Akiaki – Advancing Tourism

• Why a sustainable approach makes good business sense. 

• How to maximise the benefits of this program. 

• Go back to basics to understand what this really means, and what tools are available to get you started on measuring the footprint of your own business. 

• Find information about both free and paid tools that are available in New Zealand. 

• Learn about options to reduce and offset your emissions.

• Understand why and how you can reduce the waste you send to landfill. 

• Develop ideas to influence your guests to do the right thing. 

• Get inspired to influence your supply chain for far-reaching impacts. 

• Understand the biodiversity crisis and why this is so important for tourism. 

• Identify actions that can help support New Zealand’s biodiversity. 

• Enhance your visitor experience through education and participation.

• Learn about visitor engagement and satisfaction with Whakaipo Lodge and Waitomo Adventures.

• Learn how to build resilience into your business with Fine Art Tours NZ, Hawke's Bay Tourism and Hot Water Beach Top 10 Holiday Park.

• Learn about storytelling with Cycle Journeys, Intrepid Travel and Mount Hot Pools.

Learn about investment & innovation from Tourism Innovation Group, ID Tours New Zealand and Patterson Hospitality.

Learn about what it takes to be an employer of choice and how to engage your local community effectively with Sudima Hotels, Kohutapu Lodge and Zorb.

Learn how to protect, preserve and nurture our culture and identity from Te Pā Tū, Rotorua Rafting and the All Blacks Experience.

On average each course will take 1-2 hours to complete. There are links to further reading which can also extend the time it takes to complete a course.

Yes – you can stop courses any time you like, then pick up where you left off when it suits you.  

We suggest starting with the introduction and after that, you can do the courses in whichever order you like! 

You can download the sustainability action plan template onto your computer, and then complete it as you work through the courses. It is important to note the positive actions you are already taking, as well as the short-term actions and longer-term goals that you can work towards. You can complete the action plan individually or as a team.  

If you are a member of TIA, all your staff can register for Akiaki! We encourage you to share it with all levels of staff. They just need to enter your TIA company number to register.  

If your businesses is not a member of TIA, each staff member will be charged $590 + GST to access all the Akiaki courses. If ten or more staff from the same organisation wish to register, please contact TIA to ask about our package deals. 

Sustainability is a team effort, so we encourage your whole team to get involved. However, it might be more practical to work through Akiaki individually, and then discuss as a team how it applies to your organisation - the choice is yours!

Akiaki – Advancing Tourism is based on the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Committment (TSC) which is very closely aligned with Qualmark. We have heard of many organisations which have written a sustainability action plan based around the TSC and this has helped them with their Qualmark audit. Completing the Akiaki programme will support your Qualmark assessment.