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Tourism and Environmental Responsibility

Tourism and Environmental Responsibility. Director General Jaakko Lehtonen Visit Finland. sustainability – a wide-ranging term applicable nowadays to almost every facet of life. Commonly seen aspects environmental economic social. Sustainability = capacity to endure

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Tourism and Environmental Responsibility

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  1. Tourism and EnvironmentalResponsibility Director General Jaakko Lehtonen Visit Finland

  2. sustainability – a wide-ranging term • applicable nowadays to almost every facet of life

  3. Commonly seen aspects • environmental • economic • social

  4. Sustainability = capacity to endure • in ecology, remain diverse • for humans, long-term maintenance of wellbeing • wellbeing of natural world • responsible use of natural resources

  5. “FULFILL YOUR DREAMS IN A WAY WHICH PERMITS THE FUTURE GENERATIONS FULFILL THEIRS”

  6. Finland’s starting point is good • major country image studies indicate that Finland is topping the lists of environmentally responsible countries • environment: 4th out of 50 nations in GFK Ropers (Anholt) Nation Brands’ Index (2008) • environmentalism 1st out of 102 countries (Future Brand: Country Brand Index, 2009)

  7. in the first study, 20 000 people were interviewed in 20 countries (on-line) • respondents represented a solid mix of genders, ages and education but otherwise “laymen” • in the second the respondents were experts (professors, journalists etc) and the results were complemented by scientific publications

  8. the more you know about Finland, the more you appreciate it!

  9. however, those flattering results were anyhow pretty much just surface • in reality, there is still a lot to do in the area of sustainability in Finland

  10. travelling, in particular international travelling • is growing fast • threatens environment • might cause social problems (exploitation of poor countries financially or otherwise)

  11. air traffic in the spotlight – maybe more in the eyes of general public than experts • but it is growing and causes harm

  12. remote, silent places might harvest more and more tourists and get destroyed

  13. sustainable travelling is • profitable • protects local culture • protects environment • takes into consideration economic and social aspects

  14. lots of movement in the area of sustainability underway among the travel trade in Finland

  15. Helsinki Declaration was first launched in 2009 • any company within the travel trade may sign it

  16. HELSINKI DECLARATION

  17. Helsinki DeclarationFOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

  18. Helsinki DeclarationFOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

  19. fullyvoluntary • the company need not be on any special level with sustainability to join the team

  20. outbound agencies (e.g. Finnmatkat, Aurinkomatkat, others) have web pages (maybe also other materials) where they • explain the basics of sustainability (e.g. why charter flights are more environmentally friendly than regular routes) • explain what they are doing viz-a-viz sustainability (e.g.co-operation with major international organizations like ECPAT (against child sex)

  21. lots of initiatives to reach better sustainability, e.g. in Tampere, Koli, Lapland

  22. 1st green hotel in the Nordic countries: GreenStar, Joensuu • Hotel Klaus K first to facilitate visitors to calculate their CO2 footprint

  23. State railways advertises environmental aspects of train traffic • Finnair hired an environment director

  24. The Swan symbol is a Nordic joint symbol for meeting certain environmental standards • Over 30 hotels in Finland have been granted the symbol

  25. ISO 14001 –certificate has been granted to a few travel companies or projects (e.g. Blue 1, Viking Line and Rokua project) • ISO certification is quite a heavy process, too much for smaller companies

  26. Finnish Tourist Board has administrated a quality improvement program for the trade since 2001 (Laatutonni) • over 800 companies in there today • the program includes a significant section on sustainability • a tailored “Green Laatutonni” has also been launched – special interest in companies operating in National Parks

  27. in summary, it can be said that • lots of laudable actions are underway viz-a-viz sustainability within the Finnish travel industry • much more needs to be done • sustainability is used by individual companies in marketing, but rather randomly thus far • apparently more as announcements “we are good guys” than as directly lucrative tools • no national approach to benefit from sustainability issues

  28. clean, neatenvironment is the main attraction of Finland as a destination • naturetops the list of ”what’sbest in Finland” • thus, the travelindustryneeds to doitsutmost to protect the environment

  29. ThankYou!

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