Stray - Orange is the new green...

Carbon Group welcomes back Adventure Travel company - Stray Travel. Stray are following up on measuring their first year carbon footprint with us and will now be able to compare their 2007 footprint with their 2008 footprint, allowing them to quantitatively track their progress. Stray owner Neil Geddes believes the majority of visitors to New Zealand choose it for the pristine scenery and outdoors. Stray is wholeheartedly committed to environmentally sustainable tourism and specifically measure their carbon impacts, as the use of buses is such an integral part of their business.

Stray also proudly carry the Qualmark - New Zealand's official mark of quality for tourism. All business that carry the Qualmark are assessed on their environmental performance as a minimum and are recognised for any initiatives in energy, waster, water, conservation and community.  Travellers from overseas increasingly look out for tourism businesses which try and minimise their environmental impacts, and the Qualmark helps business like Stray to demonstrate this to clients.

The company has undertaken a number of sustainability initiatives both in-house and in their operations, and already lead in the market with the newest bus fleet to reduce greenhouse gas emissions (with the best fuel economy and Euro 3 and 4 spec engines). “On a bus is one of the most environmentally friendly ways to travel, but only if the bus is full! So Stray reduce their departure days and bus sizes in winter when there are less travelers to New Zealand, to further reduce unnecessary output’. This means that by choosing Stray travelers are helping reduce their own carbon output. ‘We focus on initiatives to reduce our own emissions, instead of just trying to off-set them” says Neil.

September 2009