Resorts and Tourism
Sustainable Oceans International Pty Ltd (SOI) recognises that sun-and-sand tourism has matured as a market and ecotourism has been growing at 20-34% per year since the 1990’s – three times faster than the tourism industry as a whole. Sustainable tourism has been predicted to equal 25% (US$473.6 billion) of the world’s travel market by 2012.
Over 60% of US and Australian tourists, and 90% of British tourists consider a hotel responsible for protecting the local environment and supporting local communities. Tourism is the second most important source of foreign exchange for 40 of the world’s poorest countries. Of the 109 countries with coral reefs, 90 of them are being damaged due to tourism (The International Ecotourism Society, 2009).
Our core belief: tourism can be a tool for reef preservation.
To respond to this growing market and urgent attention reefs need we have created a customizable program called TIDES that resorts can implement to increase guest (and employee) satisfaction, increase revenue, support the local community and protect or even restore local reefs.
TIDES is a social enterprise taking a creative sustainable approach to tourism. Responding to the increasing desire of tourists to truly experience the culture and environment when they travel, TIDES includes a series of programs that provide them with the opportunity to both interact with and support the marine ecosystems and culture within the region. The concept is to change the Tide so tourism becomes a tool for coral reef preservation rather than its adversary. These self-funding experiences enhance the environment, educate the participants, and instill a feeling of pride for everyone involved. The ocean is our classroom and every adventure is a lesson!
How SOI can help you
Our team of experts will review your needs and prepare recommended programs of opportunity for your selection. We then work with you at a level that you choose to effectively implement and run the programs. Our Team has direct experience of working within the Tourism industry for major hotels, launching and running their own ecotours and working with NGOs.
One of our key strengths is that we have a unique combination of business development experience (this helps us design effective self funding programs for you and understand the business needs of resorts), scientific understanding of reef restoration and practical hands-on experience.
The benefits of our programs include:
- Memorable marine activities for guests that also conserve the reef
- Increased guest satisfaction
- Positive contributions to the marine environment and local community - promoting goodwill for the resort
- Conservation of surrounding reefs for long term sustainability
- Creation of new reefs to increase opportunities and reduce pressure on natural reefs
>> Learn more about our tourism program
>>Checkout our Reef Restoration Activity Sheet # 1, designed for kid programs in resorts - meet Ari, Roy and Bazzer, three enthusiastic reef characters ready to tell you all about their life on the reef!
Help Ari and Roy smile by giving them some colour like Jamie did from the Philippines!
Planning a marina?
The following presentation provides a few suggestions of how marinas can increase their value by capitalising on the structure they put below the waterline and maintain or enhance important marine biodiversity.
In the News
We have a winner!
Sustainable Ocean Innovation Award 2012
...and the award goes to...GhostNets Australia for their work in northern Australia tackling the serious problem of lost fishing nets called 'ghost nets'.
The group has found ghost nets measuring 10km long and recorded a myriad of marine species that get entangled as the nets drift along with the currents. The litany of marine casualties include turtles, dolphins, sharks, seabirds, crocodiles, rays and of course, multitudes of fish. The destruction caused by ghost nets continues as they near shore, often wrapping themselves around delicate coral reefs and coastal mangrove systems.
"The GhostNets Australia program is a fantastic example of innovation in action. Solving our environmental problems needs a healthy dose of lateral thinking in order to first see a solution and then brainstorm a way to make it happen" said David Lennon, director of Sustainable Oceans International.
>>Read the media release here: Sustainable Ocean Innovation Award 2012
878 trees to save Orang Utans
SOI through the fantastic giving portal Buy 1 Give 1 (www.b1g1.com) donates a percentage of every project to planting trees in Borneo for Orang Utan habitat.
We just purchased 100 more trees today as part of our Bahrain project with Reef Arabia. That makes 878 in total we've added to the planet rather than taken away from the planet.
Why not join us and include B1G1 in your business!
SOI constructs first 'cod house' to help save Murray cod
Murray cod are Australia's largest freshwater fish and overfishing and loss of essential habitat has decimated their numbers. SOI has been contracted to design and construct a concrete unit to help restore some of the essential breeding habitat the fish require. Sidescan image by ACT Government.
SOI wins 2 Year Contract - Bahrain
SOI and partner Reef Arabia have won a two year contract to design, build and monitor 10 artificial reefs around Bahrain.
>>Further details and photos of deployment of first reef in Bahrain
>>Bahrain newspaper article in Arabic
Four reefs have been deployed thus far. This is the first project of its kind to be constructed in the Arabian Gulf and the first to use custom reef units (designed by SOI) specifically for the local species.
SOI Completes Coral Mitigation Plan for New Doha Port
SOI conducted the necessary surveys and prepared the coral mitigation plans for the New Doha Port construction. This included accurate coral surveys to quantify the size, type and number of corals within the imperiled and threatened zones, and detailed recommendations on relocation methodology, relocation sites and compensatory artificial reefs to offset loss of productive reef structure.
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