Improving the Environmental Performance of Tourism Businesses and Communities in Canterbury

Transcription

1 Improving the Environmental Performance of Tourism Businesses and Communities in Canterbury A Review of the Environment Canterbury Environmental Benchmarking Programme Report prepared by: Lincoln University, Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd., Christchurch and Canterbury Marketing Ltd., Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand and Environment Canterbury Report funded by: Environment Canterbury Date: July 2003

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3 Table of Contents Executive Highlights... iii 1. Introduction Background Objectives Participants Progress Achievements Challenges Future Direction... 6 Appendix A: Example of Key Environmental Performance Areas... 8 Appendix B: Linkages between GREEN GLOBE 21 and ECAN Portfolios... 9 List of Tables Table 1: Participants in the ECAN Environmental Benchmarking Programme... 3 Table 2: Benchmarking status of ECAN Environmental Benchmarking Programme Participants... 4 i

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5 Executive Highlights Introduction This document provides a review of the Environmental Benchmarking Programme for tourism business and communities in the Canterbury region for the 2002/2003 period funded ($50,000) by Environment Canterbury. The organisations involved in this programme include: Lincoln University, Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd., Christchurch and Canterbury Marketing Ltd., Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand and Environment Canterbury. Background Recent research on valuing New Zealand s clean green image suggests the overall value of this image to New Zealand is $938 million (Ministry for the Environment, 2001). As there are approximately 1,500 2,000 tourism businesses in Canterbury, the total value of this clean green image to Canterbury tourism businesses alone is estimated to be in the vicinity of $87 million to $116 million. As such, the tourism industry has recognised the importance of taking an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable view on the future development of tourism in New Zealand. As part of this strategy, the tourism industry has responded to both current and future environmental issues by selecting the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard for Travel and Tourism to address the issue of sustainability. The GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard is an internationally recognised environmental benchmarking, certification, and improvement system for sustainable travel and tourism and is based on the Agenda 21 Principles for Sustainable Development. Objectives As the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard for Travel and Tourism directly addresses issues in eight of the twelve Environment Canterbury portfolios, there is considerable potential for Environment Canterbury to benefit from the successful uptake of the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard by tourism businesses and destinations. As the tourism industry links into many other sectors, it can influence positively the environmental performance of businesses in general. The overall objective of the Environmental Benchmarking Programme therefore is to improve the environmental performance and management of tourism communities and businesses in the Canterbury region. Specifically, this involves enabling one territorial local authority and up to ten tourism businesses in Canterbury to be GREEN GLOBE 21 benchmarked by July Progress Of the eleven tourism business operators who have committed to the Environmental Benchmarking Programme, five have successfully completed the benchmarking phase. In addition to these five, a further two business operators have completed the data collection phase of the benchmarking programme and are in the process of submitting their data to GREEN GLOBE 21 (once data are submitted, it may take up to five weeks to receive confirmation of benchmarking from GREEN GLOBE 21). The remaining four tourism businesses are yet to fully complete the data collection phase of the benchmarking process. In addition to the above listed tourism businesses being successfully benchmarked, Kaikoura District has also achieved GREEN GLOBE 21 Benchmarked status. This is a significant achievement, as Kaikoura is only the second tourism destination/community worldwide to be iii

6 benchmarked. This achievement has already drawn considerable attention at a national and international level and Kaikoura has now become an example to other tourism destinations and communities on how to address fundamental issues of environmental sustainability. While the original target of up to ten tourism businesses benchmarked by July 2003 has not yet been achieved, we are nonetheless pleased with the successful completion rate achieved by this initial phase of the Environmental Benchmarking Programme. It is widely accepted that the success of ecolabel schemes is largely dependent on a critical mass of support and uptake being generated during the implementation phase of its lifecycle. Given that the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard for Travel and Tourism is still in its relative youth, the successful benchmarking of five businesses (with a further two on the verge of achieving benchmarking) and one community is viewed by the benchmarking team as an encouraging start to what can be regarded as an ambitious and worthwhile environmental benchmarking programme. Future Direction It is intended that the Environmental Benchmarking Programme will expand from ten businesses in 2002/2003 to twenty businesses in 2003/2004. This will be achieved by utilising the businesses in the current intake as mentors for the second intake of businesses. This will be complemented with ongoing support and technical assistance from the organisations currently involved in implementing the benchmarking programme. The work plan for the territorial local authority implementation programme for the 2003/2004 period centres on providing ongoing assistance and technical support as Kaikoura District moves towards GREEN GLOBE 21 certification. Presently, Kaikoura District is the second destination worldwide to be GREEN GLOBE 21 benchmarked. By continuing on to certification, Kaikoura District now finds itself in the unique position of being the first destination worldwide to have begun the GREEN GLOBE 21 certification process. Such a leading position carries with it the potential for considerable international recognition and kudos to be accrued by Kaikoura District and the greater Canterbury region. The present benchmarking programme represents the single largest implementation programme of the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard for Travel and Tourism in New Zealand or Australia. As such, this programme can be considered a groundbreaking attempt by likeminded organisations to address the issue of sustainability in tourism business practice in Australasia. By providing this ongoing support, the organisations involved in administering and implementing this benchmarking programme will continue to provide a tangible contribution to the sustainability of the tourism industry in the Canterbury region, as well as signalling the way forward for other like-minded organisations and sectors in the region. iv

7 1. Introduction The New Zealand Tourism Strategy 2010 outlines a series of recommendations for the tourism industry at the national level. One key recommendation of the national strategy is for the Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand (TIANZ) to develop and promote resource-use efficiencies and environmental management systems to achieve agreed international benchmarks, including carbon neutrality by In response, the TIANZ have introduced into New Zealand the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard for Travel and Tourism, which includes a set of sustainability pathway indicators to meet this need for tourism businesses and communities. Over time, GREEN GLOBE 21 has considerable potential to enhance the environmental performance of tourism businesses and destinations in New Zealand. This document provides a review of the Environment Canterbury Environmental Benchmarking Programme for tourism business and communities in the Canterbury region for the 2002/2003 period. This programme aims to assist tourism businesses and destinations/communities in the Canterbury region improve their environmental performance. The organisations participating in the benchmarking programme include: Lincoln University, Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd., Christchurch and Canterbury Marketing Ltd., Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand and Environment Canterbury. 2. Background Recent research on valuing New Zealand s clean green image suggests the overall value of this image to New Zealand is $938 million (Ministry for the Environment, 2001). This suggests that the average value of that international image to a tourism business is $58,000. There are approximately 1,500 2,000 tourism businesses in Canterbury, which suggests the value of the international clean green image to Canterbury tourism businesses alone is in the vicinity of $87 million to $116 million. As such, the tourism industry has recognised the importance of taking an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable view on the future development of tourism in New Zealand. As part of this strategy, the industry (as represented by TIANZ) started to formulate a response to both current and future environmental issues in 2000, with GREEN GLOBE 21 being the environmental certification system selected by TIANZ to address the issue of sustainability in tourism businesses and communities. GREEN GLOBE 21 is a membership-based global benchmarking, certification, and improvement system for sustainable travel and tourism and is based on the Agenda 21 Principles for Sustainable Development (endorsed by 182 Heads of State at the United Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992). In New Zealand, GREEN GLOBE 21 has formed a partnership with Lincoln University, Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd. and the Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand. These organisations have been working in conjunction with local tourism operators in order to introduce the GREEN GLOBE 21 programme to New Zealand tourism businesses and communities. This work, together with a concerted membership drive by TIANZ, has seen a marked increase in the number of tourism operators and communities showing an interest in GREEN GLOBE 21. 1

8 The principle objectives of the GREEN GLOBE 21 programme are: (1) to facilitate responsible and sustainable environmental and social activity in the travel-and-tourism industry, and (2) to facilitate improved environmental and social outcomes for the travel and tourism industry. GREEN GLOBE 21 provides public and private travel and tourism organisations with a framework to benchmark their environmental and social performance, to achieve certification, and to continuously improve their performance. The outcome is an overall enhancement of an operation's environmental, social and economic or triple bottom line performance. The GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard uses straightforward accreditation criteria based on continuous improvement in environmental performance relating to operational aspects such as energy consumption, waste minimisation, greenhouse gas emissions, waterways quality and more (see Appendix A for an example of key environmental performance areas). The scheme also offers accreditation to entire destinations as well as individual companies. The GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard for Travel and Tourism directly addresses issues in eight of the twelve Environment Canterbury portfolios (see Appendix B for direct linkages). These include: Air quality Coastal environment Energy Hazardous substances and waste management Land Pest management Regional land transport Water quality and quantity As a result, there is considerable potential for Environment Canterbury to benefit from the successful uptake of the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard for Travel and Tourism by tourism businesses and destinations. 3. Objectives The overall objective of the Environmental Benchmarking Programme funded by Environment Canterbury is to improve the environmental performance and management of tourism communities and businesses in the Canterbury region. Specifically, this involves enabling one territorial local authority and up to ten tourism businesses in Canterbury to be GREEN GLOBE 21 benchmarked by July Over a ten-year period, the aim of the benchmarking programme is for all territorial local authorities and over 200 businesses in Canterbury to be GREEN GLOBE 21 benchmarked. In addition, it is anticipated that at least fifty per cent of these tourism businesses will be GREEN GLOBE 21 certified and in so doing assist Environment Canterbury to meet its objectives in least eight of its portfolios. The work plan for the 2002/2003 period was divided into two components based separately around the business sector and a parallel initiative for the chosen territorial local authority (Kaikoura District Council) implementation programmes. The programme has been managed to-date by an advisory board consisting of representatives from Lincoln University, Landcare Research New Zealand Ltd., Christchurch and Canterbury Marketing Ltd., the Tourism Industry Association of New Zealand and Environment Canterbury. 2

9 4. Participants A total of eleven tourism businesses are participating in the Environmental Benchmarking Programme (see Table 1). These businesses were selected to represent as broad a cross-section as possible of the nine constituent districts in the Canterbury region, and within the nineteen industry types for which there are GREEN GLOBE 21 benchmarking guides available. Table 1: Participants in the ECAN Environmental Benchmarking Programme Participant s Name GG21 Sector District 1. International Antarctic Centre Visitor Centre Christchurch 2. Tussock and Beech Ecotours Tour Operator Ashburton 3. Loch Hill Country Cottage Motels Accommodation Banks Peninsula 4. Stonehurst Backpackers Accommodation Christchurch 5. Wings Over Whales Airline Kaikoura 6. Kaikoura Coast Track Accommodation Kaikoura 7. The Sir George Seymour National College of Tourism and Travel Administration Office Christchurch 8. Thrillseekers Tour Operator Hurunui 9. Waimate District Promotions Visitor Centre Waimate 10. Willowbank Wildlife Reserve Visitor Centre Christchurch 11. Grassmere Lodge Accommodation Selwyn * Kaikoura District Community Kaikoura In addition to these businesses, Kaikoura District is participating in the community-benchmarking component of the Environmental Benchmarking Programme (represented by Kaikoura District Council). 5. Progress As mentioned previously in this report, the work plan for the 2002/2003 period has been divided into two separate environmental benchmarking implementation programmes. The first focuses on the implementation of the GREEN GLOBE 21 Benchmarking Standard for tourism businesses. A total of eleven tourism businesses were selected to participate in the present benchmarking programme in a broad representation of the nine constituent districts of the Canterbury region, and across nineteen business types for which GREEN GLOBE 21 benchmarking guides are available (see Table 1). The second component of this programme focuses on the implementation of the GREEN GLOBE 21 Benchmarking Standard for tourism destinations/communities. 3

10 5.1 Achievements The businesses involved in this programme have been enthusiastic about the merits of the Environmental Benchmarking Programme. This is reflected in the comments of one of the programme participants: GREEN GLOBE 21 is a prestigious brand to be associated with and there are downstream marketing benefits from that association. The brand is internationally recognised and there is a probable impact on overseas wholesale decisions. We found that undertaking the benchmarking programme had a very positive effect internally in our organisation there was strong staff support for what we were trying to achieve. Also, being associated with GREEN GLOBE 21 was a good product fit for the International Antarctic Centre. (Richard Benton, International Antarctic Centre) Of the eleven tourism business operators who have committed to the Environmental Benchmarking Programme, five have successfully completed the benchmarking phase. In addition to these five, a further two business operators have completed the data collection phase of the benchmarking programme and are in the process of submitting their data to GREEN GLOBE 21 (once data are submitted, it may take up to five weeks to receive confirmation of benchmarking from GREEN GLOBE 21). The remaining four tourism businesses are yet to fully complete the data collection phase of the benchmarking process (see Table 2). Table 2: Benchmarking Status of ECAN Environmental Benchmarking Programme Participants Participant s Name Data Collection in Progress 4 Benchmarking Status Data Collection Completed Benchmarking Completed 1. International Antarctic Centre 2. Tussock and Beech Ecotours 3. Loch Hill Country Cottage Motels 4. Stonehurst Backpackers 5. Wings Over Whales 6. Kaikoura Coast Track 7. Thrillseekers 8. The Sir George Seymour National College of Tourism and Travel 9. Waimate District Promotions 10. Willowbank Wildlife Reserve 11. Grassmere Lodge * Kaikoura District In addition to the above listed tourism businesses being successfully benchmarked, Kaikoura District has also achieved GREEN GLOBE 21 Benchmarked status. This is a significant achievement, as Kaikoura is only the second tourism destination/community worldwide to be benchmarked. This achievement has already drawn considerable attention at a national and

11 international level and Kaikoura has now become an example to other tourism destinations and communities on how to address fundamental issues of environmental sustainability. While the original target of up to ten tourism businesses benchmarked by July 2003 has not yet been achieved, we are nonetheless pleased with the successful completion rate achieved by this initial phase of the Environmental Benchmarking Programme. It is widely accepted that the success of ecolabel schemes is largely dependent on a critical mass of support and uptake being generated during the implementation phase of its lifecycle. Given that the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard for Travel and Tourism is still in its relative youth, the successful benchmarking of five businesses (with a further two on the verge of achieving benchmarking) and one community is viewed by the benchmarking team as an encouraging start to what can be regarded as an ambitious and worthwhile environmental benchmarking programme. 5.2 Challenges At various stages of the Environmental Benchmarking Programme it became necessary to adjust the list of participating tourism businesses. This was due largely to a small proportion of business operators electing to withdraw from the benchmarking programme (although several of these operators signalled their intention to rejoining the programme at a later date). The design and implementation of the benchmarking programme, however, anticipated such attrition as earlier implementation programmes indicated the likelihood of some businesses being unable to meet the requirements of the benchmarking process in the first year. As such, contingencies were made to accommodate changes in the list of participating businesses at various stages of the 2002/2003 period of the benchmarking programme. A clear majority of tourism business participants have been successfully GREEN GLOBE 21 benchmarked during the 2002/2003 period of the benchmarking programme. In addition, Kaikoura District has been successfully benchmarked as a tourism destination/community. Of the tourism businesses successfully GREEN GLOBE 21 benchmarked so far, the clear majority have been the early adopters of the benchmarking programme. That is to say, the businesses that have been successful in benchmarking to date have been, by and large, with the benchmarking programme since its inception. As a result, the latecomers to this programme have been at a distinct disadvantage with respect to the time frame associated with this first phase of the benchmarking programme. This notwithstanding, these latecomers to the benchmarking programme have all made significant progress towards completing the requisite measurements and tasks associated with GREEN GLOBE 21 benchmarking. The timing of the benchmarking programme may have also contributed to the lower-thananticipated completion rate insofar as a large proportion of the programme was undertaken during the shoulder and high tourist seasons. As a consequence of this timing, a number of participating business operators have been hampered in their benchmarking endeavours through ever increasing time constraints associated with their business operations. Many tourism businesses in New Zealand are small business operations and employ only a few, if any, employees. As a result, the organisational efficiencies necessitated by small business operations dictate that time resources are often scarce. As such, the primary concern for small business operators during the busy tourist season (including shoulder seasons and the high season) centres on running the business itself. Tasks considered secondary, or of low priority, by the operator are simply deferred to a later date. In the case of the Environmental Benchmarking Programme, requisite measurement and policyrelated tasks were considered by many participating business operators to fall into this low priority 5

12 category during busy periods. This has undoubtedly delayed the benchmarking process for several participating businesses. The afore mentioned challenges encountered during the 2002/2003 period have, somewhat paradoxically, served to confirm the efficacy and robustness of the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard insofar as achieving benchmarking status is not a given. Rather, business participants are required by the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard to commit wholeheartedly to the benchmarking process in such a manner that ensures issues of sustainability within the business operations are meaningfully addressed. 6. Future Direction It is intended that the participating tourism businesses in the initial Environmental Benchmarking Programme intake (i.e., those businesses reported in this document) will act as mentors for the second intake of tourism businesses to undertake the benchmarking programme. The second intake of businesses will number approximately twenty for the 2003/2004 period, and it is from this mechanism of business mentorship that the benchmarking programme will grow. As outlined previously in this report, the work plan for the 2002/2003 period was divided into two components. The first component has been based around the business sector, while the second has been based separately around a parallel initiative for a territorial local authority (Kaikoura District Council). As Kaikoura District has already been successfully GREEN GLOBE 21 benchmarked, the work plan for the territorial local authority implementation programme for the 2003/2004 period will centre on providing ongoing assistance and technical support as Kaikoura District moves towards GREEN GLOBE 21 certification. If successful, Kaikoura District stands to become the first tourism destination worldwide to achieve GREEN GLOBE 21 certification. Such an achievement has the potential to attract considerable international recognition and kudos to Kaikoura District and the greater Canterbury region. The long-term success of emergent environmental management systems and tourism ecolabels is largely dependent on a critical mass of interest and support being achieved before it can become self-sustaining. The success of the Environmental Benchmarking Programme therefore requires an ongoing commitment (in the short-term) by a range of public and private sector organisations to ensure that resource-use efficiencies are achieved by the tourism industry. Therefore, to help ensure the continued uptake and successful benchmarking of these businesses and communities, the implementation component of the work programme for the 2003/2004 period will focus on the continued support of participants in meeting the requirements of the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard for Travel and Tourism. The present benchmarking programme is the single largest implementation programme of the GREEN GLOBE 21 Standard for Travel and Tourism in New Zealand or Australia. As such, this programme represents a groundbreaking attempt to address the issue of sustainability in tourism business practice in Australasia and signals the way forward for other like-minded organisations and sectors in the region. 6

13 Appendix A: Example of Key Environmental Performance Areas 7

14 Appendix B: Linkages between GREEN GLOBE 21 and ECAN Portfolios Green Globe 21 Key Performance Areas Reducing greenhouse gas emissions use of renewal energy offsetting emissions Energy efficiency, conservation and management reduce consumption use of renewable energy Air quality protection and noise control improve quality of area s air shed Management of fresh water resources reduce potable water consumption grey water reuse Wastewater management improve quality of water resources Land use planning and management land for environmental services soil quality area of contaminated land site remediation and rehabilitation Ecosystem conservation and management conserve native habitats and biodiversity manage control of exotic species Waste minimisation, reuse and recycling reduce waste landfilled increase reuse and recycling Hazardous substances and waste management solid and hazardous waste is not a danger to the environment Relevant Environment Canterbury Portfolios Air Quality air quality not a danger to people avoidance of global change Energy produced and used efficiently avoidance of global change Regional land transport does not adversely affect the environment avoidance of global change more sustainable transport modes Water quality and quantity water that is clean and safe to drink water ecosystems are healthy water is used efficiently water quality not adversely affected by land use Coastal environment point discharges do not affect ecological values soils and ecosystems are healthy and productive Land indigenous Biodiversity is retained soils and ecosystems are healthy and productive natural character of rivers lakes and wetlands and their margins retained Pest management plant pests are managed or eradicated animal pests are managed or eradicated 8