East Gippsland, Victoria's FIRST eco-accredited destination!
In great news, East Gippsland is the first destination in Victoria and seventh in Australia to meet global best practice sustainability standards to achieve Eco Destination certification, with Ecotourism Australia. This proves that our green thumb goes well beyond our back gardens.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR OUR REGION?
So what does this tick really mean? Does it actually make a difference? And how can you get involved?
This accreditation has announced East Gippsland as a nature-based tourism destination with a strong commitment to ecotourism principles. But this little tick is about more than attracting tourists.
- It’s about the way our community takes real, tangible actions to enhance and protect our natural environment.
- It’s about the way we honour our cultural heritage, build responsible businesses that last, and look after each other and the land around us.
- It’s our way of saying we protect our natural treasures — from our multiple national and state parks to the marine oasis of the Gippsland Lakes, Cape Conran and Croajingolong Coastal and Marine Parks— and when you visit us, you can too.
So if you’re the kind of person who wants to do right by the planet (even when you’re on holiday) then we invite you to visit us in East Gippsland and see why we are Victoria's first ECO Destination for Ecotourism.
WHAT SORT OF ECO EXPERIENCES ARE ON OFFER IN EAST GIPPSLAND?
We don’t mean to brag but East Gippsland has some of the most spectacular natural scenery in the whole world. Where you’ll find 15 significant National Parks and extensive State Forests and Reserves. Pristine beaches with cracking surf along the iconic 90 mile beach. And those marine parks we mentioned? Cape Conran Marine Park is home to Beware Reef Marine Sanctuary - a divers paradise. It also hosts the whale migration between May and October every year, so keep a close eye out from nearby beaches.
ECO accreditation takes the hard work out of finding genuine nature and ecotourism operators. So that when it’s time for your East Gippsland eco-adventure, you know you’re choosing the real deal. As well as aiming to be an Ecotourism Australia ECO Tourism destination, East Gippsland has two Ecotourism Australia-certified champions, with more working towards their own certification.
As for our community? They’re keen to help the environment too! They run regular beach clean-ups, make great use of public water stations instead of single-use plastic bottles, and have loads of passionate environmental protection volunteer groups
HOW DOES A DESTINATION BECOME CERTIFIED?
Well to start, one organisation needs to put their hand up to lead the charge and manage the lengthy accreditation process. In our case, this is East Gippsland Shire Council
As well as creating a tonne of environment management strategies and projects that helps East Gippsland become accredited, Council also spent around two years on the ECO Destination application process.
But while Council is managing the process, our whole region and community will be evaluated against six criteria:
- Destination Management: That’s things like sustainable development, infrastructure, planning and monitoring.
- Nature & Scenery: That’s how we look after wildlife, landscape and scenery.
- Environment & Climate: That’s how we manage water, waste, pollution and renewable resources.
- Culture & Tradition: That’s how we respect and protect living culture, traditions, and cultural sites.
- Social & Well-being: That’s the way our community gets involved, looks after each other (and the land) and creates a strong, fair economy.
- Business & Hospitality: That’s how the tourism sector takes responsibility for sustainability, promotes our regions respectfully and looks after our tourists.
As a result, we’ve got a roadmap that will support the community, tourism sector, and environment now and into the future.