Ara Institute of Canterbury has just signed up to the Tourism Industry Aotearoa (TIA) ‘Tourism Sustainability
Commitment’, a publicly-declared commitment towards the active embrace of sustainable operations in New Zealand.
The Commitment is a natural fit with Ara’s role as one of the South Island’s leading providers of tourism-industry and
hospitality management programmes. Just as New Zealand emphasises its ‘clean green’ credentials to overseas markets, Ara
graduates are encouraged to enter their professional life with a sound grasp of the concepts and practices that
contribute to sustainability in its broadest sense.
Ara also offers New Zealand’s only Masters degree in Sustainable Practice. This is helmed by Dr Allen Hill, who is also
actively engaged in the 2020 - 2021 New Zealand Sustainable Development Goals Summit Series. The Summit Series is the
third such Series to be organized by New Zealand tertiary institutions, and is this year co-hosted by the University of
Canterbury (UC) and Lincoln University, and is supported by Ara Institute of Canterbury, Christchurch City Council (CCC)
and Christchurch NZ. The Series comes to a climax this September with the action-focused workshop at UC entitled
"Pathways to (Urgent) Action".
Past Ara students who have undertaken a Bachelor of Sustainability and Outdoor Education include Sam Le Marchand, who
last year examined circular economies and sustainable practice within selected New Zealand food and beverage businesses.
In the course of undertaking a qualitative survey of four organizations, Sam found that all four had incorporated
policies and procedures that prioritized environmental sustainability, but also discovered that hospitality’s
traditionally tight margins as well as technological and HR barriers can sometimes slow a change towards a better
environmental profile.
However, Ara’s hospitality and tourism programmes have all been developed with a focus on sustainability. From the
Bachelor of International Tourism and Hospitality Management courses through to the Certificate in Tourism courses,
impacts of tourism on the environment, cultural impact of tourism, and the significance of are all core components of
the programmes, along with the need to maintain financial sustainability in tourism organisations.
Part of the commitment to sustainability from the department of Hospitality and Service Industries is a focus on the
waste associated with food production. All of Ara’s training kitchens have three bins to separate out food, recyclable
and rubbish items, with the organic food waste going to an external worm farm. Surrounding the department are a variety
of fruit trees and edible plants, including a herb garden and there are four beehives on the roof that produce honey for
sale on campus. Packaging for all takeaway food containers has been replaced with compostable or recyclable material.
With the advent of the Commitment, the TIA is clearly hoping to help businesses take tangible steps towards more
sustainable operations, claiming that "our Vision is for the New Zealand tourism industry to be ‘leading the world in
sustainable tourism." The organisation further states that in order for this to be achievable, all tourism businesses
need to be "actively working towards sustainability within their operations".
Specifically, the TSC asks that businesses embody the Māori concepts of kaitiakitanga,manaakitanga and whanaungatanga
and put into place a concrete sustainability plan with goals for all 12 of the ‘Commitments’, make measurable progress
towards these goals, and share their progress with their communities.
Dr. Michael Shone, who is head of Research at Ara and whose doctoral thesis covered the impacts of tourism in Akaroa,
says "By formally signing up to this TIA Tourism Sustainability Commitment, we are signalling our own commitment to the
principles which underpin this declaration. This means working together to provides strong benefits the people and
places of Aotearoa. This is an important message not only to our learners but also to our communities."