NZ 'clear leader' in green tourism

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EASY BEING GREEN: New Zealand's efforts in green toruism have been recognised at the Virgin Holidays Responsible Travel awards.

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New Zealand has picked up a new international award, placing it at the forefront of the new age of responsible tourism.

The Virgin Holidays Responsible Travel awards named New Zealand as their leading destination and also gave the country the supreme award ahead of 1900 other contenders.

Tourism New Zealand chief executive George Hickton said it was the first time New Zealand had been nominated for the four-year-old awards and the win was extremely relevant to the way global tourism was progressing.

He said the award looked at the ethos and holistic attitude to tourism and tourism branding in terms of looking after the native environment.

The establishment of the tourism national strategy and launch of the new Qualmark Green accreditation system for sustainable tourism operators were central to getting the award, which used tenets from the 2002 Cape Town Declaration on Responsible Tourism.

The declaration looks holistically at tourism's minimisation of impacts, economic benefits, empowerment and interaction of the local population, natural conservation and cultural and social sensitivity.

Mr Hickton said getting the destination category award and winning the overall supreme award out of nearly 2000 entries was the perfect answer to any scepticism of New Zealand's value in a carbon-focused world.

"Six months ago we were worried about New Zealand's position in the world in terms of carbon footprint and that sort of thing. We've been given this award on the basis that we have a worked our way around it," Mr Hickton said.

The awards quoted US adventurer Richard Bangs on the tangible shift in the way New Zealand was delivered as a destination.

"When I first came to New Zealand, it was an environmental dark star, bent on felling forests, overfishing and `unprotecting'.

"The Maori culture was in danger of collapse; there was more culture in a cup of yoghurt than in most Maori events," Mr Bangs reportedly said.

"But as I kept returning over the years, the place kept getting better and recently it seems that while the rest of the world has been digging a deeper hole for itself, New Zealand is building a mountain of hope, and is a clear leader for sustainability."

Mr Hickton said Mr Bangs had witnessed the change in attitude within the tourism industry and the community surrounding and supporting it.

- © Fairfax NZ News