Spotlight: Sustainability
Eco-tourism Lodges to be Built in Queensland’s Most Stunning National Parks
December 13, 2011
Australian news site, news.com.au, has reported that the Queensland government has approved plans to build five eco-tourism lodges across several of the state’s best national parks. The lodges will receive 20 year lease and license options instead of the normal ten year options, as operators said the 10-years leases were not long enough to see profit of the investment costs. Meetings are being set up between Tourism Minister Jan Jarrett, Environment Minister Vicky Darling, conservation groups and ecotourism operators to polish the fine points…. Ms Darling said detailed analysis of everything from environmental values, to access, transport and heritage values was carried out before one site, in Moreton Island National Park, was removed due to environmental reasons. “Protecting the natural values and the beauty of our national parks was the number one priority,” Ms Darling said. “This is about promoting our parks so more people can appreciate conservation while... Read More →
Spotlight: SustainabilityGérard Moss Decorated by Queen Elizabeth
November 22, 2011
Gérard Moss, creator of the Flying Rivers Project will receive the MBE from Queen Elizabeth on November 18th, at Buckingham Palace in London Gérard Moss will receive from the hands of Queen Elizabeth the medal and title of Member of the Order of the British Empire – MBE, a distinction for services to society that merit public recognition. Gérard will be decorated for services rendered in environmental questions that involve Brazil and therefore the whole world. Environmental explorer, pilot and engineer, Gérard adopted the brazilian nationality two decades ago and has dedicated years to promoting the preservation and rational use of water. More recently through the Flying Rivers Project that he set up, he made possible a body of research that and communicated how the Amazon rainforest influences climate in Brazil, focussing specifically on the concerns about water and rain. “I am very surprised and honoured to be indicated to receive the MBE, a distinction... Read More →
Spotlight: Sustainability
Global Sustainable Tourism Council Announces Two New Initiatives: GSTC Process Recognizing & Rewarding Practitioners of Sustainable Tourism & Destination Level Criteria Development
November 14, 2011
Washington, D.C. – The Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC Council) announced the launch of two initiatives this week that reflect the organization’s efforts of the past two years: The GSTC Process and Destination Level Criteria Development. The GSTC Process for recognizing and rewarding genuine practitioners of sustainable tourism is defined in three stages: GSTC-Recognized, GSTC-Approved and GSTC-Accredited. In the initial stage, sustainable tourism standards apply to become GSTC-Recognized. Once recognized, these standards are considered equivalent to the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria. The Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria are the worldwide minimum requirements for tourism businesses of all size to approach sustainability. In stage 2, certification programs apply to become GSTC-Approved to ensure that they meet GSTC requirements for processes and procedures. To apply, certification programs must use a GSTC-Recognized standard (Stage 1), pass a desk-audit by the... Read More →
Spotlight: Sustainability
Join Friends of Serengeti
November 14, 2011
Pressures on the Serengeti ecosystem have become critical. Population has soared, habitat is being lost, and poaching, roads, towns, and mines threaten this priceless ecosystem. Friends of Serengeti is a nonprofit association for the travel industry that was formed in response to these threats. It’s mission, to bring together travel companies and travelers to build a permanent structure of support, advocacy, and funding for the Serengeti-Mara ecosystem. Friends of Serengeti combines travel marketing and conservation. It offers an important new marketplace for safari operators, lodges, and hotels. Member companies have an important way to stand out and get noticed by travelers. The premise of the association is that the travel industry must give back, and companies that give back should in turn benefit from their efforts. Member companies raise funds by educating their travelers and asking for donations to fund important projects. Modeled after the successful International Galapagos... Read More →
Spotlight: SustainabilityIn Tourism (And Beyond), Talking About Sustainability Is Dead. Tell A Story Instead.
October 11, 2011
Khajavi addresses the conference in Costa Rica (Paula Alvarado). A report in Treehugger profiled the Planet, People, Peace conference on ecotourism in Costa Rica recently and focused on the talk given by Director of Global Strategy at Mercury CSC Alexi Khajavi and General Director Dierdre Campbell of the Tartan Group, both active ATTA members. The focus of the session was how communication with customers must shift away from certifications and labels and towards storytelling, especially in a climate where consumers increasingly expect sustainability from brands: “The traveler has advanced past looking for green travel products in the stage of purchase to having to have those experiences and sustainability practices embedded into the business and the experience themselves,” explained Khajavi. “Sustainability is still a component of the criteria, part of the story, but not the story itself. People don’t travel for sustainability, they expect it to be sustainable... Read More →
Spotlight: Sustainability
Indian Court Urged Not to Ban Tiger Tourism by Tour Operators, Travelers
October 11, 2011
Photo: tofttigers.org According to a recent article published in The Telegraph, the Supreme Court of India is considering banning tiger tourism and safaris in “core” tiger habitats, out of the concern that such trips are adversely affecting the approximately 1,400 wild tigers left in the country. They are being urged by a group of travelers, tour operators and local travel industry stakeholders to reject the ban. “This is a critical ruling for the future of tiger tourism in India,” said Julian Matthews, chairman of TOFT [Tour Operators for Tigers]. “Banning tourism from the core areas of tiger reserves is an irresponsible and unnecessary move that will have many negative consequences. “Tourism in tiger reserves provides an income to thousands of people, many of them local to the area of the reserves. Closing tourism in these core areas will cause the number of people visiting these reserves to drop drastically.” TOFT and critics of the ban claim that it would not just... Read More →
Spotlight: Sustainability
Ethical Tourism Vital to Protect Planet, UN Officials Underline
October 11, 2011
UNWTO Secretary-General, Taleb Rifai, opens the first International Congress on Ethics and Tourism United Nations officials stressed that the tourism industry must ensure it does business in an ethical manner, saying that irresponsible travel could harm societies and the environment despite its benefits to the global economy through job creation and community empowerment. “A tourism sector without an ethical conscience can harm our planet,” said Taleb Rifai, the Secretary-General of the UN World Tourism Organization (UNWTO), at the opening in Madrid, Spain, of the first International Congress on Ethics and Tourism. “We need to place ethics, responsibility and sustainability at the core of all our actions and ensure the adoption of and adherence to the principles of the Global Code of Ethics for Tourism,” said Mr. Rifai. In his keynote address to the two-day Congress, the UN High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations, Jorge Sampaio, called for shared responsibilities... Read More →
Spotlight: Sustainability
Fish and Wildlife Service Considers Wilderness for Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain
September 16, 2011
WASHINGTON – With last month’s release of a draft revised Comprehensive Conservation Plan (CCP) for the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) made an important decision to formally consider Wilderness for the crucial Coastal Plain area – the biological heart of our nation’s wilderness icon. As part of this plan, a full Wilderness Review was done for the Arctic Refuge Coastal Plain for the first time ever – presenting a historic opportunity to protect the Arctic Refuge for future generations. The 50-year old Arctic Refuge is the only national wildlife refuge established specifically to preserve wilderness values. Its Coastal Plain is a vital part of the larger ecosystem that is home to some of America’s iconic wildlife species – including whales, seals, wolves, polar bears, grizzly bears, muskoxen and caribou. In addition, nearly 200 bird species from six continents depend on the Arctic Refuge, including birds that migrate to... Read More →
Spotlight: Sustainability
Controversial Airport Planned in Costa Rican Biodiversity Hotspot
September 15, 2011
Assistant Editor’s Note: Information and excerpts from The New York Times Green Blog by Dylan Walsh Citing jog creation and poverty reduction, the Costa Rican government has labeled a proposed airport construction project as one of ‘national importance,’ despite objections from the Natural Resources Defense Council that it will negatively impact the Térraba-Sierpe Wetland, an internationally recognized site valued near $2 billion, as well as neighborning enclave of small, high value eco-lodges, all just three miles away. Local inhabitants facing eviction are also protesting. Critics of the project point to a similar development in the Guanacaste Province which has had little economic benefit and a host of environmental issues arising post construction. Guanacaste expanded its local airport to an international terminal in 2002. Studies of the area have tied this expansion to social instability from a rapid influx of international real estate investment and an overgrown... Read More →
Spotlight: Sustainability
National Park Service Seeks to Curtail Flights over the Grand Canyon
August 4, 2011
Assistant Editors Note: This is an excerpt of an article written by Harriet Baskas on msnbc.com. More than 4.5 million people visit the park each year, but up to 400,000 of those tourists may never step foot in the park. Instead, they fly over it in helicopters and small planes operated by a variety of air tour companies. The flights offer breathtaking and unique views of the Grand Canyon, but also interfere with what park officials and others consider one of the area’s key attributes: the silence that’s part of the natural soundscape. To reduce the level of aircraft noise heard in the park by both visitors and wildlife, the National Park Service is proposing a plan that would, among other things, cap the number of daily tours over the canyon at 364 and the number of annual overflights at 65,000. The proposal would also extend the curfew hours around sunrise and sunset when air tours are now prohibited. Read full story: click here. Read More →
