ADVERTORIAL
Running a Green Tourism business
Hello , I ’ m Claire from Wreckspeditions Dive Charters and I would like to tell you about our journey to become a Green Tourism business
The Team Wreckspeditions is run by myself and partner Jason . We offer scuba diving trips all year round from our base on the Clyde and we have a shop and training centre in Dunoon from which we currently offer air fills and BSAC training courses .
Environmental Fails and Wins An integral part of our business is our boat which has a huge engine powered by unleaded fuel . This is obviously not very environmentally friendly .
Our original business model was to drive to any site in the UK that our customers wanted to dive . This meant that we had to tow the boat huge distances , launching and recovering and once the trip was complete , moving on to the next location or towing the boat back to base . To combat this , we
decided to move to the Clyde and have the boat permanently based in the water . This reduces our need to tow the boat anywhere and means we can now cycle or walk to work instead of drive .
For our boat and engine , we stick to a very strict servicing regime , even outside of the warranty period . It is serviced locally which not only improves the safety of our operation but it means the engine runs more efficiently and it reduces the risk of us polluting the sea with oils and fuel . A win win !
Green Tourism Journey However , we still weren ’ t satisfied that we were doing all we could to care and protect the environment . We had heard a statement saying that by 2050 , there would be more plastic in the ocean than fish . This is really upsetting and as divers we love nothing more than seeing and appreciating the incredible ecosystems living in our waters , and plastic pollution is doing devastating things to them .
In December 2020 , I stumbled across the Green Tourism Award scheme , this really piqued my interest and so I took
their online test to see how we were doing . I thought we were doing better than your average person / company ……. However , this scheme opens up a whole new world !!
So what did we learn through our journey ?
Suppliers Green Tourism provides you with tools to check how green and ethical your suppliers and their individual products are . We use these tools regularly to check our suppliers and we make changes when new and innovative products and companies come onto the market . We have changed the suppliers of our hot drinks served on the Starfish Enterprise .
We have also found a UK based company who can digitally print clothing without using plastic ink for our uniforms . This company also uses 100 % organic cotton garments and has a circular economy which means that when our clothing is worn out , we send it back to them and they make new products from it .
Green Tourism provides you with tools to check how green and ethical your suppliers and their individual products are
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