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.