In 2021 and 2022, 25 businesses took part in the three-month prorgramme with the aim of working towards tourism sustainability in their operations.
The businesses focused on:
- measuring carbon footprints
- supply chain management
- reducing waste
- becoming Living Wage accredited
- developing partnerships.
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Tourism Industry Aotearoa says every operator contributes to creating a tourism industry that is sustainable across economic, visitor, community and environmental outcomes.
And as WellingtonNZ chief executive John Allen says: “Ultimately, our sustainability programme is designed so tourism businesses can provide stronger community connections in a sustainable, economically prudent manner, and it’s fantastic that Wellington is leading the way in this regard.
“We all know the world is facing a climate crisis and we are excited that other New Zealand regions and business sectors are interested in the sustainability programme as part of the solution.”
Progress so far
In these videos, the tourism businesses that participated in the 2021 pilot programme share their journey so far.
Kapiti Island Nature Tours
Founding director John Barrett is thinking big and keen to collaborate with other tour operators. The business before won the NZ Tourism Awards’ Department of Conservation Environmental Tourism Award.
They run a successful and sustainable operation by:
- having a sustainable procurement strategy,
- measuring their carbon footprint
- having a waste management plan in place.
Visual: A grey background appears and yellow text that reads ‘Making Wellington tourism more sustainable’ fades in. The video transitions to a person called John Barrett talking to the camera.
Audio: Kia ora, my name’s John Barrett I’m the founding director of Kapiti Island Nature Tours. This is the big thing on our plate right now, being part of this really enthusiastic family of Tourism operators, who are committed to sustainability, we’re absolutely committed to that, to that kaupapa (topic).
We’ve made immediate changes on things like procurement, but we’re talking about other major changes as well. We’re thinking big, to be honest.
We see real value and collaboration. We’re up for sharing our ideas and taking on board ideas from other operators. We’ve got some collaborations already with other tour operators so, we’ll be sharing business as well as ideas.
Visual: John Barrett stands at a podium, presumably in front of a crowd
Audio: The time for talking really is finished and we need to be doing these things right now. Today.
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Text on screen: How will you further your sustainability journey? Proudly supported by logos for Tourism Industry Aotearoa and WellingtonNZ.
Switched on Bikes
Founder Ryan O’Connell talks about measuring carbon and sustainable growth. The e-bike tour company offers carbon-friendly transport, and offsets 120% of emissions to be Climate Positive certified.
By partnering with Trails Wellington, they support and build bike trails, plant trees and run pest management. They also have a creative use for end-of-life parts, which are turned into earrings and leather goods.
Visual: A grey background appears and yellow text that reads ‘Making Wellington tourism more sustainable’ fades in. The video transitions to a person called Ryan O’Connell talking to the camera.
Audio: I’m Ryan from Switched On Bikes. We hire out bikes from the Wellington Waterfront.
The main thing that we got out of this programme was to be able to measure our carbon, though we’ve always been a really sustainably focused business. It’s really good to actually measure it and get a baseline. So that we can achieve sustainable growth. We decided to offset 120% of our carbon emissions. The biggest challenge I think is going and doing it. We have sustainability on our mind all the time, and encouraging people to make that switch, but once you do it feels really good. And it actually wasn’t as hard as we thought it was going to be.
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Text on screen: How will you further your sustainability journey? Proudly supported by logos for Tourism Industry Aotearoa and WellingtonNZ.
Manaaki Management and Karaka Café
Paul Retimanu explains how the business’ focus has changed to a more holistic approach. As a 100% Māori, Pasifika and Kiwi owned and operated business, its core values are culturally-based. Māori procurement is top of mind.
The 2021 Hospitality New Zealand Best Café award winner is also focused on supply chain management including:
- sustainability initiatives
- to compost
- reducing packaging.
Visual: A grey background appears and yellow text that reads ‘Making Wellington tourism more sustainable’ fades in. The video transitions to a person called Paul Retimanu talking to the camera.
Audio: Music plays.
Kia ora koutou katoa, I’m Paul Retimanu. I’m the managing director of Manaaki Management.
We sort of thought recycling was our main piece that we could do. Glass, cardboard, and kai (food) to compost. I think what the programme and the initiative did was it made us look at all the other things that we could possibly do. That is, our supply chain, what are our suppliers using. But also made us look at our holistic side around our people. What are the other things that we do with regard to sponsorship.
We sponsor a school, Pomare School, that we have done for the last four years. In Māori we talk about how a kumara doesn’t tell itself how sweet it is. So we didn’t really think that we were doing a lot of things, but what this programme has now been able to do is, it’s been able to sort of highlight all these different things we do. And for us to be able to share that so the staff, they sort of get to hear and they go, “Oh wow this is where we belong, we belong to a company that cares, and it’s a great thing.”
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Text on screen: How will you further your sustainability journey? Proudly supported by logos for Tourism Industry Aotearoa and WellingtonNZ.
Village Accommodation Group
Chief Commercial Director Hazel Rigler talks about looking at day-to-day operations to meet sustainability goals.
The Group is made up of five Wellington accommodation properties, all committed to improving environmental awareness as an organisation, with suppliers and customers.
The Group has embraced initiatives that involve:
- energy and water efficiency
- eco-friendly products and packaging
- digital over paper options.
Visual: A grey background appears and yellow text that reads ‘Making Wellington tourism more sustainable’ fades in. The video transitions to a person called Hazel Rigler talking to the camera.
Audio: I’m Hazel Rigler, I work for Village Accommodation Group as the chief commercial director.
Visual: A person standing in a room talking to the camera. Text on screen: ‘Hazel Rigler, Village Accommodation Group’.
Audio: We started with the big-ticket items, like the bathroom amenities. I was a little bit nervous around how do we maintain the hygienic nature of what goes into a bathroom. We have put in this beautiful, New Zealand-made, orientated for six children’s charities, bathroom range. Once the bottles are near the end, it goes into a recycling programme, and then they go and take away and put into building materials, actually.
We really had a look at how we’re operating on that sort of day-to-day sort of level, making sure that we’re meeting those sustainability goals by reducing chemicals and changing the towels, and linens, and all those things that you don’t really need to do on a daily basis. The guests totally understand it, they’re actually really happy with that sort of solution.
Visual: The screen fades to white.
Text on screen: How will you further your sustainability journey? Proudly supported by logos for Tourism Industry Aotearoa and WellingtonNZ.