By Oliver Batten
We love seeing our clients coming up with sustainable solutions. With three UNESCO Biosphere Reserves and the recent launch of a new Sustainability Program, Visit Sunshine Coast is paving a green path towards sustainable tourism.
By simply punching in your travel itinerary to the Sunshine Coast, the new Trip CO₂ Calculator will estimate your carbon footprint and present you with options to remove the CO₂ emissions from your trip. Not only that, it will also provide you with some simple sustainable travel tips and then give you the option of which local reforestation project you would like to donate to. How good is that!
Powered by the Reforest platform, local businesses are also able to get onboard through partnerships which showcases the power of collaboration between industry and travellers. Another great feature is the program dashboard which displays real-time contributions that the tourism industry and visitors have made, including how many trees have been planted, how much carbon has been removed and how much habitat has been restored for local wildlife.
Our recent work with Visit Sunshine Coast (VSC) and the Food and Agribusiness Network (FAN) on Project CRAFTED has highlighted the regions focus on sustainability in the context of agritourism. Our research highlighted the connection between sustainability and agri-culinary experiences, underscoring the growing significance travellers now attribute to locally sourced food and beverages with minimal transportation distances. Additionally, farm gate visits and stays have embraced this movement, showcasing their innovative practices and commitment to regenerative approaches.
We know that sustainability is becoming front and centre of travel choices with more than 75% of travellers being committed to sustainability in some way (Tourism Australia – Future of Global Tourism Demand), and VSC’s Sustainability Program is a fantastic example of how to position your destination as a leader in this space.
So jump online and check out the sustainability program here – perhaps it’s something you can consider for your destination…
