 Press Release/Communiqué
THE GREEN VACATION CHALLENGE
A Bearfoot Canada - Canadian EarthCare Responsible Travel Partnership
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 8, 2005
Kyoto: A Made in Canada Green Vacation Challenge Launched
Okanagan Valley – In a region of Canada deeply impacted by climate change a tourism development agency and an environmental organization have combined efforts to tackle global warming head on by challenging Canadians, and the world, to travel responsibly.
Bearfoot Canada and the Canadian EarthCare Society have reached an agreement that will build strategic partnerships with businesses, communities, governments, and corporations that will work towards a 10-point responsible travel program called the Green Vacation Challenge.
The Challenge will help Canada reach Kyoto targets by encouraging group travel and more efficient methods of reaching holiday destinations, by building and presenting educational programs and travel experiences that promote traveling responsibly.
Every year in Canada ‘fully independent vacation travel’ and motorized recreational activities are promoted as the primary method of travel by every level of government and regional tourism agencies.
By encouraging the tourism industry and government to actively promote ‘sustainable group travel’ the number of vacation vehicles would be reduced, thus also reducing harmful emissions.
“By tracking and applying new environmental and economic benchmarks, the tourism industry could begin to track emission levels and show how promoting the Green Vacation Challenge reduces emissions and helps the environment,” explains Don Elzer, managing director of Bearfoot Canada.
“Through the Green Vacation Challenge we would continue to encourage a greater number of tourists to travel, but via more group travel. The Challenge also promotes guided learning experiences about how our climate is changing and how we can conserve resources and protect wild habitat.”
According to Lloyd Manchester, a director of the Canadian EarthCare Society, the Challenge is a unique approach linking tourism goals to environmental sustainability.
“There’s a real opportunity here to reduce harmful emissions by challenging Canadians on how they conduct their leisure travel activities, an area where they may be willing to try new methods of travel as part of a vacation adventure,” Manchester suggests.
The Challenge will apply an industry awareness campaign to the domestic and international travel community about the benefits of group travel, and a public awareness campaign attempting to reduce the number of vacation vehicles on the road, thereby encouraging sustainable group travel and reducing harmful emissions.
“This campaign will brand Canada as a destination for ‘responsible travel’ - adding to the tourism product mix for 2010, and showcasing the tangible actions Canadians are taking on climate change and their changing natural habitat,” Manchester adds.
The initiative seeks to build a national and international effort for creating a healthier and more sustainable travel industry, which encourages people to travel, work, and play in nature while building stewardship ethics.
“We’ve built this initiative as a tool for small communities and micro-business that have been negatively impacted by a changing climate and economy,” Elzer says. “The Green Vacation Challenge objectives are a result of working directly with the grassroots in business and communities.”
Every year in British Columbia our wild lands are at risk from vacationers not acting responsibly within sensitive habitats. As more resorts and commercial developments develop encroach into wild areas attracting even more visitors, the threat of wildfires and long-term negative impacts to sensitive habitat becomes an over-all threat to the sustainability of the environment and local economies. Further visitor increases as a result of 2010 will magnify these risks even greater.
A key objective within the Green Vacation Challenge is to build a SmartTravel Best Practices Program, which is a workable, responsible travel Code of Ethics and Best Practices for small independent nature-based tour operators, guides, resorts, attractions and communities.
“Business needs the ability to adapt to climate change factors. Nature-based Tour Operators could be recruited to act as stewards and educators of B.C.’s natural habitat, which would lead to better management of our land based resources. Operators would have to be certified, as would backcountry resorts and attractions. Such certification could be branded internationally as a ‘Canadian Solution’ to protecting and managing our natural resources and, earn us respect at home and abroad,” Elzer states.
The Green Vacation Challenge seeks to build Responsible Travel awareness in time for 2010 which considers a "Carbon Neutral" strategy which would result in a reduction of harmful emissions and negative impacts to the environment including wildlands.
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