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Sustainable tourism taking root in Alberta

Not that long ago, the extent of sustainable tourism in Alberta could almost be summed up by hotel room signs encouraging guests to re-use their towels and turn off lights when they left.

But times are rapidly changing. In today’s hotels and motels, low-flow showerheads and toilets are increasingly commonplace, as are energy-efficient lights and appliances. Behind the scenes, some lodgings are using non-toxic cleaning materials, re-using waste water in flowerbeds and even installing solar panels or turning kitchen grease into biodiesel for running grounds equipment and shuttle buses. Meanwhile, tourism transportation companies are filling up with biodiesel, operating hybrid taxis and offering vehicle rental customers the option to purchase carbon offsets.

With soaring fuel prices and escalating operating costs, all these tourism operators are discovering that embarking on energy-efficiency upgrades is just good business practice. But they’re also finding that these and other green actions are attracting the business of travellers who are increasingly concerned about the environmental impact of their journeys.

“We’re seeing more enquiries - particularly from Europe but also from elsewhere - about what sustainable measures our tourism operators are putting in place,” says Don Boynton, Communications Director for Travel Alberta. “It’s become a more important factor in bookings’ decisions by vacation planners and by independent travellers.”

Alberta tourism operators are certainly noticing this shift in attitude. In February, nearly 40 industry officials attended a sustainable tourism workshop hosted by Alberta Tourism, Parks and Recreation. Delegates agreed sustainable tourism is not a niche market but instead something all operators need to incorporate into their operations. And they recognized that a coordinated provincial plan is needed to develop and promote sustainable tourism in Alberta.

“One of the first things we need to do is create a common language, so that when we use the term “sustainable tourism”, people know what we’re talking about,” says John Samms, executive director of Tourism Canmore, who is leading an initial working group, formed at the workshop, on developing that provincial plan. “Right now, if you ask 20 people what it means, you’ll come up with 20 different ideas.”

Another focus is to improve what we’re doing in the province. One way to do that is to find early adopters of best sustainable practices and market their successes to other people in the Alberta industry. It needs to be a series of baby steps. You can’t get to the top of the ladder if there aren’t rungs along the way.”

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Ecotourism seeks a greener path in Alberta

Somewhere on the road to utopia, ecotourism took a bumpy detour. Whether it was unscrupulous operators, bloated claims, unrealistic expectations or simply confusion over exactly what ecotourism meant, the concept hasn’t yet lived up to its promise as a low-impact sector of the global industry.

Within Alberta, Aurum Lodge would seem a perfect candidate as an ecotourism operator (see related story). Not connected to the power grid, the lodge meets nearly all its energy needs from a combination of solar power, excellent insulation and conservation practices. Its operators encourage nature appreciation and low-impact activities in the surrounding Rocky Mountains and donate a portion of gross revenues to various environmental causes. Indeed in 2001, it won the first Alberta ALTO Award for sustainable tourism and is the only Alberta lodging to receive a five-leaf rating from the Audubon Green Leaf Eco-Rating Program.

Aurum Lodge

Yet Aurum Lodge owner Alan Ernst remains ambivalent about using the ecotourism label. “There’s no scientific definition of what constitutes ecotourism or even sustainable tourism,” he says. “The term has also definitely been abused. There’s been a lot of green-washing, a lot of people selling themselves as green or environmentally friendly, even though their intent is to bring in more visitors rather than truly protect the environment.”

Still, there are a growing number of Alberta tourism operators who appear to meet the International Ecotourism Society’s definition of ecotourism as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and sustains the well-being of local people.” For example, Inside Out Experience leads visitors on low-impact activities such as rafting and hiking and mountain biking (on established trails) from its base in Bragg Creek near Kananaskis Country; the company often picks clients up in a shuttle bus rather than have them all arrive in separate vehicles. During excursions, guides educate clients about the natural surroundings, outdoor etiquette (such as low-impact camping) and environmental impacts such as nearby logging.

Inside Out Experience also gets as many goods and services as possible from Bragg Creek businesses, and it supports local aboriginal youth. “We’re training 12 kids from the Stoney Reserve to become hiking, biking and rafting guides this summer,” says company owner Andrew Pratt. “That also allows clients to learn about local history from an aboriginal perspective.”

In the Porcupine Hills of southwest Alberta, Shaunere and Brian Lane have won a national environmental stewardship award for reducing grazing pressures, reviving native grasses and restoring creeks on their Brown Creek Ranch. Their rambling property is also a guest ranch to one family or couple at a time.

“The guests get a chance to see a quiet working ranch and wildlife, too,” says Shaunere. “It’s nice to show people that their food begins on a family ranch in a clean, healthy atmosphere. It’s also important to be a steward, because a lot of good agricultural land is being bought up and turned into shopping centres.”

Brown Creek Ranch

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Discussion Papers

Feasibility of Ground Source Heat Pumps in Alberta

Carbon Capture & Storage: The Need for a Longer-Term Collective Approach to Implementation

The Wedges Approach of Stabilizing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Application to CorporationsThe Wedges Approach of Stabilizing Greenhouse Gas Emissions: Application to Corporations

Water and Energy Efficiency: The Link

Climate Change - Securities Related Disclosure Requirements

Biodiesel Vehicle Fuel: GHG Reductions, Air Emissions, Supply and Economic Overview

Ethanol Vehicle Fuel: Energy Balance, GHG Reductions, Supply and Economic Overview

Manure Management and Greenhouse Mitigation Techniques: A Comparative Analysis

Greenhouse Gas Emissions and Opportunities for Reduction From The Alberta Swine Industry

GHG Reduction in Road Transportation: A Scoping Report into Vehicle Inspection/Maintenance Programs and Alternatives in Alberta

Design Issues for the Implementation and Operation of Greenhouse Gas Inventories and Emission Reduction Registries

Impacts of Climate Change on Human Health

Street Lighting and Traffic Signals Replacement Program

Summary of Federal and Alberta Climate Change Plans

Greenhouse Gas Offsets: An Introduction to Core Elements of an Offset Rule

Implications of an Eco-Certification Program for Alberta

Compliance and the Acid Rain Program

Reduction and Removal of Agricultural Greenhouse Gas Emissions in Alberta

A Basis for Greenhouse Gas Trading in Agriculture

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Eco-transport clears Banff skies

Jason Hardy is no greenhorn when it comes to sustainable tourism transportation. The Banff Airporter owner used clean-burning natural gas to fuel his shuttle buses for five years, until costly technical problems prompted a search for a better alternative. He’s now switched to diesel vehicles that are using an ever-increasing amount of biodiesel.

Banff Airporter

“As a transportation company, we burn lots of fuel,” says Hardy, whose fleet uses some 25,000 litres of diesel a month transporting visitors between the Calgary International Airport and Banff. “We’re trying to make a difference and reduce our environmental footprint, so we’re interested in alternative fuels.”

The biodiesel in the fleet’s fuel mix - which will increase from five per cent (B-5) now to 20 per cent (B-20) later this summer - currently comes already blended from Alberta sources of canola and rendering plant fat. But Banff Airporter is working with Red Deer College to develop a bioreactor on the company’s Banff premises, using cooking grease from local restaurants and hotels as a biodiesel feedstock.

“It’s a win-win situation,” says Hardy. “We would be recycling a waste product that restaurants normally pay to get rid of, and at the same time we’d be saving money and reducing our environmental impact.”

Transportation companies are among the biggest energy users in Alberta’s tourism industry. With soaring fuel prices, it makes economic sense to run the most efficient vehicles possible. Firms that take a greener approach are also finding it’s becoming a competitive advantage amongst tourists increasingly concerned about climate change. “I think if things like price are equal, more people will make choices based on who is making an environmental difference,” says Hardy.

The Banff Airporter isn’t the only sustainable tourist transportation game in town. The Town of Banff recently launched a fleet of four biodiesel/electric hybrid buses. This combination of electric drive and biodiesel mechanical system is expected to cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 20 per cent compared with conventional buses.

Down the highway in Canmore, Marcus Gorton found it made perfect sense to combine his degree in sustainable design with his experience in the taxi industry. So last year, he launched EcoCab, with a starter fleet of two hybrid taxis - a Toyota Prius and a Camry. On the road for 100,000 kilometres a year, they consume about half the gas and spew less than half the pollutants of regular cabs.

eco-Cab

“Customers love it. A lot of locals are very environmentally friendly, and tourists are very interested in them; most have never been in a hybrid vehicle before,” says Gorton. “I believe in doing business in the most environmentally-friendly way possible.” Like Banff Airporter, EcoCab prints its promotional material on recycled paper and uses green cleaning products.

Car rental companies are also responding to growing public environmental concerns. For example, the triumvirate of Enterprise, National and Alamo now allows customers to purchase carbon offsets when they rent vehicles. For about $1.25 per rental, matched by the companies, customers finance the planting of carbon-absorbing trees, expected to offset about half their vehicle emissions. The three car rental firms are also increasing the number of hybrid and E-85 ethanol vehicles in their fleets.