National Sustainability Framework and Toolkit for Visitor Economy

WHAT'S IT ALL ABOUT? 
Sustainable tourism takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.

WHAT DOES IT MEAN FOR MY BUSINESS?
Embracing sustainability will help visitor economy businesses by:

• Improving profitability and reducing costs
• Increasing reputation, customer and employee satisfaction, competitiveness, and appeal to customers and employees
• Lowering their carbon footprint
• Adapting to and increasing resilience to climate change
• Reducing environmental impact through reuse, repair, recycling and waste reduction
• Improving relationships with customers, employees, local communities and suppliers
• Assisting to preserve iconic natural attractions that draw visitors to Australia.

WHAT IS A VISITOR ECONOMY BUSINESS?
Visitors come to the Coffs Coast for many reasons: to holiday; visit family and friends; attend an event; experience arts and culture; to study or learn; to participate in sport, entertainment, employment, or business meetings; for presentations and conferences; work incentives or rewards; for shopping or health purposes.

If you’re a workplace or business that services or meets the needs of any of these visitors, or even if you employ visitors, you are part of the visitor economy!

In 2021 the Coffs Coast was globally recognised as an ECO Destination. For the Coffs Coast visitor economy to be sustainable, all businesses in the visitor economy have a responsibility to take actions that protect and conserve our unique environments, build resilience to climate change, respectfully engage with our rich and diverse cultures, and work collaboratively with local communities, employees and suppliers to ensure that tourism benefits everyone.

WHAT'S THIS MEAN?

The goal is for visitor economy businesses to embed systems and structures to drive ongoing improvements and communicate their sustainability performance.

HOW IS THIS ACHIEVED?

1. Embedding sustainability principles and practices through a vision, goals and action plan.

2. Measuring business inputs and outputs to understand environmental and social impacts and drive continuous improvement.

3. Engaging with employees, suppliers, local communities, First Nations people, and customers to implement sustainability actions, including learning from First Nations people about caring for the environment.

4. Complying with all applicable legislation including regulations relating to health, safety, labour and the environment.

5. Communicating sustainability actions and performance honestly to customers and stakeholders, including in marketing materials, and pursuing relevant certification, where possible, to provide assurance of ongoing sustainability performance.

WHAT'S THIS MEAN? 
The goal for visitor economy businesses and their supply chains is to:

• Embed nature-positive approaches to protect and regenerate the Coffs Coast's unique natural environment.
• Take action to combat, mitigate, and adapt to climate change.
• Meet Australia's net zero emissions by 2050 commitment.

HOW IS THIS ACHIEVED?
Below are five priorities to help businesses achieve the goals outlined above. See pages 16 - 31 in the toolkit and links to accompanying website pages for more information.

 1. Measure and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
 - Section 2 measure your carbon footprint
 - Section 3 reduce your energy use 

 2. Minimise water use and manage your waste.
 - Section 4 reduce water use
 - Section 5 manage business waste

 3. Adapt and build resilience.
 - Section 7 adapt to changing climate
 - Develop an emergency management plan (includes downloadable template)

 4. Conserve and contribute to biodiversity.
 - Section 8 support biodiversity and regeneration

 5. Shape responsible visitor behaviour.
 - Section 10 interact with wildlife carefully

WHY TAKE ENVIRONMENTAL AND CLIMATE ACTION? 
As customers become more aware of how their actions contribute to climate change, they are increasingly demanding that businesses in all industries, track and report their impact and take action to reduce their greenhouse gas emissions. Benefits of taking action may also include:

• Cost savings
• Regulatory compliance
• Risk mitigation
• Reputation and customer loyalty

WHY INCLUDE CULTURAL SUSTAINABILITY IN YOUR BUSINESS? 
Sustainability involves respectfully acknowledging and including the different cultures found across the Coffs Coast. Benefits of embracing cultural sustainability may also include:

• Reaching new markets and expanding your customer base by catering to unique preferences and values.
• Fostering creativity and innovation.
• Strengthening regional identity and creating unique and authentic experiences.

WHAT'S THIS MEAN? 
The goal for visitor economy businesses is to protect and share Australia's unique cultural heritage, traditions and sites through respectful partnerships with First Nations people, and by celebrating the diversity of our multicultural communities. 

HOW IS THIS ACHIEVED?
Below are five priorities to help businesses achieve the goals outlined above. See pages 34 - 41 in the toolkit for further details.

1. Protecting and preserving cultural assets.
2. Engaging respectfully with and learning from First Nations people.
3. Respecting First Nations’ people enduring traditional knowledge.
4. Embedding sustainable building design practices.
5. Celebrating Australia’s diversity and multicultural communities.

To complement the priorities in the Toolkit, the Respect culture in tourism webpage has additional information that can be used by all Coffs Coast businesses. 

IN SUMMARY
Incorporating and demonstrating your values of diversity, inclusion, well-being, and recognition and respect for people of all backgrounds is an important part of your social licence to operate (how supportive your community is of your business), and therefore to the long-term success of your business.

WHY CREATE POSITIVE SOCIAL IMPACT? 

Regardless of the size of your business, your impact can stretch much further than your employees and customers. Creating positive social impact can:

• Strengthen the reputation and brand of your business in your community.
• Increase staff retention and appeal of the business when recruiting new team members.
• Reduce stress and absenteeism among team members.
• Enhance efficiencies.
• Create a competitive advantage.
• Increase customer willingness to choose your business, due to shared values and ethical practices.

WHAT'S THIS MEAN? 
The goal for visitor economy businesses is to create positive social and economic impacts through creating jobs, purchasing from local suppliers, and supporting community development.

HOW IS THIS ACHIEVED?
Below are five priorities to help businesses achieve the goals outlined above. See pages 42 - 50 in the toolkit for further details.

1. Creating economic opportunity
2. Purchasing from and promoting local suppliers
3. Delivering an inclusive and equitable workplace
4. Providing accessible experiences and services
5. Maintaining a social licence

To complement the priorities in the Toolkit, the Create social impact in tourism webpage has additional information that can be used by all Coffs Coast businesses. 

IN SUMMARY
You can create trust, well-being and community support ('social licence') for your business by actively working with and contributing to your local community.

In summary there are four pillars of sustainability:

• Taking a managed approach
• Environmental and climate action
• Respecting culture
• Creating positive social impact

As the front image depicts, all four pillars work symbiotically to protect Australia's unique natural and cultural assets, now and into the future. Each business will approach its sustainability journey in a different way, however, the pillars provide guidance for all businesses. Businesses are also encouraged to approach sustainability holistically, linking actions across pillars and not treating them in isolation. For example, some environmental actions (pillar 2) can be taken via engagement with First Nations peoples (Pillar 3).

HOW TO PROMOTE YOUR SUSTAINABILITY STORY? 
Talking about your sustainability achievements with your customers and community can establish a competitive advantage where your sustainable practices become a point of difference. Communicating about sustainability also helps your employees, customers and wider community understand your values so you can work collectively towards common goals.

HOW TO BACK UP YOUR CLAIMS? 
If you’re making environmental claims about your products, services, and operations, it’s important to have evidence to avoid risking claims of greenwashing or greenhushing. What do these words mean?

Greenwashing: Making unsubstantiated or misleading claims about the environmental benefits of a product, service, or company.
Greenhushing: Staying silent about genuine sustainability achievements, often due to fear of criticism for not doing enough.

Other actions to consider:

• Do not leave out or hide important information
• Explain any condition or qualification on your claims
• Avoid broad and unqualified claims
• Use clear and easy-to-understand language
• Visual elements should not give the wrong impression
• Be direct and open about your sustainability transition

FIND OUT MORE
See pages 51 - 56 in the toolkit, and visit the Promote your sustainable business webpage for additional information that can be used by all Coffs Coast businesses.

No matter where you are on your sustainability journey, by continuing to make changes to your business for the good of the planet and people around you, you can:

• improve profitability and reduce costs
• form new partnerships with local communities and suppliers
• build your reputation and stay competitive
• appeal to new customers
• attract and retain employees
• reduce your carbon footprint
• adapt to climate change.

It's fine if your sustainability journey looks different to that of other businesses. What matters most is that you start now and keep going. A sustainability action plan helps you figure out what to do and stay on track. You can download a free template here.