Adventure tourism and commercial outdoor operators have easy access to running a safe business with a new website.
The website, www.supportadventure.co.nz, is designed to be a one-stop-shop for safety information after recommendations by the Government-led 2010 adventure tourism review.
The website has been developed by the Tourism Industry Association New Zealand (TIA) with support from Outdoors New Zealand and funding from the Department of Labour.
“The review found that adventure and outdoor operators would value one central, credible source of safety information. While plenty of information exists on how to keep staff and clients safe, it was widely spread and often difficult to find,” TIA Advocacy Manager Geoff Ensor says.
The review was sparked after English tourist Emily Jordan drowned while riverboarding on Queenstown’s Kawarau River in 2008. Emily’s father Chris Jordan wrote to Prime Minister John Key about the lack of safety standards in the operation.
Content on the website is based on extensive consultation with the adventure and outdoor sector, including 19 operator workshops attended by more than 300 operators, as well as discussions with a range of individual businesses and organisations. It includes detailed information on how to develop a safety management plan, legislation relevant to the adventure and outdoor sector, and links to other useful websites.
“There are tips and advice on the website that every operator will find valuable, whether they are just starting out or have years of experience. While it will help operators who have to be registered under the new adventure activities regulations to meet DOL requirements, it will also be really useful to volunteer organisations, clubs, schools and tertiary institutions,” Ensor says.
“Client expectations of safety are higher than ever while the tolerance for mistakes is very low. This means that even those operators who will not have to be registered and audited under the new adventure activities regulations should still be aiming to adopt the industry-accepted safety standards set out on this website.”
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