Sustainability Resources
building Sustainability in your business
Building sustainability into your tourism business benefits the environment, local communities, and builds your businesses for success! It will align your experience with the growing demand for responsible and ethical travel experiences, helps identify effieciences and savings, and plays a role in global efforts to create a more sustainable future.
Sustainability is not an end goal, it is an ongoing process that involves continuous improvement and adaptation. To help our industry members no matter where they are on their sustainability journey we have developed this page to provide access to key resources to build sustainabiltiy practices into your business.
Getting Your Business ECO Certified
Whether your business is an accommodation provider, a restaurant, a tour operator or an attractions there is a ECO Tourism Australia certification program for your business. Bundaberg Regional Council is offering a subsidy to offset your first annual certification fee.
Advantages of being ECO Certified
- Global quality assurance
- Operator credibility and recognition
- Demonstrate commitment to continuous improvement
- Free Listing on Eco Tourism Australia Green Travel Guide
- Free Product Listing on Our Planet Travel
- Meeting consumer expectations
WHICH CERTIFICATION IS RIGHT FOR MY BUSINESS?
I'M NEW TO SUSTAINABILITY & ECO ACCREDITATION
STRIVE 4 SUSTAINABILITY SCORECARE
If you run a tourism business and are interested in starting your sustainability certification journey, but don’t know where to start, the Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard is a great place to begin. Tourism Australia is the founding partner of the pathway program, which measures where a business or tourism operator is at on their sustainability journey at a point in time and assesses the following four pillars of sustainability:
- Environmental impacts
- Socio-economic impacts
- Cultural impacts
- Sustainable management
I'M A NATURE-BASED TOURISM OPERATOR
ECO CERTIFICATION
If you are a tour, accommodation or attraction operator with nature as your primary focus in your visitor experience, the ECO Certification program is for you. It assures travellers that certified products are backed by a strong, well managed commitment to sustainable practices and provides high-quality nature-based tourism experiences. ECO Certification is product-specific, you will need to answer the criteria as it applies specifically to each of your products and it also means that you are able to apply for ECO Certification even if not all of your products are nature-based.
There are three levels of ECO Certification: Nature Tourism, Ecotourism and Advanced Ecotourism.
I'M A TOURISM OPERATOR BUT I AM NOT PRIMARILY NATURE-BASED
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM CERTIFICATION
If you are a tourism businesses, such as a hotel, restaurant, distillery or brewery, attraction, tour, transport, but nature is not your primary focus, a Sustainable Tourism Certification may be right for you. You must be passionate about minimising negative impacts on the environment and maximising positive impacts for community, culture and local economy.
There are two levels of ECO Certification: Sustainable Tourism and Advanced Sustainable Tourism.
