Taking the green leap
Tasmanian tourism operators are gearing up for a new type of traveller: the climate-conscious tourist. Amanda Ducker explores how local businesses are using digital tools to ride this eco-tourism wave.
Four years ago, Zoe Exton (pictured below), co-founder of South Hobart-based Tasmanian Mountain Bike Adventures, was having conversations with her customers around trails, biking tips and pick-up times. Fast forward to today, and a new kind of tourist has emerged – one with a deep commitment to the environment and sustainability.
"People are asking a lot more questions about responsible practices and what we do, and appreciating how we respect the environment."
“I’ve noticed since Covid, there’s a new focus,” Zoe says. “People are asking a lot more questions about responsible practices and what we do, and appreciating how we respect the environment, for example by avoiding damaged tracks and providing rubbish bags in their bike packs for collecting litter on the tracks. They want to align with companies that share an ethos."
While mountain biking is an inherently lowemission activity, Zoe and her husband and cofounder Phil proactively manage their carbon footprint in a host of ways. They have replaced office lights with LEDs, switched to an ultra-low washing cycle for hi-vis vests and gloves, chosen Tasmanian-made hand sanitiser by organic brand My Shay and, of course, relied heavily on pedal power not cars to get themselves around, encouraging their team to do the same by providing lockable bike storage and change/shower facilities for staff.
The couple has intensified efforts after joining an online emissions reduction community last October. Their business is among 51 local tourism operators using a digital tool from ERC Australia, an emissions reduction collective.
Not only are Zoe and Phil now tracking all their sustainability efforts, they’re feeling inspired to do even more, from purchasing an e-bike to collect their shuttle bus from kunanyi/Mt Wellington trailheads to making their own cleaning products with vinegar and lemon.
Credit: Amy Brown
Zoe says there’s an often-overlooked wildcard that significantly influenced her business’s carbon footprint.
“The supply chain is the area that is not totally in our control, but it’s the area where we can make the biggest difference,” she says, highlighting the importance of asking questions and sourcing locally. “For example, we are using merino beanies from a Tasmanian company Smitten, considering it a reliable local supplier that is very focused on carbon emission reduction itself.”
The MyERC program not only helps set goals but also fosters community spirit by allowing users to share data with customers and fellow Tourism Industry Council of Tasmania members in the program.
“It’s about creating alliances with businesses that think the same as you and then spreading that vibe across the industry. There’s a heap being done,” Zoe notes.
Sustainable sipping
With wine grapes highly sensitive to the smallest temperature increases, Paul Smart, viticulture and winemaking officer at Wine Tasmania, likens vineyards to canaries in the coal mine for climate change. “Emissions reduction is therefore a key priority as part of the Tasmanian wine sector’s overall environmental sustainability,” he says.
Paul is the driving force behind Wine Tasmania’s VinØ Program (pronounced ‘vin zero’), launched in 2014 to help producers minimise negative environmental impacts. Almost half of the state’s vineyards now operate under VinØ, receiving annual benchmark reports on soil health, pest and disease management, biodiversity, water, waste, community, biosecurity, winery management and carbon emissions.
Stargazer Wine vineyard manager Bryn Williams (pictured above) is a big fan of the program. “It’s been very valuable for Stargazer to assess its own procedures through the VinØ framework,” Bryn said, accepting the 2023 VinØ Program Champion Award on behalf of the Coal River Valley vineyard. “It goes to show how large an impact small incremental change can have on a business. For example, we have moved to a lighter-weight glass bottle for packaging, which reduces [freight-related] emissions. All our boxes and the tape on our boxes are recyclable now and our labels are made from recycled sugarcane stalks.”
Stargazer is adapting the vineyard in a multitude of small ways, too, including minimising disruptive digging. “We are avoiding cultivation, to boost the organic matter in the soil so it sequesters more carbon in the atmosphere.”
Bryn says nearly every suggestion Stargazer has taken up has been generated through the VinØ program tool. Water usage is one example. “You always know what you can improve on. When we saw we weren’t scoring as well as we wished on water, we invested in an automated irrigation program which is set to run at night, offering off-peak rates, reducing evapotranspiration and saving the fuel I’d use driving to and from Hobart to manually manage irrigation.”
Bryn welcomes the way the market is also inspiring changes on the ground. “Viticulturists are farmers at the end of the day and need a bit of a push to evolve their practices to meet contemporary standards,” he says. “I’ve noticed lately that your average wine drinkers really want to know where the wine comes from and how it’s grown. They want to know your story. It’s as important to them as the taste and the price point. The hugely growing interest in environmental aspects of growing wine is a side product of people generally being environmentally aware.”
Credit: Alastair Bett
Balancing the books
Meanwhile, Tasmanian start-up Sumday is expanding the accounting rulebook by giving it a green spin. Co-founders Jessica Richmond, Lindsay Ellis and Danny Hoare say that no business’ books are complete without carbon accounting, a framework to measure and track how much greenhouse gas an organisation emits. The trio developed rigorous carbon accounting software, positioning it alongside traditional financial reporting. Originally an accounting firm, Sumday now partners with business management giant Xero, integrating carbon accounting into mainstream accounting services. The goal? To make carbon accounting as natural as balancing the books for businesses. “It’s a new world order,” says Jessica, who is passionate about upskilling accountants to take on carbon accounting.
Major Tasmanian tourism operators including Pennicott Wilderness Adventures, the Festival of Voices and Peppers Silo Hotel in Launceston have already signed up to trial the subscription-based service.
76% of global travellers say they want to travel more sustainably in the future."
Melinda Anderson of Pennicott Wilderness Adventures says carbon accounting is business-as-usual at a company renowned for its environmental commitments. While all its tours are 100 percent carbon offset – and energy use, water consumption and waste output all exceed internationally accredited EarthCheck’s global best practice level – there is always room for improvement. In the past year, the tourism trailblazer has sought to bring its offset activities closer to home by forming an alliance with not-for-profit offset provider Greenfleet.
“One of the hardest things about carbon offsetting is finding the right program where you can give back to your community,” Melinda says. “You want to be offsetting and improving your own backyard.”
It all counts.