tourism and environmental responsibility

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Tourism and Environmental Responsibility

Director General Jaakko LehtonenVisit Finland

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

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Commonly seen aspects•environmental•economic•social

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Sustainability = capacity to endure• in ecology, remain diverse• for humans, long-term maintenance of wellbeing

•wellbeing of natural world• responsible use of natural resources

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“FULFILL YOUR DREAMS IN A WAY WHICH PERMITS THE FUTURE GENERATIONS

FULFILL THEIRS”

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•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)

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• 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

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

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•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

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

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•air traffic in the spotlight – maybe more in the eyes of general public than experts

•but it is growing and causes harm

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• remote, silent places might harvest more and more tourists and get destroyed

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

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

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•Helsinki Declaration was first launched in 2009

•any company within the travel trade may sign it

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HELSINKI DECLARATION Matkatoimisto Oy AreaAmadeus FinlandArktikum-palvelu OyAskan Matkailupalvelut OyAurinkomatkat OyBlue1Citytours Global OyDörten LomapalvelutEdupoliERÄELLAEtelä-Pohjanmaan Matkailu OyFeel The Nature -retketFinnair OyjFinnature OyFinnlinesFinnmatkat Oy AbFirst Rent a Car Finland Oy / Hertz International FranchiseeFMT/Forssan matkatoimisto OyGalaxia ToursGoTampere OyGreenStar Hotels OyHaaga-Helia AmmattikorkeakouluHangon kaupungin matkailutoimistoHelsingin kaupunki, matkailu- ja kongressitoimistoHelsingin Laatumatkat OyHostel Suomenlinna, SuomenleirikouluyhdistysHotel & Hostel Nagu

GammelgårdHotelli Inarin KultahoviHotelli-Ravintola Lasaretti Intia-keskusItä-Lapin ammattiopisto / matkailualan koulutusJoutenhoviKalahari Consultants Koonono-matkatKaleva Travel OyKILROY travels FinlandKoivulan kartanoKotikolo JattaLiiketalousopisto Helsinki-MalmiLinja-autoliittoLivonia TravelsLoma-Karvio OyLomamatkat OyLSS - Long Special Services LTdOyMaatilamatkailu VasumäkiMandala TravelMatkailulehti MondoMatkaMieli OyKotikolo JattaLiiketalousopisto Helsinki-MalmiLinja-autoliittoLivonia TravelsLoma-Karvio OyLomamatkat Oy

LSS - Long Special Services LTdOyMaatilamatkailu VasumäkiMandala TravelMatkailulehti MondoMatkaMieli OyMatkatoimisto Avara Maailma Matkatoimisto Detur Finland OyMatkatoimisto HETAMetsähallitus -Villi Pohjola -Eräsetti Oy -LuontopalvelutMetsämatkat OyMetsäpeuranmaan matkailu ryMimino OyNatura VivaOK-matkat OyOLYMPIA Kaukomatkatoimisto (Air Travel Ltd)Opintiet OyOy Gaia Travels LtdOy ProPerson Ab/Stor-Kroksnäs KokouskartanoOy Scorza LtdOy Tjäreborg AbOy Traveller AbPentsami Oy / SamimatkatPorvoo Tours OyPorvoon matkailutoimisto

ProAgria Pohjois-KarjalaRatsutila ToivonharjuRypölän TorppaSafaris-The Lapland ConnectionSaga Matkat OySatakunta TouristSavipaja PeltorantaScandic HotelsStadion HostelSeikkailulaakso OySF-Caravan rySuomen Autolomat OySuomen Latu KiilopääSuomen Liikematkayhdistys ry FBTASuomen luomumatkailuyhdistys - ECEAT SuomiSuomen Matkailuorganisaatiot -SUOMA rySuomen Matkatoimisto OySuomen Saaristovaraus Oy, Saaristomeren luontokouluTallink Silja OyTörnävän kesäteatteriVantaan kaupungin matkailuVIA Travelzon Finland OyViking Line AbpVR OsakeyhtiöVuoristo-yhtiöt Oy, Hotelli Haikon Kartano

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Helsinki DeclarationFOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

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Helsinki DeclarationFOR SUSTAINABLE TOURISM

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• fully voluntary• the company need not be on any special level with sustainability to join the team

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•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)

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

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•1st green hotel in the Nordic countries: GreenStar, Joensuu

•Hotel Klaus K first to facilitate visitors to calculate their CO2 footprint

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•State railways advertises environmental aspects of train traffic

•Finnair hired an environment director

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•The Swan symbol is a Nordic joint symbol for meeting certain environmental standards

•Over 30 hotels in Finland have been granted the symbol

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• 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

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•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

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• 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

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• clean, neat environment is the main attraction of Finland as a destination

• nature tops the list of ”what’s best in Finland”• thus, the travel industry needs to do its utmost to

protect the environment

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Thank You!