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Northland Sustainable Tourism Pilot Programme 2003/04

To assist tourism operators identify and adopt sustainable business practices, the Ministry for the Environment became involved in the Northland Sustainable Tourism Project in 2003. This project involved the Ministry for the Environment, the Ministry of Tourism, Enterprise Northland and Northland tourism businesses. The first phase of the project (2003/04) involved:

  • Raising awareness and understanding of 'sustainable tourism' in practice
  • Developing a sustainable tourism charter for Tai Tokerau/Northland
  • Testing the usefulness of the charter as a practical way for tourism operators to become more sustainable across all areas of business.

Phase two of the project, involved the support of the Ministry of Tourism, and is designed to consolidate the lessons and successes of phase one. A position has been created within Enterprise Northland to support businesses to identify and implement opportunities for improvement. Phase two involves between 20 and 30 Northland businesses undergoing sustainability assessments, developing action plans, and implementation of action plans.

This project is taking place within the Activate Northland Project – a New Zealand Trade and Enterprise funded Major Regional Initiative.

Six businesses were nominated to pilot the charter in 2004 to see if Northland's vision of a sustainable tourism sector was workable in reality. They included Dive! Tutukaka, Dolphin Discoveries, Fullers Bay of Islands, Matakohe Top Ten Holiday Park, Wairere Boulders Nature Park and the Waitangi Treaty Grounds. To learn more about how these businesses were involved, see their Individual pilot business case studies.

Northland's participation in the Environmentally Sustainable Tourism Project

The momentum generated by the Northland pilot programme and the New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010 (NZTS 2010) Implementation fund means that Northland is now part of the Environmentally Sustainable Tourism Project, which includes five additional regions. Enterprise Northland can now consolidate progress from the first year. They have funding to appoint their sustainability assessor through to the 2005/6 financial year.

The sustainability assessor will work within the Activate Northland Project to conduct sustainability assessments, develop individual action plans and support participating Northland tourism operators to implement sustainable business practices.

On 8 April 2005 the Northland Sustainable Tourism Charter (Inc.) was officially launched and has started to attract membership, profile member businesses, develop marketing collateral, and highlight environmental benefits. This will allow Northland to begin promoting itself as a sustainable tourism destination.

Funding via the Environmentally Sustainable Tourism project will provide resources through to 2006.

Last updated: 25 July 2005