The Blue Tourism Initiative, represented by CORDIO East Africa, returned to Sainte-Marie, Madagascar, to document the experiences, partnerships, and local leadership behind one of the initiative’s key achievements in the Western Indian Ocean: the development of the Sainte-Marie Eco-Label, Madagascar’s first island-based sustainable tourism certification scheme.

As part of the Initiative’s video diary series, CORDIO’s representatives travelled to Sainte-Marie to meet the people and tourism stakeholders who contributed to the pilot and reflect on how the initiative has evolved.

Together with Berthy Ramdoo, Blue Tourism Initiative focal point in Madagascar, the visit retraced the development of the Eco-Label and the collaborative process that brought it to life. The video also gives a voice to local tourism operators who embraced the initiative, sharing their experiences and perspectives on how the certification is helping establish a common standard for more responsible and high-quality tourism on the island.

The Sainte-Marie Eco-Label represents an important step towards embedding sustainability within the island’s tourism sector. Beyond recognising individual operators, the initiative has helped build a shared approach among tourism stakeholders around environmental responsibility, quality and the long-term sustainability of Sainte-Marie as a destination.

The Madagascar video diary is part of the the Blue Tourism Initiative video diary series, which documents the people, partnerships and locally driven solutions that shaped the Initiative’s pilot sites across the Western Indian Ocean.

Watch the Madagascar video diary to discover the story of the Sainte-Marie Eco-Label and hear directly from the people involved in its development.

Video production by Ulrich Razafison.