ONE ENTERPRISING agency owner has launched an ingenious scheme to encourage holidaymakers to do their bit for the environment.
Every time a customer books a holiday with Live The Dream Travel, his agency buys and plants a tree.
The initiative is the brainchild of Greg Close, the owner and founder of the agency in Strathalbyn, south east of Adelaide.
Close says his customers have universally embraced the Trees For Travellers program, which is on track to plant 50 new saplings in its first month.
I was really impressed during the recent Travellers Choice Conference in Melbourne at the number of preferred suppliers putting emissions reduction and sustainability front and centre, he said.
Afterwards, when I thought about it, I couldn’t see any reason why our small business couldn’t also contribute on a local level.
We looked at the carbon emissions an individual customer might typically generate on a holiday, then started investigating different native trees and their capacities to absorb carbon.
The initial trees are Coral Gum, which perform well in South Australia, growing up to 11 metres in height.
Our goal is to plant 1,000 trees this calendar year, while continuing to look for additional ways to ensure that at a local level we work to create a more sustainable planet.
