National tourism energy efficiency programme launched

Tourism in New Zealand is a $50 million a day industry employing one in ten New Zealanders. The tourism industry relies on New Zealand's unique environment as a key tourism product. Protecting our natural environment is an important focus for tourism, one of New Zealand's largest export industries.

The Tourism Industry Association (TIA) and the Energy Efficiency and Conservation Authority (EECA) have joined together to launch a national programme to improve the competitiveness and environmental credentials of New Zealand tourism businesses through better energy management.

The Tourism Energy Efficiency Programme (TEEP) provides practical assistance for tourism businesses in the accommodation and transport sectors to reduce their electricity consumption, fuel consumption and carbon emissions.

TEEP was first developed as a regional pilot in 2008 offering a strong incentive for tourism businesses to save energy, improve profitability and help to conserve the natural environment at the same time. The pilot has now been extended into a national programme for 2009.

Tourism Industry Association Chief Executive Tim Cossar said the decision to extend the programme shows the tourism industry's ongoing commitment to improving its environmental performance.

"New Zealand's environment is our main tourism product. It is the primary reason that international visitors come here, is important for domestic travel and underpins the business proposition for thousands of tourism businesses," Mr Cossar said.

"The tourism industry knows it must respond to visitor's environmental concerns by running its businesses more sustainably and by offering clients environmentally friendly products and experiences. TEEP is a practical project aimed at helping us to achieve this goal.

EECA Chief Executive Mike Underhill said taking steps to improve energy efficiency and reduce carbon emissions is a win-win for tourism operators as it allows them to save money on fuel while improving their environmental performance at the same time.

"Participating businesses receive a detailed energy audit, identifying potential dollar and energy savings, at approximately half the normal price. The businesses also receive free mentoring and assistance in implementing energy saving opportunities. Results from this programme are being shared via case studies which will be used to inspire other tourism businesses all over New Zealand to look at ways they can benefit from better energy management," Mr Underhill said.

The pilot programme in 2008, which included 12 participating tourism businesses, achieved measurable energy savings including total potential savings of 3,000 megawatt hours for the 12 audits (equivalent to 263 average houses), total potential savings of 711 tonnes of CO2 (equivalent to 170 average cars), and
total potential dollar savings for the businesses of $375,000, Mr Underhill added.

TEEP 2009 will include the provision of 14 more energy audits. Businesses targeted will include two holiday parks, two visitor attractions, two hotels, one land transport and one sea transport operator, as well as six small to medium enterprise (SME) businesses.

TIA will also build upon the transport scoping study completed in 2008 and develop an industry specific stocktake exercise for the small tourist flight operators sector.The results from the stocktakes will then be shared with about 45 operators in the Tourist Flight Operators (TFO) group throughout the tourist flight sector in New Zealand. The aim will be to provide useful information to help operators improve their overall environmental performance fuel and energy efficiency.

Businesses who have already signed up to participate in TEEP 2009 include: The Ascot Park Hotel, Invercargill, Bowentown Holiday Park, Waihi, Skotel Alpine Resort, Mt Ruapehu, Fullers Group Ltd, Auckland, The George Hotel, Christchurch, Waihi Holiday Park, Waihi, Volcanic Air Safaris, Rotorua, Sounds Air, Picton, Real Journeys, Queenstown, Glenorcy Air, Queenstown, Mt Cook Ski Planes, Methven, and The Helicopter Line, Queenstown. Tourism businesses interested in joining TEEP 2009 can contact TIA by phone: 04 494 1845 or by emailing TIA Project Manager Sarah Berry at sarah.berry@tianz.org.nz.

Key facts

• Tourism contributes close to 10% of gross domestic product (GDP) for New Zealand
• Tourism directly and indirectly employs nearly one in ten New Zealanders (this includes 108,100 FTE directly and 73,100 FTE indirectly).
• Tourism in New Zealand is a $50 million per day industry. Tourism delivers $24 million in foreign exchange to the New Zealand economy each day of the year. Domestic tourism contributes another $26 million in economic activity every day.
• Total tourism expenditure reached $20.1 billion for the year ended March 2007. International visitor expenditure accounted for $8.8 billion or 18.3% of New Zealand's foreign exchange earnings.

Visit www.tianz.org.nz for more information.

Comments from tourism operators involved in the 2008 TEEP pilot

171 on High Motel, Blenheim

"It was great to know that what we were doing already, we were doing right. It was also heartening to find out that the things we needed to do, we could do easily. We can get nearly all of the things required done by the end of 2009 and at not a lot of cost. We are now looking at changing the shower heads and we will be monitoring our energy usage more closely too. An additional benefit of being part of the TEEP project is the networking opportunities. It will be good to talk to other moteliers about the audit process and share our findings with them."

Contact: Chris Johnson, co-owner, 171 on High Motel
Phone: 03 578 2231, Email: info@171onhighmotel.co.nz

Amberpark Holiday Park, Christchurch

"What was interesting was finding that hot water heating accounts for nearly half of Amber Park's power costs and it was good to find there were little things that could be done that would make a difference. For example, replacing inefficient light bulbs with energy efficient ones when they blow will deliver a net cost saving of $2,200 per year. Wrapping lagging around hot water pipes to insulate them in the old boiler room will also enable Amber Park to make small but significant savings of $400 per year on the holiday park's power consumption."

Contact: Braden Lee, Manager, Amberpark Holiday Park
Phone: 03 348 3327, Email: amberpark@xtra.co.nz

Base Pipi Backpackers, Paihia

"Many of our core clientele are backpackers in the 18-30 age bracket and they are very aware of green issues and want to see energy saving in practice - and this means we have a strong commitment to reducing energy consumption. The TEEP audit was really worthwhile in confirming the direction we are heading in, as well as suggesting some new ideas. The audit found ways to potentially save more than $10,753 a year in energy costs, approximately 23% of Pipi Patch's annual energy bill. We also sent the audit report to our entire group to help them spot potential areas for energy saving. I'd recommend this process to anybody, especially smaller businesses - they could save themselves a fortune."

Contact: Peter Webster, Chief Operating Officer - NZ
Phone: 09 402 7111, Email: paihia@stayatbase.com

Christchurch Top 10 Holiday Park, Christchurch

"The energy audit has been very valuable for our business particularly with energy costs going up. While the auditor spent two days here, it took less than three hours of my time and I now have a detailed report on my current energy usage. I also have suggestions on what I can do to conserve energy in the future as while at the same time saving money for the business. The TEEP audit told us that we can make immediate savings of $23,000 on hot water costs by reducing shower flow rates and it will only cost us $2,000 in plumbing to do this. We'd be silly if we didn't make those changes. We're going to look at what we can do in other areas as well, for instance, in heating and lighting. The audit tells us we can save $5000 a year if we replace the current halogen lamps with fluorescent bulbs and we'll also look at putting more key switches and insulation in as we routinely upgrade our units."

Contact: Owner/Operator Dean Anderson
Phone: 03 352 9176, Email: meadowpark@xtra.co.nz  

Eagles Nest Luxury Villas, Russell

"The audit was an excellent way to hold a mirror up to practices and procedures in a business that's often very pressed for time. I also appreciated the auditor's appreciation of the Eagle's Nest's unique market positioning. We need to give our guests the very best experience possible. Our ongoing business demands that we maintain a reputation of unequalled quality. Any suggested cuts that would compromise the quality of that experience would have negative consequences for our brand. These recommendations have nil impact on our service yet save money and lower emissions - that's just good business."

Contact: Callum Farnell, General Manager of the Eagle's Nest
Phone: 09 403 8333, Email: callum@eaglesnest.co.nz

Grand Mecure Nelson Monaco, Nelson

"The process was really great. It was fantastic to have the auditors work with the whole team. The audit clearly shows our energy usage and how we can save costs through implementing the recommendations. Once we have the smaller things ticked off, the energy committee will look at the bigger ticket items recommended in the audit, things such as installing a new meter to enable the Monaco to use the night rate or controlled electricity supply for pre-water heating; or installing a hot water heat pump or solar hot water system need to be carefully considered. But the Monaco is committed to investing time and money to reap the long-term benefits that implementing energy efficiency initiatives can provide."

Contact: Clare Davies, Managing Director Grand Mecure Nelson Monaco
Phone: 03 547 8233, Email: clare@monacoresort.co.nz

The Great Ponsonby, Auckland

"The energy audit gave us concrete data to prove to our staff that doing the small things really does make a difference. One staff meeting per week is dedicated to energy efficiency initiatives. Being able to give staff the true cost of running a heated towel rail each year for example has really motivated the staff to not only turn off the heated towel rails in units that are not in use, but the staff are now turning their towel rails and TVs off at the wall at home too. As a result of the energy audit the Great Ponsonby Arthotel will now also be replacing the remaining incandescent lighting in its premises with CFLs."

Contact: Gerry Hill, Owner, The Great Ponsonby
Phone: 09 376 5989, Email: gerry@greatpons.co.nz

SeaLink Travel Group Ltd, Auckland

"SeaLink has learnt a lot from our energy audit and we're keen to encourage other businesses to also think more about their impact on the environment. SeaLink's energy audit showed that we are running an energy efficient business but that we could be doing more. If we take all of the actions outlined in our audit we could reduce our annual CO2 emissions by about 365 tonnes a year. The savings identified include about 1.4 gigawatthours of power and 133,000 litres of diesel. That's the equivalent in C02 reduction of taking more than 100 cars off the road in New Zealand. SeaLink is now developing an action plan to implement energy efficiency changes and could achieve cost savings of up to $150,000 per year in the future."

Contact: Donna Gauci
Phone: 09 300 5912, Email: donna.gauci@sealink.co.nz

Tourism Holdings Rental Ltd, Auckland

"Monitoring energy usage is not our core area of expertise so it was great to have an expert come into the business, identify what could be done and suggest an action plan for us to follow over the next few months. Probably the most interesting result we found out from the Energy Audit was that the LPG used for the hot water, washing and drying in the laundry was responsible for nearly half the power usage at our Mangere premises."

Contact: Kate Meldrum, Marketing & Customer Experience Manager for THL
Phone: 09 255 3936, Email: kate.meldrum@thlonline.com

ENDS