The opportunities of sustainable tourism for regional communities
Travellers are looking for responsible destinations, businesses and events
We are seeing a shift in consumer demand for sustainable travel. Travellers want to support destinations, events and tourism businesses that are being responsible and doing good for their community and the environment.
As an industry, tourism has many positives: it provides jobs and economic benefits, supports the protection of cultural heritage, provides transformative experiences, and much more.
However, it also can have negative effects such as emissions from flights, degradation of natural areas through overuse or mismanaged use, and impacts on locals such as noise, crowds, and traffic.
COVID’s restrictions on travel has allowed previously overcrowded destinations to recover, highlighting to those in the industry and to travellers the negative impacts we can have when we travel.
Sustainable tourism
Sustainable tourism is tourism that does not result in negative environmental, economic, or social impacts, and that results in satisfied visitors (because without visitors, there’s no tourism).
Regenerative tourism improves a destination’s environment, community and economy.
It’s worth noting that being sustainable doesn’t refer reaching a certain point and then not changing - it refers to a process of continual improvement.
The benefits of being sustainable
Competitiveness and appeal
Destinations and tourism businesses that make sustainable choices improve their brand image and their competitive edge, and may be able to sell at a higher price point. They also generate loyalty and trust in customers and other stakeholders.
According to research undertaken by Tourism & Events Queensland, today travellers are seeking out tourism experiences that enrich them. They want to feel something within themselves ignited, and they try to have this experience by consciously connecting with and appreciating our extraordinary planet, and its people and cultures. They want to contribute to making the world a better place, to cultural preservation, and to protection of wilderness and nature.
Consumers are seeking purpose-led brands that align with these values, and they’re expecting brands to play a more meaningful role in society. People want to support those who do good.
Staff attraction
Many employees now look for companies that do good, so a reputation for being sustainable can help with staff recruitment and retention. Similarly, attracting potential investors and collaborators can be easier.
Cost savings
Becoming more efficient with energy, waste and transport provides cost savings as you purchase less energy, or pay for less waste removal, in addition to reducing emissions.
Innovation
Transitioning to become more sustainable may require a revamp of products or processes, fostering innovation and the creativity of employees and suppliers.
Case studies of sustainable tourism businesses
Sustainable destination: Port Douglas and Daintree, QLD
The Port Douglas and Daintree region north of Cairns is Ecotourism ECO Destination Certified.
The certification process provided a valuable opportunity to identify and consolidate many of the government, not for profit and commercial initiatives that were in place and bring them together in a structured way. It allowed the destination managers to identify future opportunities to pursue on their process of continuous improvement in sustainable tourism.
There were some in the community who questioned the authenticity of the program when there are some aspects that don’t appear to be ‘sustainable’, however this helped everyone realise sustainability is a process of continuous improvement where the destination managers introduce extra measures and support tools to try and bring all businesses along on the journey.
Build your destination back better with Ecotourism Australia's ECO Destination Program.
Sustainable attraction: Tahbilk Winery, VIC
Tahbilk is a family owned winery located in the Nagambie Lakes region of central Victoria 120kms north of Melbourne. The owners welcome visitors onto the property for cellar door tasting, to eat at the Wetlands View Restaurant, and stroll or hike their walking tracks.
For the best part of the last two decades, Tahbilk has been committed to restoring the delicate environmental balance known by the Taungurung people who lived on the land sustainably for generations.
The family is moving in a positive direction towards achieving their environmental goals by reducing their carbon emissions. Since 2013 they have reduced emissions by 45%. With the help of 160 hectares of native revegetation on the estate and the purchase of offsite carbon credits, they are the only winery in Australia accredited carboNZero at a product and organisation level, and one of just 8 globally..
This accreditation ensures that, through a transparent process of measuring emissions, reducing emissions where possible, and offsetting residual emissions, the winery’s net calculated carbon emissions equals zero.
Because the winery relies on the natural environment as growers of food, they look after it. As winemakers they are vulnerable to even small changes in the climate. The family is motivated to leave a better world for their kids and enable farming well into the future.
Sustainable accommodation: Townsville Eco Resort, QLD
Townsville Eco Resort is a family-owned caravan park with, camping, glamping and cabins that is Advanced Ecotourism Certified. The owners and team are passionate about sustainability and are working hard towards reducing emissions. The resort aims to inspire environmentally sustainable tourism through best practices over three core services, waste, water and energy.
The owners are currently developing a constructed wetland, a series of shallow, densely-planted, man-made ponds that help filter water through physical and biological processes, providing a natural way to treat and remove pollutants from storm water before it enters creeks, rivers and oceans, and impacts the reef. Townsville Eco Resort treats all its own waste water on site, and once the constructed wetland is developed, the treated water will be disbursed into the wetland, which will be a habitat for water birds.
Townsville Eco Resort respects and acknowledges the importance of working alongside the indigenous community and supports the local indigenous tourism operators found here.
The park does an amazing job in reducing its emissions with solar, water and waste. The owners would love their guests to be environment warriors and consider their emissions as well - not just during their stay but during their course of travel. They provide a tool to help travellers check their emissions and calculate how much they are using.
Sustainable event: Woodford Folk Festival, QLD
Woodford Folk Festival has been doing good for so long their published environmental statement was written 20 years ago!
The festival lives and breathes sustainability, including in educating and engaging their attendees and suppliers in sustainable practices.
The festival owns its site, and has invested in its own water supply, sewage management, and revegetation of the property which was a cleared and degraded farm when purchased 30 years ago. Each year the committee host a planting festival where attendees continue the property’s revegetation. Over 100,000 trees have been planted, an enormous and successful effort in nurturing existing environments, encouraging species diversity, and weed management and eradication.
Just one example of the many ways the festival is sustainable is their policy of providing compostable food and beverage containers to all food stalls which are then composted on site.
Sustainable tour operator: Wild Adventures Melbourne, VIC
Wild Adventures Melbourne run spectacular eco adventure tours on the Mornington Peninsula and in Melbourne’s wilderness. Their small group adventures are fascinating and fun, adventurous, active, teach new skills, and show hidden gems that only locals know about: tours that are good for the environment, support the community, and taste amazing.
Having seen both the positive and negative impacts of tourism over many years of travelling, for the owners it was imperative they would be a force for good. They put the environment and community before profit in every aspect of what they do whilst also providing outstanding adventurous experiences to their guests.
The foundations of WAM! have been designed to go beyond sustainability into regenerative tourism practices.
WAM! offers people-powered activities that have the lowest possible impact on the environment. Their adventure trips look to leave each place visited cleaner: they carry portable bins and if they see litter on the tours (in the ocean, waterways or parks) they clean it up.
They support local reforestation projects in the areas where they operate by offsetting all their business, vehicle and every WAM! guest’s CO2 emissions by planting native biodiverse forests that are protected for at least 100 years.
They donate 1% of their annual revenue to good causes such as local wildlife charities.
They support local businesses who donate to environmental and community causes. They exclusively support local and Australian eco-conscious businesses when it comes to equipment, products provided to guests, eco-shop items, and other things such as refreshment and cleaning supplies.
They aim to their back of the house is as environmentally run and ethical as possible. They vet, research and carefully choose who the business banks with, sources energy from, and other aspects including the telecommunications, insurance, and so one. Their office is powered by renewable energy, WAM! has a no print policy (such as having no business cards), and are eco-conscious in all other aspects of operations such as vehicle cleaning.
WAM’s certifications include
Advanced Ecotourism Certified with Ecotourism Australia
Climate Action Business certified
Sustainable Tourism Accredited Business
Sustainable cafe: Sample Coffee
Sample Coffee in Sydney, is looking at every aspect of their café and overall business to be more sustainable, including
pledging to do business in a transparent, accountable, respectful and generous way, speaking honestly and leading by example
how they source their coffee
how they take care of people, such as their staff and coffee growers
reducing emissions, such as by buying renewable energy
trying to establish a circular economy (finding buyers or users for their waste)
reusable and recyclable packaging
a menu and servings designed for zero waste, prioritising local and seasonal, and cutting products from water-intensive industries, such as meat, dairy and almonds
doing business with other responsible businesses
donating a portion of sales to regenerative activities
supporting the local community, such as by supporting local artists, sharing coffee making gear and knowledge through a sharing library, bringing people together through events and workshops
communicating in a way that brings about a cultural shift
using their voice to start conversations about topics that matter.
Sustainable transport operator: Microflite
A new partnership is introducing zero-emission flights to serve Victoria’s RACV resorts.
RACV and Microflite will connect the RACV city club in Melbourne CBD with RACV resorts in Healesville, Cape Schanck, Torquay and Inverloch. This network will form a core part of the zero-emission flights that Microflite intends to operate when their first zero-emission electric eVTOL aircraft arrive in 2026.
In 2022 flights will begin using Microflite’s existing helicopter fleet with emissions fully offset for all RACV journeys
How to become a responsible tourism business, destination or event
Global Sustainable Tourism Council
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council’s Sustainable Tourism Training Program teaches the sustainable management of tourism destinations by identifying the minimum criteria that tourism destinations should aspire to reach; these are aligned with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
The criteria are based on four themes:
Effective sustainability planning
Maximizing social and economic benefits for the local community
Enhancing cultural heritage
Reducing negative impacts to the environment.
The criteria are applicable to the entire tourism industry, and are divided into
The Global Sustainable Tourism Council also provides sustainability training and certification for:
B Corporation
Another way to learn how to become a sustainable business or destination is through the BCorp process.
B Corporations are a new kind of business that balance purpose and profit. They make decisions to create positive impacts for their workers, customers, suppliers, community, and the environment.
The B Corp certification process provides a means for companies to look at their responsibilities in a holistic way.
Federal and state support for sustainable tourism
Tourism Australia provides useful webinars such as these:
Tourism Australia also provides an up to date list of Federal and State Government support, assistance and grants programs that help businesses plan for a more sustainable future
A tip! Avoid greenwashing
The Good Travel Guide has some good tips on avoiding greenwashing in the tourism industry.
Our journey
Business is about more than profit. Learn about Tilma Group’s journey of becoming a sustainable tourism business
Over to you!
How is your journey to being a sustainable business going?
Has it been worth it?
Any tips for others on the journey?
What are the biggest barriers?
Please share your experience via the comments below