Sustainability and protecting the environment is a key agenda of many industries, including travel and tourism. The three main area of interest are the planet, its people, and the promises or responsibilities businesses have to support both. At Pritchard Leisure, we deliver the best customer experiences and affordable luxury products and services, but we are also committed to caring for the environment and supporting local communities.
What is Sustainable Tourism?
As defined by The World Tourism Organization, sustainable tourism is “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.”
Holiday parks, when not sustainably managed, can produce a vast amount of waste and use large amounts of energy. This puts pressure on the local environment and is a waste of resources. From an environmental, financial and social perspective, reducing its impact is essential.
With our holiday parks, we have measures in place to support these key areas, and to develop further actions to strengthen our efforts in sustainable tourism. Some examples include:
Our Planet
Conservation of natural habitats and wildlife is essential to minimising the impact we have on the local environment. It is also important to conserve resources such as energy and water, and manage waste. Our aim is to physically enhance and protect outdoors spaces to improve biodiversity of wildlife and plants. We also promote awareness throughout our holiday parks, to both staff and customers, about protecting local habitats and biodiversity, as well as the need to save resources, recycle and dispose of waste in line with local environmental management policy.
Our People
By hiring local people to work for us, we are helping our communities find opportunities close by. We are also committed to regular training and development, including internships. This is important because it attracts future generations to learn and develop skills within tourism, one of the key sources of income in our local areas.
We use local business where possible, and encourage our customers to do likewise, again boosting the local economy.
Another important aspect of every community is the history of the area, so for us that means conserving and protecting heritage. Our restoration of the Madryn Castle gatehouse is just one example of an important legacy of Welsh history that we have protected.
Our Promise
At Pritchard Leisure, we care about the future of the travel and tourism industry. Sustainability is one of the most important factors facing the arena today, and we are excited to lead by example. We will continue our commitment to responsible tourism to help both the planet and our local and wider communities, and we operate in an ethical and transparent way in what we do, including our procedures in compliance, security and risk.
One key way to make sure sustainability measures are successful is to build partnerships that support key sustainability principles, so we are always open to, and seeking new ways, to work with others to enhance and develop our practices. We have a couple of exciting new partnerships in the pipeline, so watch this space for further updates.
We believe that the holiday park and home industry is ripe for change, and has a lot of potential for improving its commitment towards the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, and we hope to collaborate with innovators in this space – it is especially important as we emerge from a difficult few years brought about by the pandemic, as well as other political and socio-economic issues such as Brexit and now the war in Ukraine. Having like many had time to reflect on how we operate and conduct our businesses, we firmly believe this is the perfect time to ‘build back better’.
At Pritchard Leisure, we are committed to responsible travel and tourism, and are looking forward to the innovations that can help us move towards a sustainable future.
