Assembled and led the international team of experts that drafted a set of global baseline criteria for sustainable tourism, applicable to hotels and tour operators of any size. The work became the foundation of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, and the criteria are now used worldwide by tourism businesses, certifying bodies, and governments.
This is the single most consequential piece of work in a 48-year career, and its footprint is global rather than local.
The brief was deceptively simple: establish what "sustainable" actually means for a tourism business, in terms concrete enough that a hotel in one country and a tour operator in another could both be measured against it. Juan assembled the expert team and led the effort to produce that baseline.
The resulting criteria became the founding standard of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. They are now adopted by travel and tourism businesses to protect natural and cultural resources while supporting conservation and poverty alleviation, and they underpin national certification programs on several continents.
He was later certified to train other trainers in the application of the criteria, and participated in GSTC regional meetings advancing their adoption across Latin America.