Green Tourism Award

Visit Portsmouth now offers a Green Tourism Award for businesses able to demonstrate they are working sustainably and responsibly. Businesses with the award get to display their green credentials, whilst visitors and locals alike can choose to visit, stay or shop with sustainable businesses.

How does the Visit Portsmouth Green Tourism Award scheme work?

The award is based around three themes, people, place, and our planet. These themes are to promote sustainable and responsible tourism in Portsmouth. Under each theme there are four criteria to meet. The scheme has been adapted, with permission, from a similar scheme successfully operating on the Isle of Wight.

The awards work for businesses big and small, encouraging a commitment towards a more sustainable future. If you already have similar accreditation via an official national scheme you can use this as part of your application rather than starting from scratch.

Visit Portsmouth Green Tourism Awards are based on self-assessments provided by each business.

People

• Staff involvement
• Sustainable travel
• Climate change action plan or socially responsible ethos
• Dedicated facilities for walkers or cyclists?

Place

• Promoting local sustainable activities
• Promoting car free travel to and around the city
• Sourcing local produce
• Join local beach clean activities

Planet

• Energy efficiency
• Water saving
• Reduce, reuse and recycle
• Biodiversity offsetting

There are three levels of the scheme, bronze, silver, and gold. You must meet the above criteria (this can be made up from any theme) to be recognised for a Visit Portsmouth Green Tourism Award. Each criterion is worth one point. The points per award are as follows:
4 – 6 points = Bronze
7 – 9 points = Silver
10 – 12 points = Gold

What are the benefits of joining the Visit Portsmouth Green Tourism Award scheme?

As a Visit Portsmouth Green Tourism Award member, we believe that you should be rewarded for your contribution to promoting sustainable and responsible tourism in the city and for protecting the environment. The following benefits apply to the various levels of membership.

Bronze:

Joint and collaborative marketing opportunities which includes:
Feature on our sustainable travel webpages on Visit Portsmouth
Included in online sustainability blogs
Green Tourism Award certificate
Green Tourism Award logo – to be used to promote to your customers

Silver:

All of the bronze benefits, plus:
Shared content on our dedicated social channels
Opportunities for advertising and editorial in Visit Portsmouth's sustainability e-newsletter

Gold:

All of the above, plus:
Opportunities for additional PR, for example to host bloggers in exchange for coverage.

How do I sign up?

Entering for an award is simple. All you need to do is complete the online form to provide evidence against the criteria you wish to be considered for and Visit Portsmouth will be in touch to verify your application. Please make sure you answer all questions in full.

Below are some examples of how your business could meet the criteria for the Award. Remember, if you already have an accredited national award, talk to the team first as you already be meeting a lot of the criteria.

People

Staff involvement

Do you encourage your staff to use sustainable transport? Are you, or do you have a climate change champion as part of your team? Do you offer a cycle to work scheme?

Sustainable travel

Do you provide information on your website to customers about travelling to your premises and exploring the city using sustainable transport. Do you provide dedicated facilities for cyclists and walkers? Do you provide a discount or incentive to customers who arrive by sustainable transport?

Socially responsible ethos

Do you or your team champion sustainability, or our part of a local community group to tackle climate change or promote sustainability? Do you or your staff take part in regular activities such as beach cleans to enhance the environment?

Place

Promoting local sustainable activities

Do you promote sustainable activities on your website, or share other websites such as Sustainable Travel - Visit Portsmouth

Promote car free travel

Do you actively promote car free travel to and around Portsmouth? Do you promote local bus services, the Park and Ride and bike or scooter hire companies?

Sourcing local produce

Do you source local produce from the region, or have the facilities to grow your own produce?

Promoting green and coastal spaces

Do you promote local and regional Nature Reserves and National Parks? Do you promote other green open spaces and the coast and beach areas in the city and ask people to respect nature?

Planet

Energy efficiency

Do you provide electric charging points for cars and bikes to promote the use of sustainable travel? What energy efficiency measures have you put in place recently?

Water saving

Do you have any water saving devices fitted in your business? If you are a hotel do you ask visitors to re-use towels and sheets to reduce water consumption?

Reduce, reuse and recycle

Do you provide recycling facilities for your customers and visitors? Do you encourage people to use online resources instead of printed? Do you carry out any other eco-friendly initiatives such as plastic-free cafes or restaurants? Do you compost your food or garden waste?

Biodiversity schemes

Whether it’s a bug hotel in your garden or wildflower planting around your business, there are small ways we can improve the biodiversity in our area. Do you do any biodiversity schemes?