Visitor Payback Schemes

Visitor payback schemes were put in place to help visitors to donate money either at the point of booking their stay or in collection boxes whilst they are on holiday. When booking holidays you will have noticed that more and more websites are asking you if you want to ‘offset your carbon footprint’ or if you would like to donate to local conservation projects.

Payback schemes are in operation across the country and are well established. So what are the objectives of such schemes;

to raise funds and secure sponsorship to enable conservation work to be carried out
to raise awareness among visitors of the fragility of the landscape and the need to protect it
to encourage the tourism industry and visitors to work with conservation groups to protect, maintain and enhance the area’s landscape and heritage
to demonstrate that tourism and conservation can work hand in hand
to encourage the local community to think positively about tourism and to see that visitor’s value the natural environment
A tourism hotspot in Britain has been running a payback scheme for 17 years and has been a great success with over 250 businesses collecting for the local tourism and conservation partnership. The partnership is now receiving over £125,000 worth of donations per year. This is an excellent example of how this can work if people are willing to embrace such a scheme.

Do you need an accreditation to prove your company is ‘eco-friendly’?

This is a question that must have been uttered in many a business over the past few years. Gone are the days when you just got your star rating and that was all you needed. There are all sorts of accreditations that you can now get to show how ‘green’ your company is.

Whether it is GTBS (Green Tourism Business Scheme), Green Globe, Green Key or a David Bellamy Conservation Award. Companies are starting to clamber to be recognised as being a place that really thinks about the effects of how it runs. Accreditations are good as they recognise those who are going above and beyond and they ensure that holiday makers know what lengths the business has gone to to make their stay less of an impact on the atmosphere than it might have been.

So what can we expect from a business who has one of the above accreditations;

• Compliance with environmental legislation
• Reduce, reuse and recycle the goods they use
• Use of environmentally friendly products
• Efficient plumbing
• Good environmental awareness amongst staff
• A Green policy should be in place

I personally think that if a business is doing the above then they should be awarded an accreditation, as if everyone took such steps we would be living in a different world. Let me know what you think?

Eco Lodge or Standard Hotel?

Firstly, what constitutes an Eco Lodge? Well I would say it is a hotel which looks to conserve their resources and limit waste. There are many things that a hotel can do to work on this;

When washing their sheets and towels, wash them at a lower temperature
Change towels and sheets less frequently - this can be achieved by asking guests whether they need them changing
Use alternative energy sources
Buy recycled cleaning products
Recycle as much waste as possible
Build a waste treatment facility
Install low flow toilets and shower heads

We’ve all stayed in places where there is a little sign on the wall in the bathroom pleading with us to help them to be more ‘green’. I’m interested to know if when you read the sign it makes you think twice about throwing your towel on the floor and expecting a new towel each day. Hotels must do more washing of bed linen and towels than anywhere else and it would be nice to think that these kinds of signs change people’s mindsets.

The next question is would the fact that the hotel classified itself as an eco lodge sway your decision to stay there over a standard hotel?

I’m interested to hear your thoughts.

Eco Tourism in Britain: What is Eco-Tourism?

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What is Eco-Tourism?

Eco-Tourism is all about travelling responsibly in areas that can be seen as precious, fragile and beautiful. Eco Tourism’s purpose is to educate travelers about how they can minimize the impact they have on an area whilst still enjoying it. It can also provide funds for conservation which can benefit the area economically. Many people see Eco-Tourism as being an important practice if we are to protect the environment for future generations to enjoy.

The last sentence is really interesting as this is the reason why I think Eco-Tourism should be so high on everyone's list when booking holidays. We should be conserving our surroundings so that those from future generations can enjoy them as we have been lucky enough to. So how would a tourist know about Eco-Tourism and can they ensure that they make as little mark as possible when enjoying their holidays? This is largely down to conservation organisations that do a fantastic job of spreading the word about being more 'green'. Over the past couple of years the 'green' message has really become important and 2010's general election saw the first member of the Green Party become an MP. This is highlighting how important people are starting to see this part of life. Many businesses now have ‘green’ policies and people are starting to buy local to try to reduce their carbon footprint.

I do hope that you will follow my blog and you will hear about some key tips on how to become more eco-friendly. Please feel free to follow and respond to my posts if you wish.