SyNTax : tales from the Territory
Tourism NT
SyNTax; E-Journals; PublicationNT
2009-11-01
Made available via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT).; This publication contains may contain links to external sites. These external sites may no longer be active.
Date:2009-11
English
Tourism -- Northern Territory -- Periodicals
Tourism NT
Darwin
no. 7
Check within Publication or with content Publisher.
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/217014
https://hdl.handle.net/10070/708238
The Northern Territorys solar city, Alice Springs, will host the brightest sparks of the ecotourism industry at the Asia Pacific ecotourism conference, Global Eco, from 9-11 November. Solar City hosts Global Ecotourism Conference As travellers continue to display their growing appetites for all things green, the Global Eco conference program will introduce operators and industry participants to new technologies, research, product partnerships and policies, and showcase the full gamut of challenges, and potential solutions, facing the industry. The impressive list of speakers includes chief executive of Ecotourism Australia, Kym Cheatham; Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, Peter Garrett; president of non-profit organisation Sustainable Travel International, Brian T. Mullis; director of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authoritys Tourism and Recreation Group, Lisha Mulqueeny, and Frank Hubbard, director of corporate responsibility for IHG (InterContinental Hotels Group,. IHG operates the Crowne Plaza Alice Springs, which has set the green benchmark for the Australian business sector and hotel industry, by covering its roof in solar panels, creating the largest building-mounted solar photovoltaic (PV) system in the southern hemisphere. This ground-breaking $3.3 million installation will reduce the hotels energy consumption by between 40 and 80 percent. The most anticipated speaker will be Costas Christ, the global travel editor of National Geographic Adventure, and an internationally recognised expert on sustainable tourism. An ecotourism pioneer, he is also the lead author of Tourism and Biodiversity: Mapping Tourisms Global Footprint and a contributing author in Wilderness: Earths Last Wild Places. Alice Springs was chosen as the most suitable location for the conference in light of the extensive green initiatives that have been instigated by its local government and tourism operators, in an attempt to create the most sustainable tourist destination in Australia. Tourism NT Senior Industry Development Officer - Environmental Sustainability Natasha Smith said that Alice Springs businesses and the community had shown tremendous initiative in making Alice Springs the solar capital of Australia. Tourists travelling to Alice Springs now have a fantastic opportunity to learn about solar technologies at the new, world class Desert Knowledge Solar Centre, Ms Smith said. This $3.1million centre showcases the largest range of solar power technologies in the southern hemisphere. Within the town of Alice Springs, the local community and businesses are also heavily engaged in embracing sustainable technologies. Since the Alice Solar City was launched in March 2008, 1121 households and 75 businesses have got on board to reduce their energy consumption, with over a third of these being tourism businesses. Photo: Crown Plaza, solar initiative, Alice Springs For more information visit: www.globaleco.com.au www.alicesolarcity.com.au www.dkasolarcentre.com.au