compares to the results of other registered users

The data saved after registration will be entered into the I-DEST monitoring system. Service providers can modify their own data at any time, but other users will not have access to them, including users with destination admin rights. The data is used in an aggregated and anonymous form on the service provider and destination-level dashboards.

Dynamic growth in the number of users – an increasingly high level of international benchmarking

The I-DEST system is currently used by tourism service providers from nearly 200 settlements from Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, Slovenia and Belize, but Innotime is working to expand the user base to include service providers from other countries, increasing the accuracy of benchmarking analyses. The comparative data and real-time statistics provided by the system help to identify regional, national and international trends.

Registered users will also have the opportunity to create their own introductory page on the i-dest.com interface, so they can communicate their sustainability achievements and aspirations publicly. This option is free for all users who register on the platform until February 2026, during the pilot period.