Sustainable Tourism Charter Project
The New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010 (NZTS 2010) identified the
protection and enhancement of our natural environment as central to
a sustainable future for tourism in New Zealand. The attributes of
our natural environment have been embodied in the 100% Pure NZ
advertising campaign. Given the current international awareness (and
success) of this campaign, it is important that tourism operations
“on the ground” are consistent with the industry’s brand image.
The Charter project is a joint initiative between the Ministries of
Tourism and the Environment. Funding for the project came from the
New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010 Implementation Fund. The project
aim is to increase the awareness of businesses about the importance
of environmental management to the tourism industry in six regions,
as a step to influencing sustainable business practices. The Charter
provides the necessary tools and assistance to implement sustainable
practices at the individual business level.
The overall Charter process is illustrated in the diagram below:
Regional Tourism Organisations (RTOs) were invited to participate in
the Charter project in January 2005, and six RTOs were selected:
Recognising that the tourism industry is largely comprised of small
to medium-sized businesses, the Charter project has been designed to
provide sufficient flexibility to participating regions and
businesses to allow them to identify and concentrate on their
specific issues. This “bottom-up” approach is intended to facilitate
the creation of regional clusters of businesses that are adopting
sustainable business practices. This in turn ultimately supports New
Zealand’s 100% Pure NZ brand by improving the environmental
performance of the tourism sector.
Businesses are required to monitor their progress on areas such as
waste management and minimisation practices, workplace practices
that encourage sustainability, community involvement, supply chain
management, and sustainable design. An overall evaluation of the
whole project is currently underway by the Ministry of Tourism.
As well as tangible benefits of the project, there are also
intangible benefits, for example, the forging of relationships and
improved understanding between central government, local government,
tourism agencies and operators. For a pilot programme, these
benefits could be argued as critical success factors, as they
provide the platform on which to build a framework for industry-wide
sustainable practices.
Feedback from a range of businesses shows that the main drivers for
their desire to be involved are:
- personal values;
- achieving a marketing point of difference;
- the ability to realise cost savings.
This website aims to share the knowledge from the Charter project as
well as provide useful tools for businesses, so that tourism
businesses nationwide can benefit from the Charter approach.
Over 160 businesses are now signed up to the Charter. The following
list is current as at March 2007.
Participating businesses
Northland
Northland Friends of the Charter
Bay of Plenty
Rotorua
Nelson
Wanaka
Southland/Fiordland
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