Haka Tourism: Sustainability & New Zealand Tourism Management DAM792

This report provides an overview of Haka Tourism Group, a leading tour operator in New Zealand, and its commitment to sustainable tourism. It explores the background concept of sustainability, the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment, and evaluates the company's sustainability approaches across economic, visitor, host community, and environmental dimensions. The report highlights the integration of sustainability into Haka Tourism Group's business practices, discussing the benefits and problems associated with this integration. It further details the company's sustainable practices, including economic commitment through sustainable business and productivity, visitor commitment through visitor information and product development, host community commitment through sustainable employment, and environmental commitment through ecological restoration and education. The report concludes with recommendations for enhancing Haka Tourism Group's sustainability efforts, such as increasing investment, supporting local businesses, incorporating cultural events into tours, and initiating waste management programs. This study offers valuable insights into sustainable tourism and its importance for New Zealand's tourism industry. Desklib provides access to this report along with a wide range of study resources.

RUNNING HEAD: SUSTAINABLE TOURISM 0
Hospitality Tourism
Management
August 5
2019

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Executive Summary
The report has been prepared on the Haka Tourism Group Company which is a tour and
travel company of New Zealand and leading the industry in organizing small group tours. It
was a start-up by its founder but is now continuously increasing its operations in the industry.
The tourism sector is increasing its business in all over the world and the sustainability
concern has always been a part of every business. The sustainable tourism concept is
concerned with the idea of involving the tourism industry to make a relevant contribution to
the protection of social, economic, environmental conditions of the nation. The Haka
Tourism Group is actively engaged in fulfilling its responsibilities towards sustainable
tourism. It provides education to the communities and visitors about the protection of the
environment; it uses eco-friendly products in its hotels; it employs the various individuals of
the country; it aims at the satisfaction of the visitors and supports the local communities for
developing business. The importance of the sustainability measures and the impact of loyalty
to the commitments of the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment have been
concluded with the study of the report. The recommendations have been provided for
increasing the investment to expand the business; to encourage the local business in the tours;
to involve the traditional cultural events in the tours for a closer experience of the culture of
the country; and to take the initiative of the waste management in the country for the
protection of environment. The report is the study of New Zealand tourism and its developed
system of sustainable tourism.

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Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Overview of the Haka Tourism Group New Zealand................................................................3
Literature Review:......................................................................................................................4
Background concept of sustainability........................................................................................4
New Zealand tourism sustainability commitment......................................................................4
 Economic commitment...................................................................................................4
 Visitor commitment........................................................................................................4
 Host community..............................................................................................................4
 Environment commitment...............................................................................................5
Evaluation of sustainability approaches.....................................................................................5
Integration of sustainability with the business practices............................................................6
Benefits...................................................................................................................................6
Problems.................................................................................................................................6
Sustainable practices of the Haka Tourism Group:....................................................................6
Economic commitment:.............................................................................................................6
Sustainable business...............................................................................................................6
Productivity............................................................................................................................6
Visitor Commitment:.................................................................................................................7
Visitor information.................................................................................................................7
Product and market development...........................................................................................7

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Host Community Commitment:.................................................................................................7
Sustainable employment.........................................................................................................7
Quality employment...............................................................................................................8
Environmental Commitment:.....................................................................................................8
Ecological restoration.............................................................................................................8
Education................................................................................................................................8
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................9
Recommendations......................................................................................................................9
References................................................................................................................................10

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Introduction
This study is conducted to understand the travel and tourism industry in New Zealand. The
report begins with an overview of the Haka Tourism Group Company which defines the
company's basic information, its history, vision and the services offered by the association.
The concept of sustainability and its emergence in the industry is explained in the report. The
study discusses the New Zealand Tourism Sustainability Commitment in the four elements of
its commitment namely, the economic commitment, visitor commitment, host commitment,
and environmental commitment. An analysis of the concept of sustainable tourism is
conducted by comparing the similarities and differences in the concept with the traditional
concept of sustainability. The report consists of the benefits and drawbacks associated with
the process of integrating sustainability with the business practices of the company. The
further report is concerned with the sustainability practices followed by the Haka Tourism
Group based on the fourteen business commitments identified by the New Zealand Tourism
Sustainability Commitment. It also shows the work performed by the company in the field of
fulfilling the commitment towards the country and industry. The report also contains some
recommendations on the sustainability commitment of the organization for better fulfillment
of its commitments. Thus, the study is an overview of sustainable tourism and its importance
for the country.
Overview of the Haka Tourism Group New Zealand
Name of the Organization: The organization named, "Haka Tourism Group" is a tourism
company.
Location of the Company: It is located in Auckland, New Zealand.

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Operation sector of the Company: It is New Zealand's leading small group adventure operator
working in the travel and tourism sector of the country (Hyland, 2015).
History of Haka Tourism Group: The founder and owner of the company are Ryan Sanders
who started this company after quitting a job in the corporate world. He began with creating
small group guided tours that were categorized in snow, mountain and adventure tours. The
first tour of the business happened in June 2007 and after that company had a good growth as
it acquired the business of a snow tour competitor.
Vision and Mission statement: It expanded its business and has been growing at an 80%
average every year. The company has a vision to exceed its revenues for the upcoming 12
months to exceed $ 17 million. It has planned for $ 100 million investment in its new hotel
project. The owner of the company has stated that the company will be worth $ 50 million by
the end of the year 2025 and has issued a statement “I have BIG plans for Haka Tourism
Group and am super excited about our next 10 years” (Lima, & Weiler, 2015).
(Source: Boyd, 2018)
Services offered by Haka Tourism Group: The services provided by the organization include
the following:

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 3 to 24-day small group guided snow, adventure and mountain bike tours of New
Zealand.
 Backpackers tours in Queensland, Bay of Islands, Auckland, Christchurch, Taupo,
and Wellington.
 Accommodation services for global travellers in the country.
 Customized educational tours for international schools and universities.
Literature Review
Background concept of sustainability
The tourism industry has been developing in recent years and has become one of the fastest-
growing sectors in the world (Ei, & Karamanis, 2017). The development in the industry has
given rise to the concept of sustainability in the sector. Sustainable tourism is the concept of
relating tourism with its impact on the country's social, economic, and environmental
conditions. It is a method of designing tourism such that it contributes to all the mentioned
dimensions of the country. The tourism in sustainable development includes terms like eco-
tourism and cultural tourism where efforts are made for enabling the industry to make a
significant contribution in the social, economic and environmental sector of the nation
(Montella, 2017).
New Zealand tourism sustainability commitment
The New Zealand tourism sustainability commitment has developed the aim of bringing
sustainability in the tourism industry by the year 2025. They have divided this vision into
four commitments as described below:

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(Source: bhutantourismsociety, 2019)
 Economic commitment
The economic commitment is related to the growth in the economic conditions of the country
with the growth of the tourism sector (Baum, Cheung, Kong, Kralj, Mooney, Ramachandran,
& Siow, 2016). It states that the tourism industry should design its tours in such a way that it
attracts new visitors to the country every time as based on the reviews of past visitors. The
revenue and growth of the industry are continuously maintained by the organizations. The
economic commitment of the sustainability commitment states that businesses should be
focused on long term success in the industry. They should develop investments to expand
their business and should design the strategies which will help them in generating revenues
throughout the year instead of seasonal revenues (Mostafanezhad, 2016). Thus, economic
commitment is concerned with the strong financial conditions of the company where the

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company has generated enough funds for investing in the new projects for generating
revenues.
 Visitor commitment
The visitor's commitment is related to the development in the sector with the concern that
visitors gain satisfaction out of their tour in the country. It is the business commitment in the
concept of sustainable tourism to increase the satisfaction level of the visitor by providing
them the comfort and experience gaining travel (Baird, Hall, & Castka, 2018). It includes
creating visitors' satisfaction with the help of proper monitoring and timely serving to the
clients. It also includes the development of new packages and additional facilities which can
add benefits to the travellers. This can be achieved by providing them the experience and
education about the culture and nature of the country. A commitment to the visitor ensures
continuous and positive growth in the industry.
 Host community
The host community is the concern that is attached with the commitment to bring business in
the host country. The country or the place where the travel is being conducted is supposed to
bring some benefits to the local community (Sharma, & Kaushal, 2017). It includes the
employment generation and maintenance of fair payments to the people engaged in the
sector. It defines the business to be operated which can be successful with the industry and
the connection of the business with the regional community of the country. This business
commitment aims at developing the community together with the rise in the business of the
tourism sector. The offering of employment opportunities and utilization of supply and other
facilities from the local community sector is the aim of host community commitment.

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 Environment commitment
The environmental commitment of the businesses is the commitment that ensures that the
businesses of the travel and tourism industry contribute to improving the conditions of the
environment and does not involve in the practices of harming the environmental conditions. It
includes the reduction of wastes and management of the wastes in the travels and the
reduction of carbon and gaining carbon neutrality in the environment (Buffa, 2015). This is
achieved by guiding the visitors about the care and support to the natural environment of
New Zealand and following the methods which do not cause harm to the environment of the
country. The businesses of the industries such as the Haka Tourism Group and other tour
companies of the country owes the environment their factor costs which are supposed to be
paid by the organizations. The companies will pay this cost by taking initiative and making a
commitment to protect and preserve the environment (Hopkins, Higham, Tapp, & Duncan,
2016).
Evaluation of sustainability approaches
Sustainability is defined as the process of maintaining the same level for the upcoming future
period. It is the concept that is used in the business for the goal of maintaining the business to
continuously operate and earn profits in the market (Chen, Ng, Huang, & Fang, 2017).
However, sustainable tourism is another area of sustainability where the tourism sector is
supposed to operate in a manner that brings social, environmental and economic balance and
improvement in the country. Both the concepts are similar as well as hold some differences
which are explained below:
Difference between Sustainability and New Zealand tourism sustainability approaches:

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 Sustainability is concerned with the overall development of the business and
environment whereas the concept of sustainable tourism focuses on achieving the
balance with the help of the tourism sector.
 The sustainability is a wider concept than sustainable tourism which only focuses on a
single sector development (Chen, et. al., 2017).
 Sustainability strives to achieve education, health facilities, poverty eradication
whereas the further is concerned with the visitor's satisfaction, promotion of the
countries heritage and development of the nation with the help of tourism.
 Sustainability is an ever going concept which is a long process whereas sustainable
tourism can be achieved with the efforts of the entrepreneurs in lesser of the time.
Similarities in both approaches:
 Sustainable tourism is an integrated part of sustainability.
 Both the approaches are concerned with the development of the nation and protection
of social, economic, and environmental condition of the country (Chen, et. al., 2017).
Integration of sustainability with the business practices
The integration of sustainability in business practices means the business operation should be
carried out to achieve the objective of sustainability with the predetermined goals of the
organization (Hopkins, Higham, Tapp, & Duncan, 2016). There are both benefits and
drawbacks of integrating the concept of sustainability with the business practices. They are as
under:

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Benefits
 The integration of sustainability in the operations builds the reputation of the
company in the market which helps them in grabbing higher opportunities and profits
(Mihalic, 2016).
 The integration helps the company to draft strategies that will reduce the cost of the
entity and bring effectiveness and efficiency in the business of the organization.
Problems
 The business operations are carried out by several individuals at various levels. It
becomes difficult to integrate sustainability at all levels of operations.
 The reporting of sustainability also arises with its integration with the business
practices which is a problem in the process of integration (Espiner, Orchiston, &
Higham, 2017).
Sustainable practices of the Haka Tourism Group
Economic commitment
The economic commitment of the Hakka Tours is achieved with the following business
achievements in the industry.
Sustainable business
This practice asks the business to develop and maintain their businesses operating in the
industry for an infinite time where the business keeps on earning profits through the market.
The Haka Tourism Group has successfully achieved this economic commitment as the
company has begun on a quite small scale with few operations but has been constantly
increasing its revenues and business. It has developed a strong financial position of its entity
in the industry (Espiner, Orchiston, & Higham, 2017). The revenues of the business are