Kosciuszko Thredbo To Undertake Sustainability Benchmarking

Jan. 28, 2010 - PRLog -- Australia may be almost 60 per cent desert, but it still boasts a snow area that has international conservation significance and is valued by all Australians.

Providing a spectacular backdrop to the capital city Canberra, the Australian Alps extend 400km southwards from the state of New South Wales to Victoria. Within the area can be found a chain of state forests and famous national parks such as Kosciuszko.

Set within the 690,000 hectares of the Kosciuszko National Park, Thredbo is one of Australia’s most spectacular alpine communities. It’s also poised to become one of the worlds most sustainable.

Kosciuszko Thredbo recently entered into agreement with the world’s largest provider of travel and tourism certifications, EC3 Global, to undertake sustainability benchmarking. It’s expected that this will reveal exactly how well the resort village is performing with regards to its operations and community.

Kosciuszko Thredbo operates in one of Australia’s most beautiful and sensitive natural settings. Within this landscape, Thredbo Village has evolved to become a vibrant and diverse community.
“Thredbo’s natural and social resources have helped place Kosciuszko Thredbo at the forefront of Australian alpine resorts, explains Paul Corcoran, of Kosciuszko Thredbo. “However, this privilege carries a responsibility to manage Thredbo wisely. Kosciuszko Thredbo is committed to achieving and maintaining a leading position in sustainable alpine resort management. Under our stewardship, the natural and social values of the Thredbo will be conserved or improved for the use and enjoyment of future generations”.

Thredbo is enjoyed by close to a million people annually and so the benchmarking exercise will help management to gain a comprehensive overview of operational and precinct impacts. Indicators will be used to measure the performance of the tourism sites, facilities and services, including accommodation, activities, retail outlets and vehicle use.

EC3 Global will also assess the overall performance of the Kosciuszko Thredbo community and Kosciuszko Thredbo’s management.  This will be achieved using a series of precinct-relevant indicators that include measures for overall energy and water consumption, waste production for the community, and operational indicators specific to the Kosciuszko Thredbo management company.
“Benchmarking exercises such as this one are ideal for tourism operators who own large precincts and the assets within them,” explained Stewart Moore, CEO of EC3 Global. “Dreamworld and Skyrail are two examples of where benchmarking has delivered an excellent outcome and other organisations perfectly positioned to manage their impact in this manner would be the likes of Disney World and Whistler.”

For more information contact:

EC3 Global               Kosciuszko Thredbo Pty Ltd
Chantal Dunbar               Euan Diver
Communications Manager         Environmental Services Manager
chantal.dunbar@ec3global.com         euan_diver@thredbo.com.au
www.ec3global.com            www.thredbo.com.au

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Earthcheck is the world's largest certifier of travel and tourism operators with more than 1000 clients in over 60 countries.