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What is a 'sustainable tourism charter'?
A sustainable tourism charter is a regionally defined, community-developed vision of sustainable tourism. It outlines what businesses, community groups, local government, and iwi groups see as the key characteristics of a tourism sector that can exist in the long term.
The charter encourages and supports tourism businesses to move towards sustainability at a pace that is within their capability. A key concept is that of continual improvement. The charter gathers experiences, tools and expertise which can be shared with other tourism businesses.
The Northland Sustainable Tourism Charter has four main principles:
- Community involvement
- Recognising the link between tourism success and environmental quality
- Cultural authenticity
- Communicating with decision makers and stakeholders.
Why develop a charter?
Northland recognised that its tourism businesses sought a practical approach to sustainability that acknowledged the issues faced by small businesses - e.g. time and capital are scarce resources.
Benefiting from the learnings of the Rotorua Sustainable Tourism Charter, Northland chose the charter approach as a way to contribute towards a sustainable tourism sector.
As part of the charter, businesses are supported to make change, not reach a set standard.
Who develops the charter?
Northland's decision to develop a sustainable tourism charter was led by the Tourism Development Group sub-committee for Sustainable Management. This group was made up of local tourism operators, community and local government representatives. The establishment of this group was the direct result of the industry authored Northland Tourism Strategy 2003.
How does the charter approach work?
Businesses receive practical hands-on support to assist them in interpreting and translating the charter vision into achievable, affordable and efficient steps. After businesses become signatories of the charter they commit to a three-stage process, involving:
- Assessment of current business practice
- Action plans for implementation of sustainable business practice
- Review and update of action plans (with an emphasis on continual improvement)
1. What is a sustainability assessment?
Businesses complete an impact assessment, reviewing their operations with the assistance of a sustainability assessor. The assessor works directly with the business to identify a range of opportunities for improved sustainability.
Practically this assessment involves focusing on:
- Energy efficiency opportunities
- Reducing waste, increasing recycling and managing the supply chain
- Managing hazardous substances and using alternative low environmental impact chemicals, sprays, fertilisers and cleaning products
- Improving water quality and conservation
- Improving staff capability - through motivation, retention and training of staff on environmental sustainability issues
- Recognising the importance of engagement with the local community and the support this can bring
- Promoting genuine and authentic cultural participation and content
The result of this process is a list of opportunities to improve sustainability for a business to choose from. Examples of the types of opportunities highlighted in Northland can be seen here. (link through to example template)
2. What is a sustainability action plan?
Businesses use the list of opportunities for improvement to develop a statement of intent ( SOI). From the SOI, action plans comprising between 10 – 15 sustainability actions are developed. The timeframes and resource intensity of these actions range from:
- immediate implementation with little to no cost
- medium term implementation with possible need for cost-benefit analysis
- long term implementation with need for cost-benefit analysis
An example of the types of actions committed to can be seen here. (link through to example action plan template)
Action plans come with a tool kit of resources, templates and contacts. Most importantly businesses are actively supported by the sustainability assessor.
3. What is a review and update?
Each business' action plan is reviewed and updated on an annual basis. This review will involve the business and the sustainability assessor looking at the business' progress against their action plans. Where progress on specific actions points has been limited, the barriers are explored and solutions developed. Where action points have been achieved, new action points are selected from the assessment to be worked on over the subsequent year.
Other sustainable Tourism Initiatives
Motor home dump stations
The Ministry for the Environment has produced a guide listing the locations of dump stations where motor home users can responsibly dispose of toilet waste: Finding a dump station in New Zealand.
The guide was produced in association with the New Zealand Motor Caravan Association, the Rental Vehicle Association and Local Government New Zealand.
Waste Management and Tourism working group
The Ministry for the Environment is leading a working group to look at tourism and the associated waste issues, including:
- public toilets and dump stations
- recycling, litter and waste management
- education
- planning.
The group's purpose is to explore these issues and to begin to identify collaborative responses.
The working group is part of the Pan Industry Forum for Tourism on Public Conservation Lands, organised by the Ministry of Tourism and the Department of Conservation and comprises representatives from:
