Creating Sustainable Growth Opportunities

 You only need to peer skyward at the planes, ground-level at the vehicles or seaward at the fleet of motorboats in any Vancouver harbour to realize that travelling for most tourists in B.C. retains a distinctly uneco-friendly hue. Tourist obviously contribute to global greenhouse gas emissions by having to fly, drive or cruise to view different parts of the province. Often out of sheer geographic necessity, tour operators find they leave a larger footprint on the environment than they'd wish. With growing public awareness of sustainability both locally and abroad, however, many B.C. tourism-related operators are taking addional steps to green their businesses and reduce their GHG emissions. In so doing, they're creating sustainable growth opportunities for themselves and the industry as a whole.

One of the most recent greening programs in the tourism industry is the Green Flight Program by Vancouver-based Uniglobe Travel (Western Canada) Inc.

Launched this year, the program provides an opportunity for airline passengers to purchase carbon credits in order to offset a portion of the COČ that is emitted by an aircraft during their flight.

"We wanted to make sure we had an opportunity to address what has now become a very clearly stated need of our target market . . . to do their traveling more responsibly", said company president Michelle Desreux.

By first visiting Uniglobe's website, an airline passenger can not only calculate but also purchase the amount of carbon credits they need to offset their portion of COČ produced. The calculations are based on three things:

-the mileage of the flight;
-flight-related COČ emission date from Environment Canada; and 
-the average cost of carbon credits purchased by Uniglobe's program partner Baseline Emissions Management Inc.

"Our agenda was not just o give people a sense of what the impact is, but to actually give them a mechanism for choosing to do something about it if they want to", said Desreux.

Tourism operators have a business case for handling harmful greenhouse gas emissions

  Meantime, Whistler's Ziptrek Ecotours Inc. continues to cut the company's impact on the enviroment as it guides hundreds of visitors a week through a series of ziplines strung between trees either side of Fitzsimmons Creek, which flows between Whistler and Blackcomb mountains.

"Our Ziptrek and Treetrek courses were built so that visitors feet barely touch the ground in the ancient costal temperate rainforest they are visiting," said Ziptrek's sales and marketing manager Laura Downs.

Like many new business, being completely sustainable was not something even Ziptrek owners Charles Steele and David Udow could do as much as they would have liked. They still use gas-powered vans, for example, to bring people to Ziptrek's base above Whistler Village, and were using rechargeable battery packs to power LED light bulbs that line the canopy bridges between zipline platforms.

Steadily, Ziptrek has reduced its environmental impact by purchasing hybrid vehicles for operational use, generating hydro-electric power for lighting and annually planting a couple hundred trees to offset the COČ emitted from its vehicles. 

"We currently heat our base on the mountain with propane, but we are looking to switch to geo-thermal heat in the future," Downs said.

On the water, Maple Leaf Adventure Tours offers sailing tours along the B.C. and Alaskan cost and continues to limit its environmental impact by buying as much of its food and equipment as possible from local businesses. In so doing, it reduces the hidden enviromental costs of greehnouse gas emissions from the transportation of foreign goods to the local market.

While it may be more costly for some tourism-related businesses to reduce their enviromental impact, many operators agree that it can be a strong selling point that also adds credibility to the industry. 

"When the basis of your business is the wonder and beauty of the natural world, protecting our natural resources is vital," said Maple Leaf program co-ordinator Maureen Gordon. "Our guests care about that and are proud they are travelling in a way that's sustainable. We find that our customers choose us for that reason."

Added Desreux: "There are lot of players in the industry who are really trying to figure out how to marry the profit motive with the ecologically mindful considerations I think everyone is trying to have.

"If we're going to be enablers of excellent travel for lots and lots of people, we want to make sure that we can help do our part to preserve that which we send people to do."

Business in Vancouver, July 2006