A focus on sustainability and regenerative tourism has earned Noosa Shire a gong from the world’s leading environmental management and professional services group for the travel and tourism industry – EarthCheck.
Council worked with EarthCheck over 14 months to demonstrate the shire’s environmental performance against benchmarked data from other destinations around the world.
“Partnering with Tourism Noosa and working with Noosa Biosphere Reserve Foundation and Noosa Landcare, and energy and water suppliers, we captured a wide range of data for comparison against other destinations around the world,” Council’s Environment and Strategy Director Kim Rawlings said.
Noosa Shire is the first local government area in Australia to be awarded EarthCheck’s silver certification.
“By joining some of the world’s most ecological destinations we are not only demonstrating our commitment to a sustainable future, we’re promoting ourselves as a place where visitors whose values align with ours, can come to enjoy a pristine and protected natural environment.”
EarthCheck’s certification programs are respected by travellers, brands and destinations globally, and help consumers make informed decisions about the tourism destinations they choose.
“We’re in good company globally, and in our case the certification covers our entire local government area, making Noosa Shire a leading destination in Australia.”
Tourism Noosa chief executive officer (CEO) Sharon Raguse said, “The certification is a wonderful acknowledgement of Noosa truly being a destination of sustainable tourism with community and industry working together to protect our unique environment.”
EarthCheck CEO and founder Stewart Moore said, “When a travel business displays an EarthCheck certification badge, it means they’ve been through a rigorous science-backed, people-focused sustainability process.”
“It gives them the tools they need to measure their impact, and to make business decisions that save money, resources and the planet.”
EarthCheck’s destination certification criteria are aligned to the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, which serves as the global standard for sustainability in travel and tourism.
