The Active Tourism Certification is officially and exclusively issued by Active-Tourism.org. It is a quality control to guarantee that the highest standards of Active Tourism are being met by the service provider, travel operator or institution. Infringement to these guidelines is published in the red list.

What can be certified?
The certification can only be issued for tours, activities, events and travel operators. The denomination Active Tourism® can be applied for activities, courses, lessons, shows, expeditions, entretainment events, persons and touristic experiences that follow the philosophy of Active Tourism. The certification can only be issued if all of the following requisites are met.

What cannot be certified?
The denomination Active Tourism cannot be used to qualify hotels, hostals, motels, buildings, restaurants, airlines or transportation companies. Active Tourism® is a service and not an object, item or place. It is not possible to use the Active Tourism denomination for any location, travel destination or geografical point.

The Active Tourism International Certification allows these denominations. However, the most important is the Active Tourist himself. Every single traveller has to decide if he wants to be a Passive Tourist or an Active Tourist. This decision cannot be taken by any organization or be guaranteed by any document, but has to be taken by every person himself.

The Certification can only guarantee that if a Tourist wants to participate in Active Tourism, he does get the quality and service he is looking for. It helps to avoid that a travel operator or service provider can fool the tourist by mere advertisement (greenwashing) and sell something different. The certification ensures that Active Tourism is not only a promise, but reality.

Look for the Active Tourism Certification to be displayed as a Logo by your Tour Operator or Travel Agency. Make an active choice!

How should Active Tourism be used in context?
An hotel can offer among its services Active Tourism attractions and activities, but the accomodation itself should not be called Active Tourism. There cannot be an Active Tourism Hotel. A touristic destination can become famous by the rich offer of Active Tourism activities, but the destination itself, or the location itself cannot be called Active Tourism. Touristic destinations or locations usually offer many different kinds of activities and not only one type. An activity per se cannot be called Active Tourism, but it is the way of carrying it out what is decisive. River rafting or mountain hicking are only Active Tourism if they are done following the philosophy of Active Tourism.

Following denominations are granted by the certification:
Active Tourism agency
Active Tourism operator
Active Tourism travel
Active Tourism tour
Active Tourism guide

Active Tourism can be used with other words like expedition, course, lessons, cooking, promoter, expert, activity, expedition, entretainment, show, help, development, service...

The Active Tourism Certification can only be issued for travel operators and tour agencies if all of the following requirements are met:
- Over 50% of the personel involved in the Active Tourism activity has to have an academic degree in Biology, Ecology, History, Sociology, Arquitecture, Antropology or Literature.
- Over 80% of the contracted personel has to be of national or local origin.
- The tour agency has to be co-owned (least 50%) by a local partner.
- The tour agency cannot exceed a staff size of 50 full time equivalents. Small, innovative and local agencies are encouradged.
- At least 10% of the profits have to be donated to selected social, medical, cultural, research and ecological institutions. The donation recieps have to be presented for certification.
- At some point of the tour, the tourist has to be informed and encouraged in ways and possibilities of helping. He has to be asked for an active contribution to help local social, medical, cultural, reasearch and ecological institutions.
- The travel operator has to demostrate that the visited region is not deteriorated by Active Tourism visitation. There must be a commitment that the place is left in equal or better shape as before the visitation. The lack of negative evidence is not sufficient. The travel operator is required to present positive evidence.
- At the end of the tour an evaluation questionnaire has to be filled out to document customer satisfaction. These questionaires have to be presented for the certification procedure. At least 75% of the tourists must have responded positively about being involved in Active Tourism.

- Group size cannot exceed 20 persons. Larger groups have to be handled by separate tour guides.
- The activity has to include and require active physical and mental participation from the tourist. A learning component has to be present. Transmitted information has to meet academic standards for authenticity, validity, and accuracy. References to the sources of information have to be presented. A written report has to be prepared for certification.
- All fees for visiting national parks, biological reservates, arqueological sites and museums have to be paid in full. The travel operator can include or exclude this fees in the tour price. Ecological fees and fees related to conservation should be transparent and visible for all tourists.
- Public transportation has to be used when possible. Private transportation should only be used if the effective transportation time is less than 40% of the time required by public transportation.
- No restrictions for nationality, race, gender and religion can be applied for participation in a tour. Medical restrictions can be applied to physically demanding tours. The filling of a risk aknowledgement formulare is recomended.
- A discount (at least 30%) has to be offered to local and national tourists (with valid official ID card). International tourists must pay the full price.
- A special price discount (at least 30%) has to be offered to students (with valid international student card) and disabled people (valid card).
-At least 50% of the tour fees have to be paid locally by the tourist. It is not allowed to pay all in advance from the country of origin.
- The travel operator has paid the yearly fee for certification.