We have all heard about the property bubble and the equity bubble that was spawned by the financial bubble. Now there is a new one on the horizon – the green and alternative energy bubble.
The ingredients are all there, the legislation is in place, US President Obama is making the environment the cornerstones of his economic recovery plan. The New Zealand government is very sensitive to the greenalisation of the voting public. Suddenly green is the new black. The growing green trend has the populus ignoring economics in the name of social responsibility.
Now what has all this got to do with a NZ tour blog? I have increasingly noticed that the greening of the travelling public is being targeted by many in the tourist industry.
Accommodation providers have for years added their little card in the bathrooms asking guests to think of the environmental impact of having your towels washed. Are they really interested in the environment or is the motivation to save laundry costs.
Last year New Zealand’s official quality rating agency, Qualmark, added environmental performance into their assessment criteria for accommodation providers and visitor activities. This environmental assessment model will be reviewed this year. Chances are the weighting of the environmental component of the assessment will be increased.
This government agency has also released a “Qualmark Green” assessment. You can now search visitor activities or accommodation by their environmental rating.
It clearly is a clever marketing ploy to appeal to the increasing green sensitivity of the travelling public. And its paying off. In November, New Zealand won the ‘Overall Winner’ and ‘Best Destination’ categories in the Virgin Holidays Responsible Tourism Awards…. the what’s it called awards.
Recently when searching for 5 star accommodation on the West Coast of New Zealand which is a oxymoron, I did stumble on a new Franz Josef hotel called the Te Waonui Forest Retreat.
Their website was littered with eco babble bubble like “Throughout the hotel you will find eco-friendly features” and my favourite “Great care has been taken to not only respect and preserve the environment around the hotel, but to celebrate and embrace the rainforest within the hotel’s design” The reality of this last statement should read “we had to convince the local government planners to give permission for a commercial development to proceed in a rain forest”.
The accommodation does however look promising and I will report back after our stay later this year.
With all this green pressure mounting and feeling a little guilty emptying the petrol pumps of small country stations as I tour New Zealand in my six litre gas guzzling Hummer, I thought I too should do my bit for this inevitable green bubble.
