The Good Travel Seal, a sustainability certification from Green Destinations, was awarded to Lang Nho Eco-tourism Village for its pop-up resort concept, which emphasizes low environmental impact and flexibility. The certification confirms its alignment with global sustainability standards, showcasing Vietnam’s potential for responsible tourism development utilizing its rich natural resources.
The certification was officially announced on the Good Travel Guide, a global platform that highlights destinations and tourism operators meeting internationally recognised sustainability standards.
The Good Travel Seal is a sustainability certification developed by Green Destinations, an organisation dedicated to advancing responsible and sustainable tourism worldwide.
Nguyen Manh Binh San, founder and owner of Lang Nho Eco-tourism Village, said the recognition affirms a tourism model he believes is particularly well suited to Vietnam’s context. He described Lang Nho’s “pop-up resort” concept as a low-impact approach that combines flexible, movable structures with renewable energy systems, offering a practical response to both Vietnam’s natural environment and the operational realities faced by tourism businesses.
According to San, Vietnam’s greatest advantage lies in its rich natural resources, while much of its tourism sector remains small to medium in scale. “This model allows tourism to grow sustainably with reasonable investment costs, high flexibility, and strong adaptability – not only to natural conditions, but also to changes in market demand,” he said.
For Lang Nho, achieving certification also served as a test of whether its flexible concept could meet global sustainability expectations. To earn Level 1 (Bronze) status, the resort’s pop-up model was evaluated against 62 sustainability criteria aligned with the framework of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).
These criteria span 10 key areas, including transparent management practices, fair working conditions, community-based employment, preservation of local culture, protection of nature and biodiversity, emissions reduction and climate-change adaptation, responsible water use, waste and pollution management, and the promotion of sustainable supply chains and food systems.
San noted that certification under the Good Travel Seal demonstrates that the pop-up resort model is not only economically viable, but also capable of meeting increasingly rigorous international standards for sustainable tourism development.
About the Good Travel Seal
The Good Travel Seal is built on criteria established by the GSTC, which provides globally recognised benchmarks for sustainable tourism. Level 1 (Bronze) represents the entry tier, acknowledging operators that meet verified baseline sustainability requirements.
GSTC standards are recognised and recommended by UN Tourism, the United Nations Environment Programme, as well as numerous governments and international organisations worldwide.
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