Tasmania small group tour, 13 days

Planet

Fun Tassie Tours recognises and acknowledges that we generate a significant carbon footprint from operating our guided tour packages. Our emissions come from multiple sources including the burning of diesel fuel for our vehicles, air travel emissions, food miles and other waste generated as a result of our business operations etc. We feel it is our responsibility to invest in a program designed to reduce, mitigate & offset these emissions. This is driven by a desire to transition our business into a cleaner, greener & more environmentally sustainable venture. We also aspire to contribute to the greater good, which in this case is the conservation and preservation of our planets natural environment.

In Tasmania it is obvious that from a tourism perspective our most attractive & unique features are those provided by mother nature - beautiful waterfalls, ancient tree & plant species, animals found only in Tasmania and many other stunning natural features. It makes sense that unless we maintain a focus on conserving these natural features in every way, they may not be there for the tourists of tomorrow. Tourism aside, we also have a strong desire to conserve the landscape of Tasmania for future generations, so they can experience & appreciate the beauty and abundance of our natural world.

This season we are launching an initiative to partially offset the carbon footprint of our touring operations - or at least take initial & strong steps in that direction. Starting with a focus on our local area (The Derwent Valley) we are committing to a tree planting effort for the upcoming season.

"Our commitment for 2022/23 season is to plant 1 tree for every guest we host in Tasmania".

The above stated will be our minimum investment with regards to our tree planting initiative. Over the coming years of hosting guided tour packages we hope this will equate to many thousands of trees being planted in our local area. We also have intentions to grow this investment as we move forward as a business. In addition to offsetting our total carbon emissions these planting efforts will assist in; regenerating cleared or unused land, restoring habitat for native wildlife & insects, reducing soil & land erosion, improving air & water quality and generally increasing the biodiversity of our local area.

We are excited to be taking initial steps along this pathway and are grateful for the opportunity we have to contribute in a more environmentally positive manner. In addition to our efforts of getting more plants in the ground, our focus for the coming season from an environmental perspective is to educate ourselves further on this topic by:

- Understanding more accurately the total operating carbon footprint of our business.

- Understanding what it would take to offset these emissions in total and how we can most effectively achieve this.

- Designing a 5-10 year operating plan with respect to reducing carbon emissions and reducing our overall environmental impact.

- Understanding the environmental challenges facing our local area - the Derwent Valley. Secondly, learning how we can best support environmental initiatives that are already in place in our local area.

We look forward to actioning our tree planting objectives this season and intend to update this page regularly with our latests projects, initiatives and news on the progress we are making.

People

We strive to provide a genuinely local experience when hosting our guests on tour. We represent our state with pride and feel privileged to regularly contribute to the prosperity of Tasmanian communities. This means visiting local attractions, businesses, restaurants etc and supporting the Tasmanian community whatever way we can. We support well upward of 65 Tasmanian businesses on a weekly or at least very regular basis and will continue to do so. We recommend many other local events and attractions for our guests to explore and support in their own time such as MONA, The Hobart Museum or the Botanical Gardens. We regularly attend Tasmanian events to show our support and research ways of improving our tour offerings. Eg, Dark MoFo, Festivale, Cradle Mountain Film Festival, Unconformity and many others.

We are acutely aware of local issues around the island. As we travel every week we can objectively observe situations deteriorating or improving. We are active in raising important issues with local authorities for example; We have recently campaigned to have tighter control measures in the popular Penguin viewing areas on Tasmania’s east coast. We have invited the Parks & Wildlife Rangers to join us on many occasions to witness issues we have raised and brainstorm ideas for improvement. Parks & Wildlife have since taken steps to erect signage in the area in 2 languages. This is a small step in the right direction and one we are proud to be involved in.

We believe part of our role as custodians is to educate travellers and our guests on the issues & sensitivities of the local communities, wildlife & flora. As such we endeavour to travel respectfully leaving as small a footprint as possible, taking with us only great memories, stories and photographs. We choose to only visit & support local business & attractions that reflect our values. When we travel we are visiting our colleagues & friends - those that are operating responsibly, sustainably and that we are proud to be associated with. We simply avoid people & attractions that do not harbour similar values to our own.

We promise to always keep local communities in mind when making decisions or planning itineraries & experiences for our clients. We are truely Tasmanian at heart and understand that the best way to ensure the continued prosperity of this lovely island is to give back and support the local communities just as they are supporting us.