LOCAL GOVERNMENT
PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
ABOUT THE PATHWAYS PROGRAM
What is the Local Government Pathways to Sustainable Tourism Workshop Program?
The Local Government Pathways to Sustainable Tourism Workshop Program aims to provide staff,
managers and elected representatives within local government with a process to achieve sustainable
tourism development. It is based on best practice examples from across Australia and world-leading
research on Destination Management from Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre
(STCRC) in partnership with EC3 Global. The program includes step-by-step assistance for councils to
undertake sustainable tourism planning.
The program includes:

A Health Check based on the principles of Destination Management to assist tourism
managers within council assess their tourism approach against best-practice benchmarks;

A pathway to sustainable tourism that can either be self-guided through the use of the
templates OR through professionally facilitated delivery; and

A range of implementation and monitoring resources and tools to assist local
governments to monitor and improve their approach to sustainable tourism.
The program has been designed for flexible delivery:

Program materials can be provided free of charge to a professional facilitator or
destination management consultant engaged by council. Alternatively, STCRC’s subsidiary
company EC3 Global (www.ec3global.com) can be contracted to facilitate specialised research
and workshop delivery; or

Program materials can be provided free as a self-guided resource, whereby council works
through the Program at their own pace and the Program is managed and facilitated entirely by
appropriate council staff; or

A tailored approach involving both facilitated and self-guided components based on the
needs of council.
What is Sustainable Tourism?
Sustainable tourism (Diagram 1) is responsible tourism that is both ecologically and culturally
sensitive. It is an industry which attempts to have a low impact on the environment and local culture
while still achieving economic growth. Internationally, consumer demand for sustainable products and
services is increasing as sustainable tourism not only ensures the natural environment is preserved
for future generations but can also enhance the present day visitor experience.
Sustainable tourism is:




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Ensuring that the actions of today do not take away from the opportunities of tomorrow;
An approach for all tourism businesses not just those involved in ecotourism;
Adopting a Destination Management approach;
Working with your partners to encourage sustainable tourism growth; and
Monitoring progress to allow constant improvement.
The relationship between sustainable tourism, nature-based tourism and ecotourism is illustrated in
the following diagram.
For further information please contact STCRC
Visit: www.crctourism.com.au Call: +61 7 5552 8172 or Email info@crctourism.com.au
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Diagram 1: Sustainable Tourism, Nature-based Tourism and Ecotourism
Sustainable Tourism
The drive to make all tourism businesses
ecologically and culturally sensitive by
building environmental awareness and
practice into destination planning
Nature-based Tourism
Sustainable tourism practices delivered in
protected or managed natural environments
Ecotourism
A niche of nature-based tourism where
learning, appreciation and conservation are
the focus.
A low-volume, high-yield sector in protected
or managed environments
What are the benefits for local government?
Tourism is an activity that directly and indirectly contributes to local economies. For example, when a
visitor goes to a restaurant, that restaurant becomes part of the tourism industry. In addition there
are a wide range of businesses that rely on and support both direct and indirect service providers.
These indirect services include, for example, accountants, lawyers, pharmacists and printing
companies.
Tourism is therefore an activity that contributes to almost all traditional local industries via products
and services purchased by visitors. Tourism also attracts investment which provides infrastructure,
services and facilities that cater to both visitors and residents.
In addition to contributing to local economies, sustainable tourism can:
 Attract investment in infrastructure, services and facilities that cater to both visitors and
residents
 Contribute to improving lifestyle values within a community
 Encourage greater participation from a wide-range of stakeholders, reducing the onus on
council
 Reduce negative perceptions of visitors and investment by engaging communities in tourism
planning
 Increase return on investment through targeted and efficient activities
The Five-Step Pathway to Sustainable Tourism
The Five-Step Pathway to Sustainable Tourism (Diagram 2) outlines a
process that involves assessing the current situation, including the role of
importance of tourism; identifying the key tourism stakeholders in your local and
planning for tourism; implementing agreed actions; and monitoring and reviewing
time.
simple five-step
councils and the
regional network;
your success over
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT
PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Diagram 2: Five-Step Pathway to Sustainable Tourism for Local Government
Step 5: Annual
Review
Step 1: Getting
Started
Form a tourism
group and
complete the
Health Check
Evaluate your
success and
future challenges
THE PATHWAY TO
SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Step 4:
Implementation
Prioritise actions
and prepare an
annual tourism
action plan
FOR
LOCAL GOVERNMENT
Step 2: Engage
Partners
Identify and
engage internal
and external
stakeholders
Step 3: Develop
a Tourism
Strategy
Adopt a destination
management
approach
The program includes the following resources and templates for each of the five steps.
Step 1: Getting Started
Having a tourism champion and forming a tourism group are the two most important first steps.
The Program provides help with getting started and using your own resources through:
 The Getting Started Workbook
 A tourism Health Check (MS WORD) to assess performance against destination management
benchmarks
 The DIY or Hire? Factsheet to help you decide whether to employ the services of a
destination management consultant
Step 2: Engaging Partners
Engaging the various organisations and groups involved in tourism can be tricky. To assist councils to
get this process right and ensure roles are clearly defined, the Program provides:
 An Engaging Partners Workbook
To help councils in conducting workshops either in-house or with the assistance of a facilitator, the
Program provides:
 A Facilitator’s Workbook
 Half-day and full-day stakeholder workshop PowerPoint presentation templates including
supporting slides
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LOCAL GOVERNMENT
PATHWAYS TO SUSTAINABLE TOURISM
Step 3: Developing your Sustainable Tourism Strategy
Prepare a professional Sustainable Tourism Strategy in house. Resources to assist you include:
 The Sustainable Tourism Strategy Workbook
 Factsheets covering Tourism Research and Trends and how to conduct a Vision Workshop
Step 4: Implementation
Together with your key partners, commence implementation of your tourism strategy. This includes
selecting projects to be taken forward in an annual tourism action plan. The following resources are
available to guide council along the way:
 An Implementation Workbook including tips on preparing a prioritised project list using the
Tourism Action Plan template
 The Action Plan Supporting Material
 A template for a Statement of Roles or Partnership Agreement
Step 5: Annual Review
The real work starts once you have a plan. To assist councils, the Program provides:
 An Annual Review Workbook
 An STCRC Feedback Form so that the Program can be updated to reflect the changing needs
of local governments
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