Hello There,
I am currently managing an extensive, long term project on Tourism & Sustainability in British Columbia. While I appreciate that this subject is very broad, I would be grateful for any references to existing research on destination choices, tourist behaviors on holiday and post-holiday behaviors of visitors. I am particularly keen to find examples of positive customer behaviors in response to operator initiatives and / or certification schemes.
Thank you
Patricia Barnes,
B.Sc., Adv. Dip E.D.M., P.G. Dip E.D.M., M.Sc
Senior Partner, Barnes and Jeffreys,
Sustainable Business Solutions
1956 3rd Avenue East, Vancouver, B.C. V5N 1H5
Phone: (604) 255 3060 Cell: 778 288 8731
Web: www.BarnesandJeffreys.com
E-mail: [email protected]
Sustainability & Tourism
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Certification schemes in Australia include EcoTourism Accreditation; there are also awards like the Brolga Awards (Northern Territory, Australia) and the Banksia Awards for business environmental excellence. You may have similar incentives in British Columbia. We market the sustainability side of this and all our other resorts, and believe this may impact on decision-making into destinations. Guests visit here on average for a very short time and as such I don't have much information on guest behaviours. However it is notable that litter from guests appears low. A large proportion (certainly not all) of international guests appear to want a paper bag for every item purchased at the gift stores, whereas tourists from Australia are more used to local waste minimisation initiatives and thus to generalise have different behaviours. Unfortunately the dropping of cigarette butts is still a global issue not isolated to any nationality. Our resort has a sustainability focus, and whilst there will always be vast opportunities for environmental improvement, we are definitely pointing in the right direction. Some of our initiatives include: *Annual threatened species monitoring *Weed control and monitoring *Recycling is gradually expanding *Voluntary Environmental Audits for best practise *Sustainability Steering Committees *Weekly staff training/Environmental induction *Environment Protection Working groups - like volunteer work but staff are paid for their time *Greenhouse monitoring and reporting *Soil and sand dune protection *Revegetation *Review of Chemical suppliers *Purchasing policies *Plastic Bag free supermarket and tourist shops *2x eco tour companies *Composting education workshops for staff and neighbouring aboriginal community *Cultural awareness training for all staff *Environmental Management Plans have been written for all Central Australia & Western Australia Properties *Community and Environment Report and Steering Committee *Trade Waste agreements for waste water *All water is processed on site *Recycling of non-standard items such as car batteries, cooking oil *A plastic bag education sign has been produced in Japanese for the supermarket *Signs are being produced in Korean for staff housing areas about waste management Some of my future plans for the resort include: *Organics recycling from hotels *Increased recycling *Sustainability training for senior management *Ban polystyrene cups and food vessels *Reduce size of staff residence waste bins *Possible future sustainability conference *Expand weed management *Address stormwater management *Halve water usage *Reduce electricity usage *Address future building design, make guidelines/building and design policy *Continue to improve purchasing policies and suppliers *Reduce waste to landfill to below the national average *Expand guest education *Further expand on and roll out all of the above, and extend to our other resorts locally. Hope this helps.
Thanks and Regards,
Ella Boyen
Environment Manager Voyages Ayers Rock Resort
PO Box 46 Yulara NT 0872
T: +61 8 8957 7320
F: +61 8 8957 7325
M: 0417 616 996
www.voyages.com.au
Dear Patricia,
Your question about sustainability and tourism is a fascinating one-- it is a subject in which I am beginning to work. Some potential sources for you: UN Economic Programme, Tourism: _http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/ecotourism/home.htm_ (http://www.uneptie.org/pc/tourism/ecotourism/home.htm) Global Research Development Center (an online center, coordinated in Japan): _www.grdc.org/uem/eco-tour/ec0-tour.html_ (http://www.grdc.org/uem/eco-tour/ec0-tour.html) International Ecotourism Association, Washington, D.C.: _www.ecotourism.org_ (http://www.ecotourism.org/) Australia Ecotourism: _www.ecotourism.org.au_ (http://www.ecotourism.org.au/) Lifestyles of Health & Sustainability (_www.lohas.com_ (http://www.lohas.com/) ) has some interesting archived articles that touch on sustainable tourism. LOHAS also does specific consumer research. From a project-specific perspective, I would recommend the various hotel consultancy firms. Among the better firms are Hospitality Valuation Services (_www.hvsinternational.com_ (http://www.hvsinternational.com/) ), Jones Lang LaSalle (_http://www.joneslanglasalle.com/services/services_detail.asp?serviceID=20_ (http://www.joneslanglasalle.com/services/services_detail.asp?serviceID=20) ), PriceWaterhouseCoopers (_www.lodgingresearch.com_ (http://www.lodgingresearch.com/) ), and Pannell Kerr Foster (_www.pkf.com_ (http://www.pkf.com/) ). Cushman and Wakefield (_www.cushwake.com_ (http://www.cushwake.com/) ) also has some capable hotel consultants. In addition, you might want to get on the mailing lists for hotel industry e-newsletters: _www.hotelbusiness.com_ (http://www.hotelbusiness.com/) and _www.hotelinteractive.com_ (http://www.hotelinteractive.com/) , to see if they have anything helpful on sustainable tourism or ecotourism. You also might want to contact hotel schools to see if they have any insights about ecotourism or can suggest sources. One of the best U.S. hotel schools is at Cornell University in northern New York State. One piece of hard won knowledge for readers of this post at FSB: if you happen to contract for any hotel advisory services, make sure that you are contracting with someone with specific hotel and tourism experience, because the hotel industry is complex and specialized. From what I've heard, ecotoursim is a smaller niche market, but consumer interest is growing.
All the best for 2006,
Leanne Tobias
Leanne Tobias Principal Malachite LLC
301. 229-1558 (direct)
202. 257-7254 (mobile)
[email protected]
www.malachitellc.com
(http://www.malachitellc.com/)
The Southwest Florida Water Management District (District), the agency responsible for managing the water resources in a 16-county area in west-central Florida, provides a free program to hotels and motels within our District to help conserve water. According to VISIT FLORIDA?s research department, Florida played host to 79.8 million vacationers in 2004, up from the 74.6 million in 2003. The District started the Water Conservation Hotel and Motel Program (Water C.H.A.M.P.) in 2002 to help decrease the impact vacationers place on Florida?s most precious resource? water. Water C.H.A.M.P. is a linen and towels reuse program that encourages hotel and motel guests to agree to use their linens and towels for an additional day or two of their stay, rather than requesting a new towel and fresh sheets daily. The success of Water C.H.A.M.P. is measured through actual water savings and perception of the program. To date, 71 water-use surveys have been conducted. Estimated results show that participants of the Water C.H.A.M.P. program saved a combined 100 million gallons of water in only one year. The audits covered properties ranging in size from 1 to 1000 rooms. Each size bracket experienced different levels of water savings, however, the estimated average was 50 gallons of water saved per occupied room per day. Participating hotels and motels also saved an average of 20?30 percent on laundry costs, and the amount of detergent used also decreased. To further gauge the success of the program, The District conducted an evaluation of hotel staff and guest reaction. Hoteliers reported that Water C.H.A.M.P. was easy to implement and saved money with no net loss in staff time or work. The guests reported that they were appreciative of the hotels? and motels? efforts to save water. The vast majority of comments indicated that guests understood the need to conserve water and were pleased to stay in a property participating in Water C.H.A.M.P. There are currently 194 properties utilizing Water C.H.A.M.P., representing more than 20,000 hotel rooms. Once properties become Water C.H.A.M.P.s, I work with them on other ways that they can conserve throughout their property. Low-flow fixtures, irrigation, proper maintenance, proper lighting fixtures, cooling towers, ice machines, thawing food properly, golf courses, etc. In addition, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection recently included Water C.H.A.M.P as one of the criteria for its statewide Green Lodging Certification Program. Green Lodging recognizes lodging facilities that conserve water and energy. Many of the Disney resorts in Orlando are certified Green Lodges due to their commitment to what they call, ?Environmentality." The Green Lodging Program rewards properties that continually improve their efforts with a leveled system of recognition; One Palm, Two Palm, Three Palm, and so on. (For more information on this program, go to www.floridagreenlodging.org.) For more information on the Water Conservation Hotel And Motel Program (Water C.H.A.M.P.) go to www.watermatters.org/waterchamp, or you can contact me directly for more detailed information.
Dorian Morgan
Communications Assistant Water CHAMP Program Coordinator
Southwest Florida Water Management District
2379 Broad Street Brooksville, FL 34604-6899
(352) 796-7211 or 1-800-423-1476, ext. 4782
fax (352) 754-6883
[email protected]