POLICY WATCH: Tasmania’s opportunity to champion a carbon neutral tourism industry

Here is an inconvenient truth: civil aviation is responsible for 2 per cent of global carbon emissions.

In the scheme of things, this might sound like a relatively small number until you consider that only 5 per cent of the world’s population can afford to travel by air.

A return flight between London and Sydney can emit greenhouse gases equivalent to 3 tonnes of CO2 per person. This is more than most human’s entire carbon footprint for a year. Before COVID, the tourism industry across the globe was confronting our own inherent conflict between our love of earth and the hard reality that we do constitute one of the most carbon-dense forms of human activity. Values and expectations on our industry have been changing rapidly with the spotlight on what different sectors of the travel industry and individual destinations are doing to mitigate their contribution to the global climate emergency. This is not just a question of science and conservation but also increasingly a commercial one. The travelling public are, more than ever, making consumer decisions based on their aspirations for responsible travel. Across the globe we are seeing examples of where carbon-responsible travel is being driven by consumers. In 2018, the ‘Flygskam’ movement (literally meaning ‘flight shame’), was powered by social media and Greta Thunberg and over the course of a few months, managed to slow, and then reverse into decline, Sweden’s previous exponential annual growth in air travel. Across Europe, demand for sleeper trains is growing for the first time in decades, with the EU scrambling to re-establish overnight commuter services between major population centres long thought to have been consigned to history, and the modernity of budget air travel. Airlines are responding to this trend by bringing forward their own carbon neutrality targets and investing in low-emission technology. Qantas is leading the way on this front with its commitment to be a zeroemission airline by 2050. The world’s largest hotel operator, Marriott, has set itself a target to reduce its global carbon intensity by 30 per cent in the next five years. While Airbnb in the US has started actively marketing the comparable emission output of staying with one of their hosts compared to a traditional hotel. The message is clear; there is a fast and permanent shift occurring in the global travel market towards carbon sustainability that is only likely to accelerate as global travel recovers from COVID.

On the Edge of Lake Pedder Photo credit: Stu Gibson

The opportunity for Tasmania is to be at the very front of this global movement. In his State of the State speech before calling the State Election, Premier Peter Gutwein announced a target for Tasmania to be a carbon neutral visitor destination by 2025. This is a key priority determined by industry and the Tasmanian government through our T21 Tasmanian Visitor Economy Action Plan for how we want our industry to grow over the next decade. It will make Tasmania one of the very first visitor destinations on the planet working towards offsetting the carbon emissions of visitors to our islands by investing in carbon generating activities such as reforestation. We are only able to set such a target because of our renewable energy base, meaning our emissions are already very low compared to other destinations. In a post-Carbon world, our renewable energy base will continue to be a massive competitive advantage for Tasmania that tourism can also leverage. But achieving the vision of a carbon neutral destination will not be easy and will require a lot of investment and commitment by industry and government over the coming years. We firstly need to agree on a financial model to cover the cost of offsetting visitors’ emissions while they are in the state. How many of our visitors might be willing to pay a few dollars to ‘offset’ their stay in Tasmania, and how could these funds be raised? We know today there are many fantastic Tasmanian tourism operators already carbon neutral, or who are investing significant money to reduce their own carbon footprint. What can be done to encourage and incentivise more tourism operators to join them, and how do we recognise and celebrate those businesses who are leading the way in carbon responsible tourism? We also need to rapidly expand our capacity to off-set carbon within our state. The reality is, if we wanted to be a carbon neutral destination right now, we would not have the capacity within Tasmania to sufficiently offset visitor’s emissions. There is a big challenge and opportunity for Tasmania to position itself as Australia’s carbon bank, creating jobs in conservation and land management, but that is a discussion well beyond the remit of our tourism industry. We also need to balance the genuine aspirations for our industry to emerge over coming years as a global example of truly sustainable and responsible tourism, with the daily commercial realities for our operators coming out of COVID and the disruptions many are still experiencing. Ultimately how we respond to these challenges over coming months and years will determine where Tasmania finds itself in the era of carbon responsible tourism.

SKILL SET: BECOME A TOURISM AMBASSADOR TO IMPROVE VISITOR EXPERIENCES

The Tassie Tourism Ambassador Program is gearing up to launch this year, to help people working either directly in the tourism industry or on the periphery, to improve their ability to offer a great visitor experience.

WHY DO WE NEED AN AMBASSADOR PROGRAM?

With millions of dollars spent on marketing destinations and branding to generate demand, the actual visitor experience is left to the individual tourism operator. This program will enable operators and their staff to learn the basics of the tourism industry and how to offer a great Tassie welcome.

ABOUT THE COURSE

Local tourism professionals present easy-to-follow tips and knowledge in short video segments in this online course. A few quick quiz questions will test understanding after each video. The course is FREE, consisting of four modules: 1. Understanding the tourism industry – Sam Denmead 2. Knowing your destination – tailored content specific to the destination 3. Telling amazing stories –

Todd Babiak 4. Ways to exceed visitor expectations – Matt Casey As long as you have the internet, you can complete the

Pumphouse Point Photo credit: Jarrad Seng

course online, at home or in the office, at a pace that suits you. Allow around two to four hours. At the end of the course, participants will receive an e-certificate, and be invited to attend a networking event in their destination to receive their lapel badge and meet other ambassadors.

WHO’S IT FOR?

It’s designed for everyone working in a role that will encounter a visitor, this might include: • Food and beverage service staff; • Event staff and volunteers; • Accommodation, attraction and tour company employees; • Seasonal workers ; • Students; • As well as taxi drivers, service station attendants, retail workers, etc.

OTHER BENEFITS OF THE PROGRAM

• Aligns with priority 4 in T21: building capability, capacity and community; • Will align to the RTO’s vision of the region through their

Destination Management

Plan and to community and economic development plans at local council level; • A shared vision will unite front-line workers and staff; • Builds regional collaboration by working together and sharing consistent messaging; • Aids business in talent identification and development;