Sapphaya - Becoming one of Green Destinations' Top 100 stories is no easy feat.

It requires meticulous data preparation to elucidate the committee and ensure understanding of the operational guidelines for sustainable tourism. This involves collecting essential information, gauging the satisfaction of tourists and local communities, and establishing sustainable development processes. It's imperative that destinations act as sustainability coordinators, defining roles, implementing clear workflow structures, continually upgrading tourism assets, and disseminating information for public access. Additionally, tourism destinations must have tourism policies and measurable development plans in place. They should demonstrate commitment to preserving landscapes and scenic beauty, implementing area-based conservation plans, reducing waste, minimizing plastic usage, setting targets, and striving for single-use plastic elimination in tourism sectors. Policy frameworks or reports on cultural heritage protection are also crucial. Moreover, destinations must promote, safeguard, and celebrate intangible cultural heritage such as customs and beliefs. Assessment criteria place importance on community involvement and support for local entrepreneurs over external actors. This entails supporting local supply chains, investing sustainably, promoting local products and services, disaster prevention, health promotion, and fostering sustainable relationships among enterprises. Evidence-based practices are essential for achieving continuous and directed development, indicating leadership roles both in municipal and community levels. Collective efforts among villagers are instrumental in creating hometown prosperity, stimulating supplementary livelihoods, and encouraging young people to return home for joint efforts in developing sustainable tourism prototypes at the national level. Over the four-year journey toward each phase's goals, Sarapaya has succeeded in becoming a national and international benchmark for sustainable tourism, inspiring increasing numbers of destinations in subsequent years.