Best practice destination management
We love the genuinely ‘three pillar’ sustainable approach of Tasmania’s new 2030 Visitor Economy Strategy and Action Plan recognising economy, environment and community as equally essential elements for the destination managers to nurture and support.
The strategy prioritises the essential foundations for the visitor economy of
a safe climate
protected natural and social assets
benefits for all stakeholders – the tourism industry (including workers), the community, visitors, and even the state government.
The strategy recognises that there are limits to growth on an island, such as accommodation, workforce and transport limits, and limits to the impacts from tourism that the natural environment can absorb. It acknowledges that aiming to go beyond such limits will negatively impact the visitor experience and the destination’s reputation.
Values
We love the guiding values selected - ones that all stakeholders can connect to.
Climate action
It was refreshing to see emissions reduction as the state’s #1 priority for tourism development – and instantly implemented with an initiative to help operators measure and reduce their emissions. This approach is aligned with the ever increasing desire of travellers to purchase sustainable tourism experiences.
Examples of actions in the strategy include
supporting operators to actively engage in emissions reduction activities (measuring and reducing), sustainability practices, and the circular economy – in fact, the Emissions Reduction Initiative to help operators reduce emissions launched in the same week as the strategy!
enabling visitors to opt into net zero emissions travel by purchasing Tasmanian offsets
One missing element in the strategy is risk management and resilence planning for coping with the more intense and more frequent extreme weather events that Tasmanian destinations will have to cope with. Additionally, the context for the strategy is that Tasmanian tourism is dependent on flights (mostly long distance) which makes having a net zero target dependent on offsets, which cannot be a long term solution.
Social sustainability
We loved to see the clear focus on different groups within the social side of the triple pillar approach to sustainability. Tourism Industry Council Tasmania has sought to address what positive impact can be provided to industry (operators and workers), Tasmanian communities, and visitors – and even to the State Government. We also loved the thoughtful acknowledgement of Tasmania’s Traditional Owners at the beginning of the document.
Examples from the strategy of how tourism can benefit residents includes
"Tourism has opened new markets for our quality produce, arts and creative pursuits, and supported events and entertainment that has enriched the lifestyles of locals."
"For Tasmanians, tourism brings undeniable lifestyle benefits that may not otherwise be provided including amenities, food and wine, and increased choice and value in access on and off the island."
“We will identify and pursue opportunities for visitors to contribute directly to conservation, regional services and infrastructure for the benefit of locals and visitors. Industry will champion initiatives that enable visitors to contribute to Tasmania.”
"We will promote home state travel, growing pride in what is extraordinary about Tasmania."
Growing visitor yield
The strategy’s approach to growing visitor yield over visitor volume also had a unique tweak: "This is not just a question of how much money each person spends in Tasmania — the challenge is to invest more of that economic return into services and infrastructure to benefit visitors and Tasmanians travelling around our state."
Governance
The approach to governance outlined in the strategy is also admirable. "We will bring industry, state and local government together with communities in managing destinations." Tasmania’s T21 Steering Committee brings together Tasmanian Government agencies, the Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania and the Tasmanian Hospitality Association in a proven approach to destination management where government and industry come together to agree on shared priorities and measures of success for the industry and the destination. “Through T21, we look beyond election cycles, terms of government and market cycles to consider the type of investments, actions and policies that will enable our visitor economy to prosper in the years ahead."
Our learnings
Our learnings from this strategy is that to the strategic plans we develop for clients we will
add SMART emissions targets for the sector (e.g. for events in an events strategy, or for visitor servicing in a visitor servicing review)
add adaptation actions for the sector (i.e. how the sector can to mitigate and cope with extreme weather events)
We find that most of our clients, such as our local government clients, aren’t yet implementing broadly emissions reduction activities.
As TICT says, "This is a decision we make every day."