Call to focus on clean water

Tourism Export Council chief executive Lesley Immink gives the keynote address at the Council of...
Tourism Export Council chief executive Lesley Immink gives the keynote address at the Council of Australasian Tourism and Hospitality Education conference. Photo: Christine O'Connor.
Today's tourists are environmentally aware, and clean water is an essential aspect for New Zealand’s tourism future, the Tourism Export Council (TEC) says.

TEC chief executive Lesley Immink made the issue the central subject of her keynote speech yesterday at the  Council of Australasian Tourism and Hospitality Education conference, which is being held at the Otago Business School at the University of Otago. More than 270 researchers are in Dunedin to discuss the need for "big ideas" to meet the challenges facing tourism in a fast-changing world.

Mrs Immink showed the audience visitor arrival figures of almost 3.5million in the year to December last year, an 11.8% increase.

When controversy over the "clean, green" image of New Zealand came under attack in recent years, with some saying the reality in New Zealand did not live up to the brand, that had "pricked the conscience" of the industry.

Last year the TEC championed fresh water in its Choose Clean Water campaign. The campaign to keep New Zealand’s water clean had gained momentum last year at a political level, and Mrs Immink said she wanted it to become a higher priority issue this year, an election year.

After her speech she said water was "the essence of life".

Clean water was necessary for tourism, as well as for agriculture and horticulture.

There had been discussion about "green travellers" in the past — people who cared about the environment — and they "are here now".

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