ACTIONS TO SUPPORT THE COMMUNITY
• Switch to local suppliers when price and quality are comparable. Some businesses have a policy to use local suppliers whenever cost is not more than a certain percentage higher.
• Donate your time to local causes, such as having a staff team-building day of tree planting.
• Source produce from local producers to reduce food miles and enable your guests to experience a taste of your region( after all, they travel to your destination to have an experience of the place).
OVER TO YOU You’ ve taken the time to learn why and how – what is one takeaway you would feel proud of doing this week that would support your region’ s tourism operators to benefit the community or the environment?
Tilma Group, 7 Generations Tourism and JJ Strategic Consulting have developed a positive impact accelerator program to enable destination managers to better engage tourism operators in improving their sustainability. For information on the program, please contact admin @ tilmagroup. com. au.
FOOTNOTES
1. For example, Booking. com’ s annual sustainable travel reports reveal ever more travellers( 84 % in 2025) want to buy sustainable travel products and experiences, and Tourism Australia’ s Future of Global Tourism Demand report found 69 % of travellers in 2022 considered sustainability an important factor when planning their holidays.
2. United Nations Brundtland Commission, 1987 3. Booking. com Travel & Sustainability Report 2025 4. World Travel & Tourism Council( no date) 5. Gössling & Reinhold( 2025) 6. Sun et al( 2024) 7. Shmelev & Gilardi( 2025) 8. Gössling & Reinhold( 2025) 9. One of the authors of this article 10. Gössling and Reinhold( 2025)
11. Or development that is exempt, self-assessable, or code assessable with deemed-to-comply standards
REFERENCES
Booking. com( 2025) Travel & Sustainability Report 2025, https:// news. booking. com / download / 487ae9ae-97ef-4f66-b368-3b7178767 7b6 / 2025travelampsustainabilityreport-booking. com2. pdf
Gössling, S & Reinhold, S( 2025) Accelerating small and medium sized tourism enterprises’ engagement with climate change, Journal of Sustainable Tourism, https:// www. tandfonline. com / doi / full / 10.1080 / 0966 9582.2024.2350659 # d1e251
Shmelev, S & Gilardi, E( 2025) Sustainable Business as a Force for Good in the Context of Climate Change: An Econometric Modelling Approach, Sustainability, 17, 1530 https:// www. mdpi. com / 2071- 1050 / 17 / 4 / 1530
Sun, YY, Faturay, F, Lenzen, M et al( 2024) Drivers of global tourism carbon emissions. Nature Communications, vol. 15, article 10384 https:// doi. org / 10.1038 / s41467-024-54582-7
Tourism Australia( 2022) Future of Global Tourism Demand, https:// www. tourism. australia. com / en / insights / consumer-research / future-of-demand. html
United Nations Brundtland Commission( 1987) Report of the World Commission on Environment and Development: Our Common Future, http:// www. un-documents. net / our-common-future. pdf
World Travel & Tourism Council( no date) Sustainable Travel & Tourism, https:// wttc. org / sustainability
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
KUSHLA GALE Kushla Gale is a Regional Tourism Specialist at Tilma Group( Certified B Corporation). At regional tourism development consultancy Tilma Group, Kushla supports the sustainable development of rural and remote destinations with strategic planning that is aligned with the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria and the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.
NIC COOPER Nic Cooper is the Director of 7 Generations Tourism( Certified B Corporation). Winner of a 2025 National Banksia Sustainability Award, Nic leverages his lived experience in his tour business Wild Adventures Melbourne at his purpose-driven consultancy 7 Generations Tourism which empowers tourism destinations and businesses to achieve long-term sustainable success.
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