The Busselton Jetty has been named a Green Travel leader certifying the iconic tourism attraction by Ecotourism Australia for 10 years.
Busselton Jetty environmental manager Sophie Teede said being ECO certified helped them to look critically at their business model and plans in order to constantly improve its operations.
"Being an ECO certified operator has given us the confidence to embrace the nature aspects of our business and encourage our visitors to enjoy our beautiful environment as it is," she said.
"We have been able to confidently market aspects of our business that perhaps as locals are taken for granted and show them proudly to our visitors."
To achieve certification, a business needs to go through quite a rigorous process and meet a number of criteria not just around their environmental and community impacts but around their general business operations.
Some initiatives the Busselton Jetty have implemented include a solar panel train, beach clean-up days, pile rehabilitation and marine conservation education.
Ecotourism Australia chief executive Rod Hillman said their members had all been certified through one of their programs, and the reality was businesses who chose ECO Certification survived and thrived when compared to other tourism businesses.
"A business can't be called sustainable if it's not financially sustainable," he said.
"A part of the certification process is looking at the operator's business plans, operational plans and risk management plans.
"An operator that has these kinds of documents in place is more likely to be prepared for unexpected events, like what we've seen recently, because they have already been forced to think about the 'what ifs' that inevitably are part of the tourism sector."
