Tourism organisations given 40 greener ways of doing business

An Australian tourism industry group has identified 40 strategies that tourism companies can focus on to bring about a greener tourism industry after the results of a new eco-friendly study was released.

Using key climate change projections from the CSIRO the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC) compiled a scoping study which explored the environmental impacts on five key tourism sites within the country.

From the information gathered 40 different tourism-focused climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies were developed, which includes considerations of knowledge gaps, community needs and large operators who have responsibilities towards shareholders.

“The Minister appointed a Committee to deliver a long-term vision for the Australian tourism industry and that committee identified climate change as a significant industry issue,” said Ian Kean, STCRC CEO.

“This new research provides an overview of key adaptation and mitigation strategies that can provide resilience within the tourism sector, subject to further community and business coordination.”

A host of tourism bodies including Tourism Australia, Tourism New South Wales, Tourism Western Australia, Tourism Queensland and Tourism Tasmania contributed to the study.

Tropical North Queensland, Kakadu, the Barossa Valley, the Victorian Alps and the Blue Mountains were the five locations considered in the Impacts of Climate Change on Australian Tourism Destinations study.

A copy of the industry summary can be found www.crctourism.com.au.