improved infrastructure, transportation, waste management, and environmental conservation and regeneration.
Because tourism businesses are powerful in their collective impact The tourism industry’ s small businesses play a surprising role: collectively, they contribute over half of the tourism industry’ s emissions, and tourism delivers a giant 9 % of global emissions. 5 Unfortunately, annual tourism emissions are growing at twice the rate of the global economy, and are on track to double in 20 years. 6 The legally binding Paris Agreement requires tourism to reduce emissions by more than 10 % each year; we can’ t protect destinations from the impacts of climate change without our industry achieving its share of global targets.
Small tourism businesses have the ability to contribute positively in a way that can make a real difference collectively. Tourism businesses have the agency to act to protect nature and communities, such as by reducing waste, reducing emissions, and supporting their local community and biodiversity conservation.
Because sustainability supports business viability Sustainability leaders tend to be leaders in their industries from a financial point of view. They have a wider vision: they focus on the long term, and are better at anticipating and minimising risks. 7 Sustainability should be a strategic priority for businesses, as it enhances profitability, delivers cost savings, helps attract and retain staff, improves relations with suppliers and investors, increases innovation and competitive advantage, and enhances the long-term performance provided by a good reputation, amongst many other benefits.
And because destination managers are powerful agents of change One of the two most powerful levers for systemic change in reducing emissions in tourism businesses is destination managers 8( the other is legislation).
Destination managers can provide tourism businesses with the right guidance, carrots, sticks, and tambourines( celebrations of successes) to inspire and enable them to reduce emissions, support nature conservation and regeneration, and benefit residents while increasing profitability and enhancing visitor experiences and visitor satisfaction.
CASE STUDY
How a remote destination manager reduced their destination’ s emissions while saving local tourism businesses hundreds of thousands of dollars The Economic Development Manager at Balonne Shire Council has taken a proactive, practical approach to helping local tourism operators reduce business costs while cutting emissions. The Manager actively engages businesses in the Queensland Government’ s free ecoBiz program. EcoBiz provides tailored action plans for businesses on how to reduce their emissions by saving money on their energy, water and waste bills. Actions range from simple, no-cost behaviour changes, such as switching off lights and equipment at the end of the day, through to larger investment actions, such as installing solar and upgrading to energyefficient equipment.
Through sustained engagement, the Council has successfully involved around one-third of the region’ s tourism businesses( 24 operators) and approximately one-quarter of all local businesses( 71 businesses in total). The results have been significant. According to the manager, participating businesses have collectively saved around $ 800,000 on their utility bills, and attracted $ 850,000 in grant funding to their region, supporting initiatives such as solar installations and energy-efficient upgrades. One tourism business, a small town café, has saved to date around $ 11,000 over three years.
The strongest driver for participation has been reducing electricity costs. Recognising this, the Economic Development Manager then applied for grant funding for a targeted energyefficiency business improvement program. By coordinating solar installations through a single provider and requiring quarterly reporting on cost savings and emissions reductions, the Council has been able to clearly track and demonstrate outcomes from that program.
This evidence-based approach will strengthen Council’ s future funding applications. Looking ahead, the Manager believes councils and destination managers will increasingly need to demonstrate how they are driving emissions reductions across their entire region, not just within council-controlled operations.
ABOVE: Hilton Hotels incentivise guests who pass on having their room made up. This saves on water and electricity used to wash and dry towels and sheets, reduces wear and waste as well as reducing physically demanding repetitive work, and normalises‘ light-touch’ travel.
THE VALUE OF OFFERING SUSTAINABLE AND TRANSFORMATIONAL TRAVEL FOR A BUSINESS Tourism is full of examples of businesses leveraging sustainability to deliver win-winwin outcomes.
CASE STUDY
Enabling guests to do better by default: Wild Adventures Melbourne Rather than having positive impact goals separate from their guest experience, tour operator Wild Adventures Melbourne( WAM) infuses eco practices into the customer experience, providing a richer experience for guests whilst delivering greater environmental, social, and economic benefits for their tours’ host communities.
Before launching the small eco adventure tours on southern Victoria’ s Mornington Peninsula, WAM’ s founder 9 identified the potential negative impacts that the business and its guests might cause, and sought out solutions for these before they occurred.
For example, WAM operates all tours as zero-waste by providing guests with ecopacks. These contain curated reusable
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT JOURNAL VOL 19 NO 1 2026 07