Brisbane city skyline, QLD
Global Sustainable Tourism Summit 2024
Ecotourism Australia’s inaugural 2024 Global Sustainable Tourism Summit was held in Meeanjin/Brisbane, QLD 4 to 6 June 2024 at the Pullman Mercure Brisbane King George Square.
About the Global Sustainable Tourism Summit
The 2024 inaugural Global Sustainable Tourism Summit explored the theme ‘People, Planet, Place, Purpose’, delving into how all sectors of the visitor economy can address the four pillars of sustainability: positive environmental, cultural, and socio-economic impact, and sustainable business management. The event continues Ecotourism Australia’s legacy of hosting one of the world’s longest running ecotourism conferences (formerly Global Eco).
As the peak body for eco and sustainable tourism in Australia, this event brings together expert international, pacific region and Australian speakers representing sustainable tourism operators, industry sectors and destinations that are delivering on world’s best practice in sustainability. More than 60 speakers were featured on the 2024 program, with almost half of those representing ECO Certified or Sustainable Tourism Certified operators and destinations. Some 270 delegates from Australia and overseas (including tourism operators and businesses, destination managers, tourism organisations, government, media and education sectors) gathered in Brisbane this year to discuss and explore the challenges, issues and opportunities in sustainable tourism while engaging with industry stakeholders.
Check out highlights from the 2024 event by searching the hashtags #GSTS2024 and #GlobalSustainableTourismSummit on social media!
2024 Event Sustainability Iniatives
At the 2024 Global Sustainable Tourism Summit, Ecotourism Australia are committed to delivering an event that is sustainable as possible, across the four pillars of environment, culture, socio-economic and management. Below is a brief overview of some of our sustainability initiatives:
- Our conference venue, Pullman Mercure Brisbane King George Square, was one of the first businesses in Australia to achieve Sustainable Tourism Certification with Ecotourism Australia and they are committed to wholistic sustainability. The conference room is accessible by lift and there will be a quiet room available. There will be no single use or plastic items available during the conference days, all water and food will be provided with reusable glassware, crockery and cutlery.
- Conference name tags were made of recycled seed paper and cotton lanyards sourced from Terra Tag, a Sunshine Coast-based family business. Delegates are able to grow their very own herb garden by planting their seed name tag and lanyards were collected to be composted in our team-member’s worm farm!
- We limited print materials as much as possible, offering QR codes to view the program and access the virtual delegate bag. Where printing was required, we ordered from Sustainable Printing Co. which uses recycled paper and plant based inks.
- All sessions at the Summit were closed-captioned
- Where possible, our venues provided a menu that was predominately locally sourced
- Working with our Summit Sponsor Reforest, each delegate could adopt their own tree to be planted in Eumundi in the Cooroy Mountain Wildlife Corridor on World Environment Day (5 June 2024). Using the Reforest platform, attendees could also calculate their travel emissions for the event.
- Welcome to Country was delivered by Shannon Ruska of Tribal Experiences, a Brisbane based Aboriginal organisation specialising in local conference Welcome to Countries.
Thank you to our 2024 Sponsors
