As little unnecessary environmental impact as possible
Tourism always involves an impact on the environment. Transport to and from the destination, and activities and consumption when there lead to CO2 emissions. In addition, the visit can have a damaging impact on the environment at the destination.
But the extent of tourism’s impact on the environment is determined by the choices visitors make regarding transport method, length of journey, duration of stay, consumption and actions at the destination. Destinations themselves can influence this by developing and marketing things that cause the least possible damage to the environment.
By caring for the environment, we ensure that we can still offer an attractive destination in the future.
Stepping up Sustainability’s strategy to help tourism generate as little unnecessary environmental impact as possible is to prioritise:
domestic and nearer markets
The shorter the journey the less CO2 is emitted. We are therefore concentrating our resources on encouraging West Swedes to staycation and attracting visitors from the rest of Sweden and selected European markets.
This does not mean that visitors from other markets aren’t welcome. No matter where our visitors arrive from, we always take good care of them.
sustainable methods of transport
Transport to and from destinations is the factor with the greatest significance for tourism’s environmental impact. We make it easier for visitors to make informed choices by clearly stating the carbon emissions of different means of transport. This also makes it easier for visitors to be able to choose to travel by train, car or bus as an alternative to flying.
For journeys within the destination we help visitors select public transport and carpools. When visitors decide to fly to West Sweden, we want it to be possible for them to choose modern direct flights.
get visitors to stay longer
Greater environmental savings are achieved by encouraging guests to stay longer instead of filling accommodation with new guests every day. It results in fewer transports per guest night and requires less cleaning and laundry.
We therefore highlight offers that make visitors keen to stay longer and prioritise target groups that we know by experience will stay several nights.
sustainable operators
The measures an individual business takes to improve the environment are vitally important. We therefore actively monitor our own environmental performance and have joined Stepping up Sustainability to contribute to a sustainable society.
sustainable activities
What visitors do at destinations has an effect on the environment. Different activities have different levels of impact. By developing and marketing attractive activities with as little unnecessary environmental impact as possible we can encourage more people to choose sustainable alternatives.
make it easier for our visitors to do the right thing
The same activity can be more or less sustainable depending on how it is done. The environment is affected by how we as guests act during our stay.
We are working to ensure that practical arrangements are in place to enable visitors to be good guests, such as access to waste sorting and toilets. We will also inform visitors about what they can do to minimise the environmental impact of their stay.
