Ecotourism Australia Wishes You a Joyful Holiday Season and a Bright New Year!
As 2024 comes to a close, we want to extend our heartfelt thanks to everyone who has supported Ecotourism Australia this year.
Your commitment has helped make 2024 our most impactful year yet, with some incredible achievements that continue to advance sustainable tourism across Australia.
As we near the end of 2024, here are some highlights that have made this year truly remarkable.
ECO Certification Program
We certified 24 new tourism businesses and celebrated 12 operators reaching Green Travel Leader status, awarded for 10 years of certification. Two operators – Paronella Park in Queensland and Scenic World Blue Mountains in NSW – were honoured with Hall of Fame status for 20 years of consistently upholding best-practice sustainability standards.
Sustainable Tourism Certification Program
Our Sustainable Tourism Program saw tremendous growth this year, welcoming 140 newly Certified operators, driven largely by our landmark partnership with Accor Pacific. Accor has set an ambitious goal to certify all their Australian properties with Ecotourism Australia by the end of 2025.
Destination Program
In 2024, we certified four new destinations, Bellingen Shire, Townsville, Gladstone Region and Capricorn Coast – who have now joined a global network of more than 400 sustainable destinations through our Green Destinations partnership. We were also thrilled to have to opportunity to showcase Australian certified destinations to an international audience at the Green Destinations Global Conference 2024 in Chilean Patagonia.
Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard
Our pre-certification program, the Strive 4 Sustainability Scorecard, continues to grow with 179 new registrations in 2024. Thank you to our founding partner Tourism Australia, and industry partners Destination NSW, Visit Canberra, Tourism MidWest Victoria and the Queensland Government’s Department of Tourism and Sport (DTS) for providing valuable opportunities for businesses to begin their sustainability journey.
2024 Global Sustainability Tourism Summit
This year, we proudly hosted our first Global Sustainable Tourism Summit, themed People, Planet, Place, Purpose, from 4–6 June in Meeanjin/Brisbane. The event brought together over 280 delegates and 62 speakers from across all states and territories and five countries to engage in innovative and meaningful conversations about the challenges and opportunities for ecotourism and sustainable tourism.
Global Partners
Our strategic partnerships with leading international organisations and key industry bodies continue to reinforce Ecotourism Australia’s position as a global leader in sustainable tourism.
This year saw our ECO and Sustainable Tourism Certification programs recognised by Travalyst, meaning certified hotels can now have their certification highlighted across global platforms including Booking.com, Google, Expedia, Trip.com, Tripadvisor, Amadeus, Sabre, Skyscanner, Travelport, Visa and Mastercard.
We are proud to continue to work collaboratively with other leading global certifying bodies to ensure international best-practice standards are maintained and recognised. By working with these bodies, we promote quality management, continuous improvement and alignment with emerging consumer protection legislation, including the European Union’s Green Claims Directive.
National partnerships
Our national partnerships with Big Red Group, Australian Tourism Data Warehouse, WWF-Australia, the Australian Tourism Export Council, Caravan Industry Association of Australia and Accommodation Australia have amplified the importance of sustainable tourism and credible certification to the broader tourism industry.
Find out more about our partners here.
New Board of Directors
In October 2024, Ecotourism Australia held its Annual General Meeting, where we announced our new Board of Directors for 2024/25. Members elected four new Directors and re-elected one returning Director, forming the eight-person Ecotourism Australia Board. We would like to welcome our new Directors and thank our outgoing Directors.
Find out more here.
Making Ecotourism Australia More Accessible
Ecotourism Australia has been working to make our digital collateral, including our corporate website and the Green Travel Guide more accessible.
Through the QLD Government’s Boosting Accessible Tourism Experiences Grant program, we have improved our sustainability initiatives and made our visual information more inclusive and accessible for those with visual impairments or learning difficulties. This extensive process included conducting a website accessibility audit and re-developing our corporate and visitor-facing website, the Green Travel Guide.