Full throttle into 2024 with a GOLD AWARD from GREEN TOURISM for local couple.

WE ARE THRILLED TO BE LEADING THE WAY INTO 2024 WITH THE HIGHEST GREEN TOURISM “GOLD” AWARD ACCOLADE! 🍃 🥇 FEB 22nd.
What a fabulous boost to our 9th year in business as the premier Shetland NOSS BOAT wildlife & photography boat tour experience. We are delighted to share with our many followers & supporters that 3 weeks ago, we are awarded the highest accolade of “GOLD” standard by Green Tourism – a boat visitor attraction 1st for the isles. The Green Tourism programme is acknowledged worldwide as an indicator of good environmentally friendly practices. They promote a greener, cleaner environment for people, places & our planet.
As a small, family business on Shetland run by two passionate naturalists & conservationists, we have helped pave the way for other local businesses on Shetland & beyond to follow & have shown our deep commitment to the environment. All a step in the right direction to a greener, more sustainable future.
“Shetland Seabird Tours – The Noss Boat, have done an excellent job of achieving a Gold Green Tourism Award after their initial Silver in 2023. They have a good sustainability section on their website which explains their efforts to be a more sustainable tour business to their customers and encourages them to participate. Their genuine pleasure in running and promoting a sustainable wildlife tour business in the area where they operate is evident throughout the assessment. The enthusiasm, professionalism and community involvement, both at a social level and in the wildlife watching community, runs through the whole business”.
⭐️ Experiences – Outstanding knowledge of local area and wildlife and how to enjoy it responsibly.
⭐️ Biodiversity – Excellent commitment to promoting, protecting, and preserving and educating visitors in biodiversity on and off site.
⭐️ Health & Wellbeing- An exceptional result, a reflection of how they take pride in delivering the best customer care.
⭐️ Food & Drink, Shetland Seabirds Tours has shown fantastic commitment to promoting locally and sustainably and ethically, produced food.
⭐️ Destination – Excellent promotion of the natural heritage, events, and local projects in the destination area and how to enjoy it in a sustainable manner.”
THANK YOU ALL. We look forward to continuing our green journey & excellent customer service into 2024 & beyond. We can’t wait to share our new 2024 developments with you within the next month before we start our #nossboat tours again in April ❤️ 💚

Green Tourism promotes greener ways for businesses and organisations to operate, by offering our members advice on:

  • Reducing energy use
  • Saving water
  • Efficient & eco-friendly waste disposal
  • Ethical buying
  • Staying local & seasonal
  • Minimising food miles
  • Promoting biodiversity
  • Adopting a smart, sustainable outlook from top to bottom

People

We champion investment and improvement in local communities. When businesses devote some time and energy to contribute to local people, it becomes part of investing in a truly sustainable and ethical mindset. By encouraging staff and individuals to play their part in a business’s green journey, they will feel respected and valued; as well as ensuring a happy and eco-aware workforce.

Places

Living and operating sustainably is a process that involves promoting and caring for the natural environment, helping conserve the local area and its economy and supporting local suppliers of ethically-produced, seasonally-grown food and drink. We encourage our members to actively introduce guests or consumers to genuine experiences, both in the great outdoors and those involving arts, craft and culture.

Planet

We are committed to a low carbon future and finding new ways to reduce our industry’s footprint. We aim to inform and inspire our participating businesses about the circular economy, ecological and cultural diversity and ensuring efficient use of our planet’s resources. We work with selected partners and affiliates to strengthen our offer as one of the world’s leading eco-friendly accreditation organisations.

 

Going Green! A SILVER Green Tourism Award – Leading the way into 2023!


GREEN TOURISM AWARD  – SILVER – SHETLAND SEABIRD TOURS – THE NOSS BOAT

“Shetland Seabird Tours have done a fantastic job in achieving the Green Tourism Silver Award following on from their first GreenCheck Assessment. The team have displayed an excellent understanding of sustainability as well as an awareness of the opportunities and challenges associated with running a responsible business. Shetland Seabird Tours have performed particularly strongly in the Biodiversity, Chemicals, Community, Experiences, and Water goals during this assessment. The team have shown a strong commitment to continual improvement, a willingness to implement change where required, and dedication in the pursuit of sustainable best practices. A hearty congratulations to the team on their efforts and achievement in this assessment. Shetland Seabird Tours will undoubtedly continue to make progress in the Green Tourism programme as they continue their sustainability journey” Green Tourism 

What achieving our Green Tourism award means:

We are supported in our sustainability practices, and in our improvement journey by the world-leading sustainability accreditation partner, Green Tourism. 

Achieving a Green Tourism award means that our sustainability practices have been assessed and verified by a credible partner. It shows that we have an ongoing commitment:

  • to sustainability standards and practices
  • to work responsibly, ethically, and sustainably
  • to contribute to our community
  • to reduce our impact on the environment, and
  • to be accessible and inclusive to all visitors and staff.

Green Tourism has assessed our business against 15 sustainability criteria grouped under the pillars of People, Places and Planet. These consider the social, economic, and environmental actions we undertake, providing a holistic assessment of our sustainability performance. To ensure that our cliental/passengers understand our sustainability commitment, we have been assessed by Green Tourism to validate our practice. This independent assessment brings reassurance that our practice is evidenced and authenticated. We are proud to have been awarded a Silver award in our 6th February 2023 assessment.

Shetland Seabird Tours – The Noss Boat – Highlights 

Green Tourism also helped us to highlight our areas of sustainability strength. At our 1st assessment our sustainability highlights included: Biodiversity, Chemicals, Community, Experiences & Water.

We have been working hard across the business for a few years to reduce our impact on the planet after a challenging time during covid, where we were able to stop, reassess our business & our future & re-evaluate our goals & directions. We were already committed to the environment as passionate ornithologists, naturalists, & conservationists, but time reflecting during the 2020 lockdown, for a business 100% tourism reliant, gave our business the opportunity to further cement our branding, environmental ethos & future direction & to further improve our commitments to the environment & sustainability. We now have an exciting action plan in place through Green Tourism, & continue to improve on our green commitments & look forward to growing as one of the first “green” tourism businesses in Shetland. A Silver Award allows prospective passengers to immediately identify us as a business that places great value the environment & strives honestly & seriously, to reducing our impact upon it. Another small step in the right direction…… 

GREEN TOURISM are a world-leading sustainable tourism accreditation, which means we are in ‘good company’ with some of the world’s largest brands in hospitality & tourism.

 Thanks to all at Green Tourism – we really valued the input & support given by the team to help us through the assessment process. 

THANK YOU

REBECCA & PHIL  Feb’23