Archived Sustainable Tourism E-newsPositive Impact online - Autumn 2006Welcome to 'Positive Impact online', the newsletter of VisitScotland's 'Sustainable Tourism Unit'. To receive this e-newsletter every two months, tick the box at the bottom of the Contact Us form and tell us your email address. It's as simple as that! Sit back and let us keep you updated with green tourism news from across Scotland. Communication is the Key to SuccessSTU want to enhance communication between agencies, organisations and tourism businesses to the benefit of Scotland's natural tourism advantage, the environment. Sustainable Tourism Unit - |
||||
|
PARTNERS IN PROMOTING SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Tourism Minister Patricia Ferguson attended the first meeting of the new Sustainable Tourism Partnership (STP). The Partnership, building on the work of the Tourism & Environment Forum, is an industry-led body bringing together key players from the private and public sectors to focus on promoting sustainable tourism throughout Scotland. The STP is hitting the ground running with work already underway to develop sustainable tourism indicators for Scotland. The indicators will allow the tourism industry to measure how sustainable it is at the moment, and then track progress towards sustainability over the next decade. More information:
TRAVEL OPERATORS MAKE IT EASY TO OFFSET TRAVEL More and more travel companies are offering travellers the chance to offset the environmental impact of their journey. Sunvil Holidays are leading the way by being one of the first travel agents to offer a carbon offset charge on an ‘opt out’ basis. This type of system puts the onus on customers to decide not to pay the extra charge to offset the carbon emissions of their planned journey. Travelcare, the Co-op travel company, now also offers customers the chance to support carbon offset schemes from the comfort of its high street stores – a service which was previously only available on the internet. And customers of Keycamp, the camping operator, can add a small amount to their bill at the same time as they book their travel to make their holiday climate neutral. More information: VISITSCOTLAND STAFF GREEN WEEK
With sustainability and sustainable growth key challenges for VisitScotland and the tourism industry as a whole, VisitScotland held a ‘Green Week’ for staff during 2-8 October to raise awareness of green issues and the need to care for the environment. Staff around the network, focused on a range of activities to help work towards a more sustainable organisation. More information:
PERTHSHIRE GREEN TOURISM NETWORK Perthshire businesses who are interested in adapting to the changing demands of visitors, and seeking business growth that is economically and environmentally sustainable, can now benefit from the new 'Perthshire Green Tourism Network'. The Network, led by Scottish Enterprise Tayside and VisitScotland, will deliver real benefits for participants through free events, workshops, networking opportunities, familiarisation activities, promotional offer for the VisitScotland Green Tourism Business Scheme, tailored green tourism information, and business support in how to adopt sustainable practices. More information:
SURVEY REVEALS ATTITUDES TO ETHICAL TOURISM
New research has revealed that 1 in 4 adults are prepared to pay more for an 'ethical' or 'responsible holiday'. The research, carried out by TNS Travel & Tourism, revealed that there is significant scope for development in this ‘responsible tourism’ market. The study highlighted the opportunity for tourism operators and organisations to attract more visitors and increase visitor spend by targeting the 25-44 age group, as they were the group who showed both a willingness to pay a premium and a belief in the importance of ethics in determining destination choice. More information:
STATE OF SCOTLAND’S ENVIRONMENT A comprehensive review of Scotland's environment carried out by the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) was launched at the ‘Change Tomorrow Today’ conference held in Edinburgh on 2 October. More information: DELIVERING GROWTH IN A SUSTAINABLE WAY VisitScotland’s Scenario Planning team has been looking at the links between tourism and the environment in Scotland. Recognising the importance of the links between the two, they have published 3 reports. The first identifies the most sustainable way for Scottish tourism to achieve its 50% growth target, the second explores the impact of climate change on tourism, and the third highlights the threat to Scottish tourism of an overdependence on resource intensive forms of transport. More information: CASTLE DOUGLAS FOOD & TOURISM CONFERENCE The Castle Douglas Food Town Initiative, in conjunction with VisitScotland and Scottish Enterprise, has organised a Food & Tourism conference on the 8th November, 2006. The event is targeting tourism businesses, accommodation providers, restaurants, local food producers and visitor attractions and aims to promote the importance of local produce to the local economy, particularly in the field of tourism. More information: PUBLIC SECTOR WORKERS ENCOURAGED TO ‘GO GREEN’
16,000 staff employed by the Executive and its agencies are now being encouraged to do their bit for sustainability by using accommodation that is accredited under VisitScotland’s Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS). Staff that choose to stay at GTBS accredited accommodation will not only receive high quality service, but will also be making a valuable contribution towards improving the environment. More information: CHOOSE TO GO THE GREEN ROUTE AROUND STIRLING A new green tourism map for Stirling has recently been published, allowing visitors and locals to navigate their way around the city’s eco-friendly and sustainable attractions, businesses and facilities. A collaborative project between VisitScotland and Stirling Council, the map ties in with new mapping and orientation being developed as part of the Vital Stirling initiative and supports VisitScotland’s CityFreedom activity, offering a varied visitor experience that balances the best of the rural and the urban on the same trip. The map is available for free from tourist information points as well as libraries and community centres in Stirling. QUALITY OF FARMERS MARKETS RECOGNISED Launched during the Scottish Food Fortnight at the beginning of September, a new quality assurance scheme for farmers’ markets underlines the importance of farmers markets to tourism. Farmers’ markets not only support the local community and environment, but are economically viable too – meeting all the criteria for sustainable tourism! The new assurance scheme, developed by VisitScotland and Eat Scotland, will help support local markets by offering additional marketing channels and business support to those who choose to join the scheme. More information: 100% POWERED BY WIND Vail Resorts, a mountain resort operator with 5 mountain resorts in North America, has chosen to offset 100 percent of its energy use by purchasing nearly 152,000 megawatt-hours of wind energy annually. More information: SUSTAINABLE TOURISM AT THOMSON.CO.UK The UK’s leading travel company, Thomson, have recently launched a new sustainable tourism section on its website. This new section was developed to address increasing customer demand for information about the potential environmental impact of their holiday and travel plans. More information: ENTER 'TOURISM FOR TOMORROW' AWARDS TODAY! The World Travel & Tourism Council is calling for entries to the Tourism for Tomorrow Awards 2007. The Awards recognise and promote the world's leading examples of best practice in responsible tourism development. Deadline for entries is 11th December. More information: DATES FOR YOUR DIARY ‘Sustainability - Creating the Culture’, Murrayshall House Hotel, Scone, Perth, 15th - 16th November
‘Scotland’s Strategic Future: Tourism’, DeVere Cameron House, Loch Lomond, 20th November
For details of these and other forthcoming events, please go to Events Page. |
||||
Sign Up for Positive Impact online!Click here to receive our news straight to your PC, every two months. For more 'green' news, go to our News Page. CALL FOR STORIES: If you would like to contribute to this or any of STU's publications, please contact us by phone on 01463 723012, by email to enquiries@greentourism.org.uk, or by post to Sustainable Tourism Unit, Thistle House, Beechwood Park North, Inverness, IV2 3ED. All contributions welcome and any comments too! |
||||
Contact Us
Sustainable Tourism Unit, VisitScotland,
Thistle House,
Beechwood Park North,
Inverness, IV2 3ED.
enquiries@greentourism.org.uk