What does this symbol mean?

Besides the 4 organic food certification symbols, there are other environmental certification programmes available for encouraging the development and promotion of environmentally responsible business practices in New Zealand. Many of the businesses listed on this site are affiliated with one or more of these programmes. You'll see the symbol next to their listing.

Qualmark

Qualmark is New Zealand tourism's official quality agency. Tourism NZ provides independent assessment of accommodation and tourism businesses to make it easier for the traveller to choose quality holiday experiences. When you see the Qualmark symbol it means that those businesses have been independently assessed against a set of national quality standards that have been developed with the traveller, in mind. It identifies professional and trustworthy businesses so you can book and buy with confidence.
The Qualmark quality assurance system has a star grading system for accommodation and an endorsement system for other tourism businesses such as adventure activities, attractions, cultural and nature experiences, coaches, rental cars and more.
The star ratings range from one star (acceptable):

Meets customers' minimum requirements. Basic, clean, and comfortable accommodation.

– to 5 stars (exceptional):
Consistently achieves the highest quality levels with a wide range of facilities and services. Among the best in New Zealand.

For more info www.Qualmark.co.nz

Responsible Tourism

Qualmark® is extending and enhancing its environmental and social assessment criteria for accommodation providers, visitor activities, transport and services.

For tourism businesses, this means meeting some 'minimum requirements' in this area, along with recognising operators who are actively participating in

* energy efficiency
* conservation initiatives
* waste management
* community activities
* water conservation

For visitors, it means that the Qualmark® represents environmental and social commitment as well as general quality indicators.

For more info please see: www.responsibletourism.co.nz

Green Globe

Green Globe is the leading benchmarking and certification programme developed specifically for the travel and tourism industry. The programme is managed by Brisbane, Australia based EC3 Global, the commercialisation and adaptation division of the Sustainable Tourism Co-Operative Research Centre, whose research program is overseen by 17 of Australia’s leading universities.

The World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) established Green Globe in 1992 as a response to the United Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit, where 182 Heads of State endorsed the Agenda 21 principles of Sustainable Development. Green Globe is the only international benchmarking and certification program based on Agenda 21 principles. It provides a framework for environmental and social performance improvement through independent third party verification.

CarboNZero

The CarboNZero programme encourages and supports individuals and organisations, to minimise their impacts on climate change by providing them with tools to measure, manage and then mitigate their carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions.

Off-setting emissions is done by purchasing carbon credits through verified schemes such as renewable energy generation / and or regeneration of native forests in New Zealand, which in turn act as carbon sinks. See www.carbonzero.co.nz