“Responsible tourism” endorsement
Paddy Gillooly of Farewell Spit Eco Tours test drives the new recycling bins in Collingwood. Photo: Gerard Hindmarsh.
Eatery on the Rock restaurant and chalets is the latest Golden Bay business to be licensed to use the Qualmark brand, in their case an Enviro-Bronze logo. This means it scored a three out of five in the stringent Responsible Tourism Operations criteria.
Co owner Chris Churcher said it was a great exercise.
“The application procedure was a great tool to look at ourselves. It encompassed the whole business, from our use of eco-bulbs to disposal of rubbish and even where the waste cooking oil goes to be recycled. It’s been nice to get a little bit of recognition too.”
It’s been nine years since Chris and his partner Pat McConnon bought their two hectares of limestone outcrops beside the main road, just south of Takaka township. The previous owner was engineer Julius Czerny, and the property came complete with a disused Kingdom Hall, which they initially lived in. Within a year they had the restaurant up and running, and have since added an art gallery and five tourist chalets, plus another that they live in themselves.
“Our vision for this place didn’t change from day one. This is something we always wanted to do,” says Chris. Although Pat has lived in Golden Bay since she was 14, Chris came out from London 17 years ago and “chefed” his way around Golden Bay, working in the Old School Café, Junction Hotel, Sans Souci and Milliways before he and Pat started their own business atop the rock. Today, around 60 per cent of their annual restaurant clientele is still locals.
Another recently recognised Qualmark holder is Paddy Gillooly of Farewell Spit Eco Tours. He says it was a lot of work to get their Qualmark Enviro-Gold logo last November. This means they scored five out of five on “Responsible Tourism Operations”.
Paddy explained, “Luckily, we had already completed things like our monitoring and action plans as part of the sustainable tourism charter with Nelson Tasman Tourism, so those parts were already accomplished. It’s definitely worth getting. If you want to market overseas, NZ Tourism won’t look at helping you without such a rating.”
As part of being a responsible tourism operator, Paddy is keeping a watching brief over the “Love NZ” recycling bins along Tasman Street, between his workshop and the Collingwood General Store.
Qualmark is New Zealand tourism’s official quality agency, a government and private sector partnership between Tourism NZ and the NZ Automobile Association. It licenses professional and trustworthy New Zealand tourism businesses to use the Qualmark logo to help international and domestic travellers select places to stay, things to do and ways to get around. It was established in 1993 and is now backed by leading tourism industry associations. Accommodation, transport, activities and services are all assessed to ensure that they deliver a world-class visitor experience and enhance New Zealand’s reputation as a premier visitor destination.
Qualmark is different from other flat rating systems because it uses an integrated approach to the whole business, including environmental verification, measuring both front and back of house practices, along with customer relationships. Qualmark licence holders, almost 2,500 of them nationwide, now account for over 75 per cent of tourism activity in New Zealand. Qualmark licence holders in Golden Bay also include Anatoki Lodge, Anatoki Salmon, Awaroa Lodge, Golden Bay Holiday Park, and the Pohara Beach Top 10 Holiday Park.
Gerard Hindmarsh
