Work together, tourist operators told

TIME OUT: Bruce Poon Tip, centre, keynote speaker at the Ecotourism New Zealand Conference, with Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology students, from left, Hsu Jen Chen, Laura Mills, Lisette de Wit, Paige Dollimore and Lauren O'Beirne.

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The chief executive of the world's biggest adventure travel company says the Government and the tourism industry must form a cohesive approach towards sustainable tourism if New Zealand's branding of itself as "100% Pure" is to be a continued success.

Gap Adventures founder and chief executive Bruce Poon Tip was the keynote speaker at the Ecotourism New Zealand conference, held at the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology yesterday and today.

Gap was started from Mr Poon Tip's Canadian garage in 1990 and now operates on all seven continents with an annual turnover of $192 million a year.

Mr Poon Tip said a major problem facing New Zealand tourism was the "dangerous" lack of communication between the Government, tourism boards and operators.

"Everyone's working as an island at the moment and there's no cross-pollination," he said.

"Everyone has different agendas, motivations and problems."

He said that despite the success of Tourism New Zealand's 100% Pure New Zealand brand, which he described as "something quite magical", it needed authenticity. "You would have to ask yourself if New Zealand is on par with the rest of the world in terms of sustainable lifestyle," he said.

Tourists blamed operators if their 100% Pure experience was waning, and the Government's only answer was "to throw an accreditation programme at them".

"All that does is put pressure on operators. You do this, change that, and we'll give you a flag to fly and you're accredited. That's very 90s thinking."

Instead there needed to be long-term investments in New Zealand's infrastructure.

Ecotourism NZ chairman Hugh Canard agreed with Mr Poon Tip, saying the world had changed since the 100% Pure brand was launched and visitors were now well-read, well-educated and had the values of sustainability. "If we offer it we have to deliver it," he said. "No operator can without the support of central and local government, so as a country we have to work together to deliver on that 100 per cent promise."

A report presented at the conference by climate change research group the Hikurangi Foundation said a significant portion of tourism emissions were short trips easily improved by using public transport. That would strengthen New Zealand's 100% Pure brand.

Hikurangi Foundation executive director Liana Stupples said a new way of thinking about public transport could mean growth in the Nelson tourism market and tourism operators should be working together to think of new travel markets.

"What if you came to Nelson region and went on one great online booking site and got a fantastic integrated service that let you pick and choose your activities to create a personalised tour of Nelson using cycling, shuttles, wine tours?" she said. "It's not a big compromise to have a lower carbon footprint and creates a travel experience bigger than the sum of its parts."

- © Fairfax NZ News