JOHANNESBURG SOUTH – The Green Business Platform recently hosted a notable speaker who is a partner in the mass scale N12 Treasure Route Sustainable Tourism Initiative, to discuss resource efficiency in tourism sector.
Caroline Ungersbock, co-founder of the Sustainable Tourism Partnership Programme (STPP), answered questions on the importance of tourism businesses to be resource efficient. The focus was placed on effective usage of energy, water, waste and importance of local sourcing.
The presentation on the Partnership Programme elaborated from a tourism point of view, looking at resource efficiency and how it can make your businesses more proficient, and how businesses can participate in programmes which are aimed at mass scale implementation of sustainable tourism practices.
Ungersbock described sustainable tourism as: “Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”
Highlighting the importance of taking note of operational impacts, Ungersbock said: “Tourism cannot survive without the community and businesses have to become sensitive to the needs of all people coming into to the business in a wheelchair or with a broken leg.”
Touching on the perceived barriers to sustainable or responsible tourism implementation, Ungersbock explained that increased operational cost, due to waste of resources such as water and energy impact the success of the business. “You have to change how your staff work otherwise the infrastructure changes will not have desired impact,” she advised.
The vision of the N12 Treasure Route is creating sustainable employment and setting up local businesses to support the tourism and hospitality industry.
Unfortunately, Niki Glen, the co-founder and programme director of STPP was unable to make it to the meeting on June 5.
