Sustainability

Clifden Eco Beach Camping & Caravanning Park was awarded the gold level sustainable tourism certificate by the Sustainable Tourism Network.

This campsite has sustainability at its core and has a number of achievements to it's name.

Highlights include:

• Banning plastic water bottles and single use plastics since 2014.
• Becoming Europe’s first certified climate neutral campsite in 2015.
• Sourcing spring water from beneath its sand-bearing soils.
• Limiting the amp of power to each camping pitch to conserve energy & using 100% green energy. 
• Avoiding hard stands (concrete) for pitches so that the site can be returned to a green-field site easily and quickly.
• Providing a pick-up service for customers that travel by public transport & providing bikes. 
• Banning toxic formaldehyde-based solution and providing  an eco-friendly options. 

Ireland has committed to cutting greenhouse gas emissions in half by 2030 and achieving net-zero emissions by 2050.

At Fáilte Ireland, we are calling out Driving Climate Action as a Strategic Priority, helping tourism and hospitality businesses contribute to these targets. Not only will your business become more sustainable, but you’ll learn how to introduce efficient cost-saving measures.

To help businesses get started, Fáilte Ireland have provided a user-friendly Climate Action Roadmap complete with a series of guides and supports for your Climate Action journey 

See more by clicking on the image above. 

While tourism audiences are more sustainability-minded than the general public, they don’t yet know what sustainable travel means.
This, however, can change at an unanticipated and fast pace,
so the industry must lead the way and be prepared for the
tourist of the future who demands sustainable choices.

This research aims to identify future-facing sustainable travel experiences that could help bridge the say-do gap and motivate people to make sustainable trip choices.

Click on the image to see how businesses can create winning sustainable tourism experiences. 

In the Arcadis Sustainable Cities Index, 100 global cities are ranked on three sustainability pillars: planet, people, and profit.

The index considers 67 different parameters, including air quality, waste management, and economic performance, to highlight the evolution of urban sustainability.  The rankings are based on the analysis of these parameters, providing a holistic view of each city's sustainability. Key data include air pollution, waste management, investment in low-carbon infrastructure, and factors such as economic performance, social equity, and resilience to natural disasters.

European cities dominate the top ten positions in the Sustainable Cities Index (SCI), with Amsterdam in the number one spot.   

See more in the report. 

This study was carried out to find the impact of replacing domestic air routes of less than two and a half hours, and a maximum of 500km, with high speed trains in EuropE.

Some of the findings include: 

• Potential replacement of over 550 domestic air routes of 500km or less with more efficient high-speed trains. 
• CO2 savings and reduced pollution over short distances carrying 44 million passengers this year.
• Spain, Germany, and France are the countries with the greatest opportunity for CO2 emissions savings in Europe.
• 1 million tonnes of C02 is a 48% reduction and the equivalent of 200,000 cars running continuously for one whole year. 

Following the global pandemic there is “pent-up demand” to travel.  

Alongside this enthusiasm there are also signals that people are open to becoming more sustainable tourists, according to this Ipsos research. 

Read more by clicking the image above. 

The Mediterranean region is one of the most popular tourism destinations worldwide with some destinations having issues or challenges regarding tourism activity. 

This report showcases a range of sustainable tourism examples and good practices which have been successfully implemented  into policies at local, regional and state level in the Mediterranean.

View the 8 best practice case studies in this report by clicking on the image.