Conference Outcomes 2008

Click to download a full summary of the Ecotourism NZ Conference outcomes.

Opening Sessions

The Minister's session key areas:

• Environment

• Offshore marketing

• Tourism research

• Maori tourism

• Capability and workforce issues

Time to raise the bar on environmental, social and cultural performance.

Certification
Aim to have one NZ-wide certification standard

Generally seems to be approval of new standards however questions on:

Where is Kaitiakitanga & Manaakitanga and other cultural elements in the new environ standards
How will Qualmark fit with other certification standards such as Green Globe?
What is the evidence that certification impacts the bottom line?
Acknowledging the unique elements of ecotourism such as interpretation and guiding
How will it differentiate between mainstream tourism and ecotourism?

Concessions

DoC objective to enable business opportunities to occur on DoC land
Significant Changes announced at TIANZ on the allocation of concessions
Favours well performing businesses, involves compulsory Qualmark certification for the life of concession & to continually perform
Now 15 to 20 year leases
Rigorous review process approx. every 5 years
Aim to build long-term partnerships with high performing operations

Feedback from new concessions policy:

Generally positive
Simplifying process
Process needs strong enforcement to protect the integrity of the system
Some questions on compulsory Qualmark certification
Acknowledging the potential impact of competing uses of our environment (e.g. for the West Coast mining and dairying)
On-going communication is key between DoC & concessionaire