Abstract
This article reports on the benchmarking of organizational structure, governance and finances of accreditation in a number of industries and certification programs in tourism, as part of the research on the feasibility and desirability of a Sustainable Tourism Stewardship Council. There are a variety of governance structures widely accepted and potentially transferable to new accreditation bodies, with the biggest changes coming in the form of outsourcing the accreditation function from standard setting and compliance with ISO guides. Financial benchmarking has shown great weaknesses in the sector, over-relying on seed funding from donors and the general inability of the sector to be self-financing, which casts a shadow over the long term survival of accreditation in its present form. Copyright © 2004 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd and ERP Environment.