Sustainability

The Sunshine Coast prides itself on being a place of rural living amid wild natural places that provide adventure, rest, and rejuvenation for its residents and visitors alike. We want to invite respectful visitors who are committed to preserving and protecting these attributes, for our enjoyment now and for generations to come.
 

Sustainable Tourism 2030 Pledge

Sunshine Coast Tourism is dedicated to encouraging responsible travel and creating a positive benefit in our community through tourism. To lead these efforts, we launched the Sustainable Sunshine Coast initiative in 2021, and in 2023 we have taken the Sustainable Tourism 2030 Pledge, demonstrating our dedication to improving sustainability performance between now and 2030 in support of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The UN World Tourism Organization defines sustainable tourism as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities.”

Each year, Sunshine Coast Tourism commits to measuring and improving our sustainability performance in the following ways:

• Continuing the ‘Sustainable Sunshine Coast’ initiative to educate visitors on how to reduce their footprint and support activities that are low-impact and regenerative
• Supporting local entrepreneurs and the community by developing a sustainable purchasing policy
• Supporting local active transportation infrastructure development to reduce carbon emissions
• Offering educational opportunities for the local tourism industry on measuring and improving sustainability performance
• Enhancing cultural awareness and acknowledgement of Indigenous Peoples and the First Nation communities of the Sunshine Coast amongst our staff, industry, and visitors to the destination
• Achieving sustainability certification of our brick-and-mortar Visitor Centres and maintaining/improving performance thereafter; both the Sechelt and Gibsons Visitor Centres have now achieved Silver Certification through GreenStep’s Sustainable Tourism Program.

We encourage our partners and stakeholders to join us in this movement. For more information, visit sustainabletourism2030.com/pledge.
 

Sustainable Sunshine Coast

Sustainable Sunshine Coast is a partnership of organizations that are managing the Sunshine Coast’s capacity for sustainable tourism through outreach, shared best practices, and connecting visitors, operators, and locals to resources and innovative ideas. With more visitors and locals demanding sustainable operations, reducing our footprint is better for the planet and the bottom line. We support tourism business operations and experiences on the Coast that are low impact and regenerative, which shrink tourism operations’ ecological and carbon footprints while providing rich and memorable visitor experiences. 

This is a collective effort. We are on this journey together. We aim to share our ideas, successes, and challenges and encourage everyone who lives here and visits to do the same.

Sustainable Sunshine Coast is a partner-led initiative: