The post-pandemic era for travel sees an increasingly conscious traveller, shaping demand for low-carbon footprint travel and experience options that touch the earth and communities lightly.
We are currently at the precipice of a global movement; where the demand for sustainable options across all verticals is increasingly becoming a non-negotiable.
Soon, people will be demanding end-to-end sustainable holidays, so those that act now will be the first to establish brand credibility in this space for the long term.
What issustainable
and regenerative tourism?
According to the World Tourism Organisation, Sustainable Tourism is Tourism that takes full account of it's current and future economy, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.
To be sustainable, in any form, is to do no harm.To be regenerative is to have a net positive impact.
Being sustainable and regenerative is more or less looking at making decisions in business that actively help to restore and regenerate local communities, cultures and the environment.
It's about doing better, where we can.
WHY SUPPORT INDUSTRY TO BECOME MORE SUSTAINABLE?
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It's Good for Visitors & Business
We understand a big part of being sustainable, is also being profitable.
Recent Future of Demand research by Tourism Australia suggests that more than 75% of travellers are committed to sustainability in some way. ‘Sustainability is increasingly influencing traveller choices in terms of where to go, how to get there, where to stay and which experiences, they engage with at the destination.’
This means travellers are more likely to spend their dollars with responsible operators than those that are not, so becoming a more sustainable business, is in everyone’s (and our planet's) best interests.
With such compelling consumer demand for sustainable tourism experiences, as well as the obvious environmental, commercial and social evidence, many tourism businesses will be compelled to investigate what it takes to become more sustainable, or possibly regenerative.
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It's Good for Community & Environment
Each and every business, and the visitors they welcome, have to potential to contribute to opportunities that foster long-term benefits and resilience for both the environment and local communities.
By seeking partners that help business to participate in conservation projects, engage with local communities, or help support local First Nation's aspirations, initiate positive impact can be initiated and outcomes can be achieved for the environment and community.
Why create this learning opportunity?
We know there are some major barriers to getting started with Sustainable & Regenerative tourism, particularly around it being confusing, costly, time sapping and limited potential benefit to the bottom line.
We also know that whilst there is a lot of theory on this topic, how to apply the theory is not always easily understood.
At The Tourism Collective, we have strong and reputable subject-matter knowledge and experience to deliver a quality Learning Program that distils the complex theory around sustainable and regenerative tourism, into easy-to-understand, practical solutions for the tourism industry.
The aim for our Program is to:
- Simplify the narrative about Sustainable & Regenerative tourism, in a non-intimidating way
- Cut through the jargon and only deliver practical inspiration and ideas, focussing on the 'how to' rather than more theory.
- Provide achievable, incremental, practical ideas that can be applied to your business in a way that is environmentally, socially and economically beneficial without putting pressure on your time or budget.
This workshop is short and sharp, but has heavy-hitting, meaningful and tangible learning outcomes.
We introduce the concept of sustainable and regenerative tourism, and we provide the inspiration and tools to implement a regenerative mindset that underpins all facets of running a tourism business - from operational management to visitor experiences and communications.
We then support them to determine what will work for them, and set them on a path for success!
meetNic,our
regenerative tourism specialist
Nic Cooper (or 'Coops' as he's known!) joined The Tourism Collective in late 2022 as our Regenerative Tourism Specialist.
He is also the owner of B-Corp Certified Eco Tour business Wild Adventures Melbourne (WAM) based in the stunning Mornington Peninsula in Victoria. With an insatiable love of nature, outdoors and adventure, and drive to always do the right thing, he created WAM with a regenerative mindset right from the beginning.
Recently receiving the highest score (99%!) for EcoTourism Australia's Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard, his commitment to regenerative tourism is undeniable, and his business story is incredibly inspiring!
Nic's passion and commitment to regenerative thinking aligns seamlessly with our vision at The Tourism Collective, and we couldn't be more proud of the incredibly thoughtful, insightful and practical workshop he has created to support our industry.
Attendees left with great energy and ideas about what they could implement immediately and an understanding of how to develop their businesses into the future.
TiCSA was extremely pleased to bring Tourism Collective’s ‘The why, what and how of running a sustainable and regenerative tourism business’ to SA’s tourism industry in Adelaide. Informed by his deep understanding of the challenges and opportunities faced by small tourism businesses in seeking to be more sustainable, Nic delivered a highly engaging and practical workshop. Attendees left with great energy and ideas about what they could implement immediately and an understanding of how to develop their businesses into the future.
THE workshop details
Our Sustainable & Regenerative Tourism Workshop is a half-day, active learning opportunity for tourism businesses.
The content in the workshop is derived from Nic's lived experience as a regenerative tourism business, and is underpinned by our learning framework and methodology that we've refined over the past 10 years.
This workshop takes participants on this journey of discovery, which supports operators to consider all parts of their business (operations, experience design, customer service and marketing) and their connection to their purpose and their local place of business operation.
Throughout the workshop, Nic shares his own stories along with inspiring examples of other tourism businesses across various sectors, to demonstrate the breadth of opportunities that exist for operators to consider.
Whilst we use theory to underpin the learnings, this workshop is highly practical; exploring 8 focus areas to enhance an operator's positive impact within their local community and local ecosystem, whilst also supporting a profitable business.
Amplify the inspiration &
outcomes
Local Impact Learning Tour
We understand that people learn in different ways, and businesses are often inspired most when they are fully immersed in the learnings.
Which is why, as an optional extra, we encourage the facilitation of a local impact learning tour, where partiicpants can be inspired by the positive impact practices and experiences that businesses in their region are currently implementing.
The structure of the learning tour is pretty simple.
- The Learning Tour will be facilitated over the afternoon, with aim of foster deeper conversations and generate ideas to for businesses to consider how they can develop their own Positive Impact Visitor Experience and/or a Giving Back Visitor Experience.
- Participants will visit 2 - 3 sites in the region to hear from local businesses and organisations who are creating positive differences in their business by support local environmental, cultural and community causes.
- We talk to the business owners about their journey, and discover the challenges they've encounted and the solutions they've implemented along the way.
- Great conversations are had between the group, and more ideas and inspiration is generated through a more casual learning approach.
Individual Mentoring
We know that tourism businesses appreciate and are more likely to make positive change based on their learnings if they have individual support post workshops.
So, if desired, we can coordinate 1 or 2 individual mentoring sessions for some or all participants to help them firm up their sustainable and regenerative goals and set realistic monitoring and measurement frameworks to continue to grow and communicate their positive impact into the future.
I have a whole page of notes to refer to & help plan our own sustainable & regenerative tourism journey!
Having Nic present and use his own business as a case study was really engaging and his level of knowledge and expertise on sustainable tourism was outstanding. I have a whole page of notes to refer to & help plan our own sustainable & regenerative tourism journey.
PARTICIPANT OUTCOMES
After the Workshop, participants will have the following tangible business planning tools and outcomes:
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Sustainable & Regenerative ideas to implement immediately
Participants will have completed hands-on activities throughout the workshop resulting in many new ideas to apply in their business across the 8 focus areas.
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Clearly Articulated Business Values
Have a set of core values that will help to articulate their purpose, and help them to align their decision-making across all facets of their business.
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New Positive Impact Experience & Giving Back Partnership Ideas
They will have fresh ideas around developing a Positive Impact Visitor Experience and connecting with local organisations to develop a 'Giving Back' initiative in the region.
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New connections & partnerships with other tourism businesses
Participants will enjoy the opportunity to network with and to work with aligned people, businesses and organisations across the region to expand experience development, marketing and distribution opportunities
If they undertake individual mentoring, they will also:
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Have develoed their own Impact Plan & Promise for their business
Confidently prepare a Positive Impact Plan (which is their commitment to sustainable and regenerative practice) for their business, that aligns with personal and business values, and those of your values-aligned Guests.
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Confidently pursue the most relevant Sustainability Accredditation
Mentoring will support participants to confidently assess and decide on the most appropriate accreditation to frame their commitment to their Positive Impact Plan. This includes a monitoring and measurement framework to track the progress towards the accredditation.
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New Positive Impact Experience & Giving Back Partnership locked and loaded
Participants will have a positive impact experience, or local giving back partnership in-train, or at least initiated to be up and running in the coming 12 months.
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Confidentlytell their positive impact storywith their community & guests
Participants will have the ideas to capture and confidently communicate their positive impact story, on their website and social media - so that visitors and locals know about their commitment to sustainability.
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Confidence to apply a Regenerative Mindset long term
Participants will have the knowledge and tools to confidently apply a regenerative mindset across all business decisions in the future. They understand that it's progress over perfection, and make incremental changes to achieve their Positive Impact Plan & Promise.
DESTINATION OUTCOMES
This learning opportunity will not only support businesses to build sustainable and resilient enterprises, it also supports your destination organisation to:
- Learn about how you can implement a sustainable and regenerative mindset across their Organisation (be it a local council, regional or local tourism organisation, visitor centre etc)
- Open up the conversation with tourism businesses in your region about where they are at with their sustainability journey
- Helps to uncover some core challenges that require advocacy support at a regional/destination level
- Increase the number of sustainable businesses that can be showcased through marketing initiatives in the region, which can generate demand from new, values-aligned markets.
- Identify further gaps in capability across the industry, to continue to build resilient tourism industry.
The 2023 Sustainable Tourism Program provided by Grampians Tourism in conjunction with the Tourism Collective presented some really insightful new ideas and thought provoking concepts.
It opened up a new pathway to collaborate with other local business and inspired me to introduce some positive changes across multiple businesses.
investigate this opportunity for your destination
If you'd like Nic to inspire operators in your destination with practical advice and tools to start, or enhance their sustainable and regenerative tourism journey, then we'd love to hear from you by filling our the enquiry form below.