Bay of Plenty Sustainable Tourism Project

One of the long-term goals of the project is to ensure that sustainable tourism becomes a mandatory part of all tourism businesses culture - while the Sustainable Tourism project is a three-year programme, sustainable tourism is a lifelong mission.

Firstly, each business works with a sustainability assessor to improve business practices in alignment with the Charter principles. A thorough assessment of the businesses current sustainability performance is prepared, action plans are implemented and ongoing support and resources are provided to ensure they progress sustainability initiatives within their capability.  

Here at Papamoa Beach Holiday Resort, we were already undertaking a number of sustainability initiatives such as recycling paper, glass, cans and plastic; sand dune care and sponsorship of local charities.

The assessment process was a lengthy and involved process that took 2 days with 2 assessors. Every aspect of our business practices were assessed according to the charter principles and the result was a very large document containing over 140 “opportunities for improvement”.

We then set about putting together an action plan for the coming 12 months. This meant we had to take the ‘opportunities for improvement’ document and commit to achieving a certain number of these ‘opportunities’.

In doing this, a lot of research has been undertaken and trials completed. It is very important to bear in mind that the Sustainable Tourism Project aims to reduce environmental and social impacts whilst still remaining economically viable. Papamoa Beach TOP 10 Holiday Resort has also found that to do this, a bit of Kiwi ingenuity goes a long way!