Abel Tasman Kayaks: Sustainable Tourism Practices

Running Head: Report
Executive Summary
Abel Tasman Kayaks is a 32-year-old organization established by Tom and Ingrid Horne. It
is the first sea kayaking company established in the Abel Tasman National Park. This report
presents an overview of the organization Abel Tasman Soul Ltd which is a kayaking
company operating in New Zealand. It presents a review of the concept of sustainability and
the various sustainable initiatives adopted by organizations operating in the travel and
tourism industry as a result of the New Zealand tourism sustainability commitment. This
commitment is discussed in detail by carrying out a critical evaluation of the current
sustainability approaches and by stating the benefits and problems associated with the
adoption of these initiatives. It also presents a critical analysis of the sustainable practices of
Abel Tasman Soul Ltd and how these can be related to the four key elements of the New
Zealand tourism sustainability commitment. It also presents recommendations with respect to
each of these key elements that help in improving the current sustainability initiatives and
tourism practices adopted by the organization. Sustainable operation of the travel and tourism
organizations requires taking conscious measures and steps that are guided by maintaining
the quality of life of the local community and only taking from the environment what is
needed with the responsibility leaving behind what would contribute to the sustainability of
the destination and for the future travelers. The recommendations for Abel Tasman Kayaks to
embrace sustainability and to improve their efforts that are targeted towards fulfilling the
New Zealand tourism sustainability commitment are going to help the organization in
demonstrating sincerity and dedication towards sustainable development initiatives.
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Running Head: Report
Contents
Executive Summary...................................................................................................................1
Organization overview...............................................................................................................3
Literature review........................................................................................................................4
Background concept of sustainability....................................................................................4
Sustainable initiatives of the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment.................6
Critical evaluation of sustainability approaches.....................................................................8
Integrating sustainability to business practices......................................................................9
Sustainable practices of the organization.................................................................................12
Economic sustainability........................................................................................................13
Visitor sustainability.............................................................................................................13
Host community sustainability.............................................................................................13
Environmental sustainability................................................................................................13
Conclusion................................................................................................................................14
Recommendations....................................................................................................................16
References................................................................................................................................18
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Running Head: Report
Organization overview
Abel Tasman Kayaks is a 32-year-old organization established by Tom and Ingrid Horne
with the help of an old truck and some borrowed river kayaks. It is the first sea kayaking
company established in the Abel Tasman National Park. The Abel Tasman Kayaks has now
become one of the premier tourist experience offered at New Zealand running with more than
150 double and single kayaks and a home base located at Marahau. The organization has
dozens of guides working for it offering their knowledge, guidance and expertise to the
customers with a combined experience of more than 225 years and they have a customer base
of thousands of happy customers who have visited the Abel Tasman Kayaks since its
Inception. The organization believes that sea kayaking helps the people in exploring the
beautiful beaches, lagoons and coves throughout the National Park and also provides them
with an opportunity to explore the Offshore Islands, native forest and the wildlife of the
granite coastline scattered across the region. Abel Tasman Kayaks allows the customers to
get the kayaking experience and return transport from Nelson or Motueka with an onsite
container that is used for solving snacks, coffee and breakfast to them. The water taxi
services offered by Abel Tasman Kayaks starts as soon as the customers are on-board. The
organization practices very high safety standards for providing these services. Over the
course of their operations, Abel Tasman Kayaks have gained expertise and knowledge about
the extensive local environment of the park and the only offer services that do not disturb its
serenity and balance (Abel Tasman Kayaks, 2019).
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Running Head: Report
Literature review
Background concept of sustainability
Sustainable development is defined as the development that allows the organizations and
individuals to meet their present needs without compromising or impacting the ability of
future generations to meet their needs as well. The term sustainable development has gained a
lot of popularity in recent years as it helps in tying together the concerns of the people
towards the carrying capacity of the natural systems throughout the world and impacts the
social challenges and changes handmade on it. Sustainable development primarily comprises
of:
 Environmental sustainability
 Economic sustainability
 Socio-political sustainability
These 3 concepts of sustainability act as the pillars that help in providing a clear definition of
the problem of Sustainable development and provide parameters for analyzing the system and
practices of sustainable development. Understanding each of these individually, social
sustainability is defined as the ability of a social system to operate in harmony in an indefinite
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Running Head: Report
manner by attaining a level of social well being. The social system of organizations, families,
cities, countries and regions open face issues related to injustice, low education and
development, poverty, hunger, war and various other challenges that are actually defined as
the symptoms of an unsustainable society or social system. The environmental sustainability
can be defined as the ability of the natural environment to extend support at a defined level
by maintaining the quality of the environment and by defining the rate of extraction of the
natural resources from it. Environmental sustainability is the biggest challenge faced by the
world and is on a very high priority because of the visible impacts of the lack of sustainability
in this area like global warming and climate change (Mason, 2019). Economic
sustainability can be defined as the ability of an economy to extend support by maintaining
the level of economic production for indefinite periods fulfilling the needs of the population.
This has also become a challenge as it is dependent on the environmental sustainability.
Sustainability means making use of the methods, materials and systems that do not result in
the depletion of resources or have a negative impact on the natural cycles of the environment.
It is a concept and attitude that is still under development providing an opportunity to
integrate the various different aspects of development with the natural systems with the help
of the patterns practiced by the human beings for ensuring continuity in the long run.
Sustainability influences the working of the organization at every level and while most of the
people are only able to associate it with the environmental aspect, it is a multifaceted social
that is also dependent on the society and the economy (Stofleth, 2016). Sustainability is
intended to offer a means for configuring human activity so that the people are able to
achieve their greatest potential and meet their current needs by taking steps towards the
preservation of the natural ecosystems and biodiversity. It also requires taking actions and
planning to maintain these ideas for an indefinite period. The idea that is central to the
concept of sustainability is that the economic, environmental and social objectives of the
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