Sustainability

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Sustainability in action Policies and programs

Destination NSW is dedicated to fostering positive environmental and social outcomes within the NSW visitor economy. The agency focuses on advocacy, education, and encouraging sustainable business practices that empower visitor economy businesses to elevate their sustainability efforts.

By championing these initiatives, Destination NSW aims to create a more resilient and responsible NSW visitor economy that benefits both the environment and the community.

Sustainability initiatives

Destination NSW has an important role to play in championing and elevating sustainable tourism in NSW. The agency’s approach focuses on advocacy, education and business practices to help NSW visitor economy businesses improve their sustainability performance.

Sustainability initiatives introduced in FY23-24 to help visitor economy businesses understand and fulfill visitor expectations included:

Sustainability Skills Micro-Credentials: free access for NSW visitor economy businesses to three online modules delivered in collaboration with EarthCheck. The modules included an introduction to sustainability, sustainable management, and sustainable experience delivery.
Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard: free access for NSW visitor economy businesses to complete this sustainability health check and benchmarking tool, delivered by Ecotourism Australia.
Capability-building support through the NSW First Program Experience Development Workshops with a focus topic on sustainability. More than 10 workshops were conducted across regional NSW.
A Quick Tips for Creating EV-Friendly Experiences guide was created for stakeholders, complementing the Quick Tips for Creating Sustainable Experiences guide released the year prior.
Destination NSW, in collaboration with Austrade and consultancy with the Tourism Collective, delivered the Sustainable Tourism Toolkit – Train the Trainer webinar to equip Local Government Areas, Local Tourism Organisations and Regional Tourism Organisations to deliver sustainable visitor experiences.

Sustainability accolades for NSW visitor economy businesses in FY23-24 included Blue Mountains and Bellingen being awarded Ecotourism Australia’s prestigious ECO Destination certification. They joined Central Coast and Coffs Harbour, giving NSW a total of four ECO Destinations.

Additionally, Central Coast won first place in the global Green Destinations Story Awards held in Berlin in March 2024.

Business practices

Destination NSW recognises the importance of reducing greenhouse gas emissions and the NSW Government’s priority to lead by example when it comes to sustainability.

The agency established a Sustainability Committee in February 2024 comprising staff from various divisions and backgrounds.

The Committee worked to drive sustainability initiatives, reduce the organisation’s environmental footprint and champion sustainable tourism to staff, consumers, visitor economy businesses and other stakeholders.

Destination NSW also worked with Sustainability Advantage NSW to understand the organisation’s carbon, climate and compliance profile and ways to improve sustainable practices.

As an Associate Member of the City of Sydney Sustainable Destination Partnership, led by City of Sydney, Destination NSW collaborated with Sydney-based members to elevate Sydney as a sustainable destination. Destination NSW also contributed to the National Sustainability Framework to assist in the launch of the Sustainability Tourism Toolkit led by Austrade.

The collaborative effort involved the Australian Government and State and Territory Governments through the Australian Standing Committee on Tourism (ASCOT) working group.

ECO or sustainable-certified experiences and destinations were identified on VisitNSW.com and Sydney.com, enhancing the visitor experience by making it easier for users to find and choose environmentally responsible options.

At the Destination NSW head office, day-to-day business practices included decreasing the electricity footprint by continuing to replace ageing monitors, using double-sided printing, offering paper and cardboard recycling, fabric waste, e-waste recycling and printer toner recycling bins, and using an accredited green power electricity provider.

Destination NSW also continued to embed sustainable practices in its trade and consumer events.

Sustainability in action

Policies and programs