Visit South Devon Champions Sustainability and

Green Tourism

Visit South Devon is a Community Interest Company promoting the South Hams, West Devon, Teignbridge and East and Mid Devon areas. We are committed to becoming an ambassador for sustainability in the area and promoting green tourism for those looking to visit the region. We want to champion good sustainable tourism practices throughout South Devon and aim to support other businesses in the areas that we cover in making changes to become more environmentally friendly and reduce climate change.

Firstly, it might be good to decipher what sustainability and green tourism actually means. We hear the word ’sustainable’ throughout society, it’s thrown around on TV, in the newspapers and all over social media, but what does it actually mean? In the simplest of terms, it relates to the ability of us all co-existing on the planet for a long time. It refers to fulfilling the needs of the current generation without compromising the needs of future generations, whilst ensuring a healthy balance of economic growth, environmental care and social well-being. Green Tourism (or Ecotourism, as it is also known) relates specifically to the travel and tourism industry, involving responsible travel and providing environmentally-friendly tourist activities and services, such as accommodation, restaurants, retail and attractions.

SO, WHAT ARE WE DOING TO CHAMPION SUSTAINABILITY AND GREEN TOURISM?

As a company, we’ve pledged to undertake a consumer marketing campaign to highlight sustainability as a key booking factor. Compared to our other campaigns which will only run for a couple of months or so, we’ve ingrained this into our year-long content plan and aim to continue it in the years to come. We have an area on our website dedicated to sustainability where we promote good, eco-friendly practices that consumers can undertake, such as using reusable water bottles and coffee cups, shopping local and independent, and embarking on a car-free holiday. As well as this, we support our members and businesses in finding local suppliers who can help reduce their single-use plastics as well as lower their carbon footprint through less air-miles.

We’ve also joined the Green Business Tourism Scheme where we have been awarded a bronze award and are working towards achieving silver this year. We ensure that the benefits of this scheme are passed over to our members and partners and support them in joining the scheme directly. Visit South Devon have partnered with local transport and group travel providers to help promote sustainable travel across the region, as well as highlighting our many wonderful cycling and walking routes.

Reducing the amount that we print has also been a key factor in becoming a more sustainable company, in fact, our visitor guide has been paper-free and completely digital for a couple of years now. We have given our consumers the option to download our guide so they can access it whenever they’re out and about, even if they’re in the middle of Dartmoor with little to no signal! This year, within our guide we have created a number of graphics with some helpful sustainability tips and tricks to show our readers just how easy it can be to make the switch to becoming more environmentally friendly and reducing their plastic usage.

This year we’re also hoping to work with some local environmental charities to take a more hands-on approach. It’s something we’ve wanted to do for a little while, but we were inspired to really push it forward when we took part in a beach clean in February hosted by The Devon Concierge Club at

Slapton Sands. This event was in collaboration with The 2 Minute Foundation whose aim is to see a world without plastic litter and pollution with an ethos that simple acts can lead to a big difference. We were joined by a number of fantastic local businesses as well as families and collectively we gathered a huge 47kg of rubbish! Initially we thought there wouldn’t be much to pick up as the beach looked fairly clean, but it’s not until you start looking for rubbish and plastic that you realise that there’s so many small pieces hidden in the sand and shrubbery. After the beach clean we were invited to take part in a corporate responsibility workshop with The 2 Minute Foundation where we discussed things we can all do in our personal and work lives to reduce our plastic usage. It was a fantastic day out and really inspired us to reflect on our own practices to determine if we could all be doing more.

Perhaps you’re wondering ‘what changes can I make to become a more sustainable business?’ Well, there’s a number of small things you can undertake that will make a big difference! If you’re a café or take away, reward your customers with a small discount if they bring their own reusable cup. Highlight the fact that you can refill water bottles for free – some people still feel awkward popping into a coffee shop to ask to refill their bottles if they aren’t buying something! Switch your light bulbs for more energy efficient ones, this can also save you money in the long run. If you need new tech, such as card machines or tills, have a look at purchasing refurbished items. Stationary such as pens or notebooks can be replaced by eco-friendly ones that have been made from recycled plastics or bamboo. Offer paid volunteer days to your employees, it’s a great way to incentivize your staff to take part in beach cleans or tree planting days – plus it benefits your local community. Perhaps you have a small outdoor space at your business? You could even try planting some herbs or veggies which can be used in your business, by the staff or your customers. You could also reduce your carbon footprint by buying into a carbon offset charity. Devon County Council have a number of grants in place to help fund various sustainability projects for businesses and CICs so why not take a look at their website to see if there’s any help you can receive.

You might be interested in learning about the other campaigns that we’re running this year. 2023 is an exciting time as not only is it the Year of the Coast, it’s also the 50th anniversary of the South West Coast Path. Both of these have been intertwined into our content plan, and if you think about it –they also relate to sustainability! Throughout both campaigns we aim to highlight the wonderful coastal communities, attractions, activities, nature reserves and restaurants with South Devon. We’ve also started working closely with our public transport and travel partners this year to promote sustainable travel to our consumers and show that a car-free holiday to South Devon is not only possible, but very much enjoyable!

Our 2023 Visitor Guide will be out very soon; our marketing team have been working very hard behind the scenes to deliver it. So, keep an eye on our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages for the latest info!

Also for more information please visit www.visitsouthdevon.co.uk