Sustainable Tourism
As an organisation, BYATA is committed to Sustainable Tourism. This page will give you a few pointers on how you can contribute and make some changes in your business
The BYATA Sustainability Statement:
- Protect the Environment - Kaitiakitanga: We are committed to looking after the natural environment and beauty of Aotearoa
- Respect our Communities - We will promote responsible travel throughout the experiences we offer, and give back to the communities that are impacted by tourism
- Local investment (including hiring of local staff)
- Where possible, source locally made products
- Have an Environmental care policy that your staff adhere to
- Having KPIs to reduce consumption of fossil fuels.
- Proactive reduction in waste, energy use and water use
- Native tree planting in your area
- Supporting/sponsoring community projects
- Donating to charity
As tourism businesses, if we want to have a positive impact - Getting our crew and customers on board with this mission is critical to the success of it!
All around New Zealand, there is some cool stuff going - so share your stories!
Short on ideas? Here are a few suggestions to get you kick started:
A Series of short National Case Studies to gain insight and motivation:
And finally here are some cool stories from our very own BYATA Members…
Kiwi Experience - Green Not Mean
Working with the Local legends at Bazil's Hostel in Westport, Kiwi Experience drivers and customers have picked up over 1000KGS of rubbish from West Coast Beaches this summer. This is an awesome example of different people working together achieving something pretty awesome, and having some fun along the way.
Haka Tourism Group are big fans of worm farms to compost all their food scrapes at their office, lodge and hotel locations.
Did you know that approximately 50% of the waste stream in Western cities is organic waste, most of which is food waste? Food waste is expensive to collect, transport and dispose of. Even using a waste disposal unit requires a lot of water, and creates a burden on the sewerage system. When organic waste breaks down in a landfill, it generates methane, a powerful greenhouse gas. Once it is buried, the nutrients contained in food scraps are lost to the environment, and cannot be reused. This is why worm farms such as "Hungry Bin" are the perfect solution - organic waste is composted on-site, reducing handling and transport costs, and preventing valuable nutrients from being lost.
Hungry Bin is one of the most efficient ways to compost, and definitely one of the easiest compost systems to use. And as an exclusive offer to our BYATA members, we have negotiated a 10% discount on all Hungry Bin purchases. Simply enter the discount code, Domarco1, when ordering online and the discount will be applied. Make sure you add to your order the all important worms to you purchase!
REDUCTION IN GREEN HOUSE GAS EMISSIONS
YHA New Zealand aim for a long-term reduction in our greenhouse gas emissions through ongoing hostel improvements and solar installations in our YHA-managed network of 13 hostels across New Zealand. We measure, reduce and offset our emissions through the carboNZeroCertTM programme, which sits alongside other sustainability programmes and awards as a tool to quantify, reinforce, and celebrate our efforts.
We build sustainability into our everyday actions through our triple-bottom line approach, considering people, planet, and profit. We're also committed to Qualmark's environmental standards and the Hostelling International Quality and Sustainability standards, both of which measure and promote the effectiveness of our environmental performance.
Our solar installations in particular help us to minimise our environmental impact through harnessing a renewable energy source, reducing our reliance on grid power which in turn lowers our energy spend, improves our guest experience through more comfortable, warmer, and more sustainable accommodation. We have systems installed in three hostels with plans for future installs, plus geothermal energy being harnessed at YHA Rotorua. See our video on Solar installation.
These installations contributed to the YHA-managed network becoming carboNZeroCertTM certified; we are the first accommodation network in the world to achieve this. We support Hinewai Reserve as our local provider of carbon credits. Their work fostering the regrowth of New Zealand native bush aligns perfectly with our commitment to reducing our environmental impact.
