MEDIA RELEASE – 13 DECEMBER 2022
TOURISM NOOSA LAUNCHES THE TREAD LIGHTLY PROGRAM
Tourism Noosa has launched the Tread Lightly Noosa Program, providing visitors the opportunity to lighten their environmental footprint while on holiday in Noosa.
Focused on the protection and rejuvenation of our rich biodiverse landscape, the Tread Lightly Program provides visitors with the opportunity to gain hands-on education and insight into local environmental projects and programs making a difference in Noosa today.
Tourism Noosa’s Head of Tourism Sustainability and Program Design, Juanita Terry-Bloomfield explains: “Sustainable travel was once the desire for a small group of visitors to Noosa and in recent years we have seen this desire gaining considerable momentum. According to Booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report for 2022, 71% of global travellers are planning to make more effort in the next year to travel more sustainably, this is an increase of 10% from 2021 - we believe sustainable travel is no longer the ambition of the few but of many to Noosa.”
The Tread Lightly Program features six environment-based experiences to suit visitors' interests and availability, inspiring them to venture beyond the usual sights and sounds of a Noosa holiday.
Plastic Free Noosa – Beach Clean-Ups
Visitors can help protect the Noosa Biosphere Reserve and join in on a Plastic Free Noosa clean-up event. Remove microplastics and other pollution from the coastline, creeks, estuaries, and rivers across Noosa and become part of the solution to plastic pollution.
First Event Date: 5 March 2023
Trees for Tourism – Tree Planting
Visitors can plant a tree and personally help rejuvenate vulnerable bushland areas of the Noosa Biosphere. Each native tree provides shade for walkers, assists with erosion mitigation, and improves the habitat for local koalas and over 700 wildlife species native to Noosa.
First Event Date: 20 March 2023
Enter the Flyosphere – Noosa Shorebirds Experience
Visitors can take a guided tour of the Noosa River estuary and admire the resident shorebirds and migratory species from a distance in their natural habitat as they rest and forage along the foreshore and islands of Noosa.
First Event Date: 19 December 2022
Second Event Date: 2 February 2023
Noosa Oyster Gardening – Ecosystem Restoration
Visitors can tour oyster reefs and gain insight into the Noosa Oyster Gardening Program. Help The Nature Conservancy and Noosa Integrated Catchment Association examine baskets filled with juvenile rock oyster spat and support the recovery of Noosa’s endangered rock oyster ecosystem.
First Event Date: 16 February 2023
Roving Restorers – Bush Care & Weed Control
Visitors can join Roving Restorers for half a day of weeding and bush care restoration to protect and improve the region's biodiversity and ecosystem health. Work alongside passionate and caring community volunteers committed to enhancing wonderful and precious patches of native bushland.
First Event Date: 16 December 2022
Second Event Date: 17 December 2022
Event Waste Warriors – Sustainable Events
Noosa is home to some of the oldest and highest-profile events in the Southern Hemisphere. Visitors can join the Noosa Event Waste Warrior crew and help these highly regarded events reach their sustainable goals while soaking up the atmosphere of the day.
First Event Date: 3-12 March 2023
Visitors can browse the Program’s experiences and submit their RSVP to events that align with their travel dates to Noosa. The initial experiences will allow visitors to help eradicate single-use plastics from our waterways and foreshore, restore lost fish habitat and improve river water quality, reduce carbon emissions, restore wildlife habitat, protect endangered migratory and local shorebirds, support events achieve their sustainability goals and enhance wonderful and precious patches of native bushland.
“The Tread Lightly Program and the environmentally based experiences aim to encourage visitors to holiday in a more mindful and responsible way.”
“We hope to appeal and connect with travellers with a regenerative desire – each experience would allow visitors to help rejuvenate and protect the Noosa Biosphere Reserve. Travellers could leave the Noosa region knowing it is in a better state than when they arrived.” Said Terry-Bloomfield.
As the Program evolves, Tourism Noosa aims to expand the experiences to include cultural understanding and connection.
Tourism Noosa’s Acting CEO Susan Ewington thanked the not-for-profit partners who are participating and providing the experience and said “The Tread Lightly Program provides an opportunity for visitors to give back to a destination that they love. Visitors are actively seeking destinations to visit that are truly sustainable and we have already seen demand for tourism experiences such as this with corporate companies looking for regenerative tourism products for their teams to experience”.
Some experiences incur a fee for logistics such as boat hire, purchasing of trees, on-ground materials, and tools and visitor donations go to the not-for-profit partners including Plastic Free Noosa, Noosa Integrated Catchment Association and Landcare.
For further information on Tread Lightly visit: www.visitnoosa.com.au/tread-lightly/home
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