Eco-tourism/Sustainable Tourism Policy

Vision

To provide a quality close-to-nature experience for visitors

Mission

Offer a range of accommodation and activities in natural settings that provides our family with a sustainable income while giving genuine value to our customer base. Influencing customers through example that may help them to consider their own impact on their local environment in relation to their lifestyle choices.

Team

Owners/Managers, Kevin and Trea are the year round team, joined by daughter Aisling and neighbour Marlen during the busy summer months. Kevin and Trea take equal responsibility to adhere to these principles.

Principles

We are members of Global Sustainable Travel Certification (GSTC) recognised  Sustainable Travel Ireland,  formerly Ecotourism Ireland, Ireland’s leading and longest-running body for the promotion of sustainable and responsible tourism. We have previous Gold certification with Ecotourism Ireland and Silver winners of Best Small Hotel or Accommodation for Responsible Tourism with ICRT.

1. Environmentally sustainable practices

We have a developing permaculture garden which includes heritage apple trees from Seedsavers, two wild ponds, which host a multitude of wildlife and a selection of other fruit trees.
We have a no car policy on our camp-site, a 10 acre native woodland. Our camp-site features natural waste water treatment, rainwater harvesting and solar heating.  We have measuring processes in place for our energy, waste and water. We began to ask our customers in 2018 to use reusable drinking containers and to manage with as little plastic as they can. We plant over 100 trees each year through the Trees on the Land project.

2. Staff engagement

We have an induction program for staff which we go through at the beginning of each season where we cover work practices, health & safety, customer service and sustainable/eco-tourism principles.

3. Natural Area Focus

We are situated on the shore of a Special Area of Conservation(SAC) which is home to more than 140 dolphins. In particular we have a Special Protected Area (SPA) on the shore here at Querrin which is home to many overwintering birds. We have a native woodland which surrounds a ring fort which is home to many different types of birds including blackbirds and thrush. Woodland would have covered part of this area at one time. It is a great filtering system for the water course and will help to filter the water as it runs off down towards the Shannon River. Our business does not impact on these areas but we can raise awareness and encourage a love and passion in our guests for places like these. Loop Head itself has many Special Protected Areas for birds and marine life and we promote that on our website and in our reception area.

4.Interpretation and Education

We have two bat monitors, one suitable for children and one other (Magenta) which can be used in the woodland.
Regular Yoga classes are taught here which highlight the importance of connecting with nature and stepping back from our busy lives.
Trea teaches yoga in the community including yoga for children with special needs. We facilitate close-to-nature educators, for example, School for the Wild and Wild About Nature, during the summer months.

5. Contributing to Conservation

With our bat monitors we take visitors into the woods at night-time to listen out for the bat sounds.
We have taken our local school for visits here to assist them with their biodiversity projects for the Green School Initiatives.
We organise and take part in the An Taisce Querrin Spring Clean. We involved the local school in this event to increase awareness of our local environment.
We have been involved in the Anti-fracking campaign which was successful in halting Fracking in County Clare.
We have completed the Trails guiding training which included a full day on Leave No Trace of which we are current members. We have the leaflets on site and introduce them to visitors at reception.

6. Benefiting local communities

Until the closure of Querrin National school in 2019, the pupils visited Purecamping during Spring and Summer last year as part of their Green Schools initiative. The focus was on biodiversity and they took our woodland as a study. This invite is always open to other local schools in the community.
The Celtic festivals are celebrated in the Loop Head Labyrinth throughout the year. The Labyrinth, a joint project built in 2015 by Trea, Kevin and a local Labyrinth enthusiast is a place of reflection and community members regularly participate in these events and visit this very special place. These events are free of charge.
Kevin was chairperson of the local radio station, RCB for a number of years now. Trea is a basketball coach for Kilrush Basketball Club and Kevin is involved at committee level on the local hurling club. Trea has volunteered with Loop Head Tourism for more than 10 years now and was a key contributor to developing the local walks and heritage trail.

7. Visitor satisfaction

We actively seek feedback during the customers visit and afterwords with an automated email from our booking system. This is published on our homepage.

8. Responsible marketing

We do the majority of our marketing on-line, thereby avoiding consumables altogether. We are completely honest in our advertising and set peoples’ expectations accordingly. We have a Digital Marketing Policy with the core principles of Responsible tourism inherent and we review this annually. We are part of a sustainable tourism network (Loop Head Tourism (LHT)) which has won many awards in it own right.  Loop Head Heritage Trail was winner of the ‘Culture and Heritage’ category in the World Responsible Tourism awards, was named as the Best Place to Holiday in Ireland by The Irish Times in 2013, named winner of the European Destination of Excellence (EDEN) Award in 2010. The peninsula was also named the winner of “best destination’ in the Irish Responsible Tourism awards in 2015 and was also shortlisted in the ‘Best Destination for Responsible Tourism’ category of the 2013 World Responsible Tourism Awards. Loop Head Peninsula is also the only Irish destination to be named in the inaugural Sustainable Destinations Global Top 100, which was announced in late 2014.

9. Cultural respect and awareness

We recognise that we will have visitors from many different nationalities and social backgrounds.
We treat all visitors equally and enjoy learning about other nationalities and discussing similar projects in their countries and communities.
We host students from different countries who stay with our family. We have a bi-directional learning experience where we learn about each others cultures.

10. Green Purchasing Policy

In recognition of Purecamping itself being a consumer of goods and services and in an attempt to mitigate our own environmental impacts, we have developed a Purecamping – Green Purchasing Policy that we review annually. We review our Energy provider each year and our current provider Energia claim to us 100% renewable.

11. Carbon Footprint and Carbon off-setting

We are committing to calculating a realistic carbon footprint for our business in 2021 and signing up to a carbon offset scheme. We have 24 acres of land here in Purecamping that we keep as wild as possible. 4 hectares is under native woodland with over 20000 native trees. Each year we plant approximately 150 trees.

12. Energy, Waste and Water usage

We are committing to reducing the amount of Energy, Waste and Water that is used on site. Although we already have systems in place to do this, through our rain water harvesting, solar water heating and our separation of waste, we continue to strive to make it easier for guests to make the right choices and to take personal responsibility regarding these valuable resources. Our acknowledgement emails gently remind guests to bring less food and to avoid bringing plastics on site where possible. This is something that we can do together to make a difference.