Sustainable tourism: from oxymoron to mandatory symbiosis

It’s not often that you get to see an industry completely reinventing itself in the face of an existential challenge – but that’s what’s happening to the New Zealand tourism industry right now. In the face of climate change, a global pandemic and a seismic shift in consumer expectations, the tourism industry of Aotearoa New Zealand is working through a complete reset.

yBC’s sustainable tourism portal explores this topic. Built in collaboration with leading academics from four Universities in New Zealand and Australia, the portal pulls together expertise spanning sustainable tourism, transportation, carbon emissions, climate change as well as industry commentators and case studies. All of this will be built on yBC’s ReThink platform, a digital platform which enables high levels of interaction and engagement via the delivery of rich content.

The platform also looks at case studies of New Zealand based tourism businesses making significant changes – even if at the micro level – to reduce carbon emissions and increase sustainability on all fronts. The topic of “over-tourism” is also explored, with examples from around the world.

The sustainable tourism portal launches in July 2024, and will be updated in line with changes in the industry over time. Further announcements will be made here.