Green (or sustainable or resposible) tourism is a growing concern for consumers and businesses alike. Sustainable management of your tourism business can make have a positive effect not just on your business, but also on customers and staff alike.
Green Tourism Business Scheme
The Green Tourism Business Scheme is the national sustainable tourism certificate for the UK, and is validated by Visit Britain.
Businesses opting to join Green Tourism are assessed by a qualified grading advisor against a rigorous set of criteria, covering a range of areas, like energy and water efficiency, waste management, biodiversity and more. Those businesses that meet the required standard, receive a Bronze, Silver, or Gold award based on their level of achievement. The current network of members is comprised of a wide range of business types, including accommodation providers, visitor attractions, corporate offices and others.
For more information and to view case studies from across the tourism sector, please see http://www.green-business.co.uk. Alternatively email gtbs@green-business.co.uk or call 01738 632162.
Consumers open to a range of sustainable behaviours - research from VisitEngland
VisitEngland have conducted online research in order to gauge consumer attitudes towards different types of sustainable holiday elements in England.
The most appealing holiday type was one in which respondents had the opportunity to learn something about the place that they were staying - three quarters were interested in this, while over 3-in-5 said that staying in accommodation which only uses locally sourced food was appealing. Only 13% claimed to have actually stayed in hotels with green awards or environmentally practice, but 58% were potentially interested in doing this, and 51% said that if two hotels were otherwise the same they would choose the one with environmentally friendly practice. Around half said they wanted to see that they were benefiting the local community in some way, while many were open to using public transport either to travel to, or get around their destination.
Further detail about this survey is available in VisitEngland's PDF summary.
Green help and toolkits from VisitEngland
Green Start & Better Tourism
Green Start is available, at no cost, to all tourism businesses interested in understanding how they can save money, encourage greater efficiency, add appeal to their business and begin a journey towards doing business even better. It has been designed to help businesses review their performance and illustrate how sustainable practice can be part of normal business, and is packed with hints, tips and case studies from successful businesses.
Find out more at www.better-tourism.org
Keep It Real
Keep It Real is a new toolkit to help tourism businesses to sell sustainability as part of their unique offer. It is designed for businesses that have already taken action to be more sustainable and want to maximise the marketing opportunities that may exist.
Produced by England's Regional Tourism bodies in association with VisitEngland and written by experts from the International Centre for Responsible Tourism, the toolkit is packed with case studies from around the country. For example, BeWILDerwood in Norfolk makes its sustainability messaging fun and engaging.
Keep It Real is available as an online document at www.visitengland.com/keepitreal where you can download a print-friendly version (at no cost).
Nine Reasons to be Green
VisitEngland recently launched its first sustainable tourism case studies publication. This booklet celebrates nine sustainable tourism champions, each of them a winner of a regional heat of the Enjoy England Awards for Excellence, and who have gone on to the national competition.
The brochure, available online aims to showcase best practice amongst the industry and to inspire others to make changes that can positively affect their environmental, social and economic impacts, and includes case studies. To be inspired click here (PDF) or visit www.enjoyengland.com/green