This year is the first time that we have entered the Tourism Awards and we entered two different categories: 'Large Visitor Attraction' & 'Ethical, Responsible & Sustainable Tourism'.
The evening was hosted at the Newcastle Civic Centre by the Tourism Awards and it was a black-tie affair - an opportunity for some of our Zoo Team to wipe off the mud and dig out some fancy frocks.
There was some really good competition at the event and we genuinely did not expect to be taking anything home - it was amazing how full the building was with local businesses, from pubs and restaurants, to boat tours and museums.
The first award we collected was Bronze for Large Visitor Attraction of the Year. This is a jam-packed category with a very different mix of establishments for a mystery shopper to judge between! We were so surprised to pick up an award in this category where anyone can enter that has a minimum of 75,000+ visitors per year.
The next award was for 'Ethical, Responsible & Sustainable Tourism'. This stuff is our bread and butter here at the Zoo. A team of judges visited us last October and we gave them the grand tour, showing them all of the sustainable practices that we carry out on-site. These include:
Biomass boilers - heating all of our public & animal facilities using our own on-site wood chipper to chip FSC wood for use in the boilers
Recycling any old wood/pallets from the Zoo and putting them in the boilers for heat
Recycling centre & cardboard baler - using the cardboard bales as a heat-source for the Bat & tropical House
In-house Hay Production
Sourcing of local materials from Wingates Saw Mill for all of our builds
Recycling centre in the Bear Falls Cafe
69kW of Solar Power energy - helping us be self sufficient on sunny days
Bore hole for our own water
Native species wild areas
Recycling of Christmas trees from Alnwick Gardens events for animal enrichment, garden bedding and biomass
Recycling of Firehose from Tyneside Fire & Rescue for animal enrichment ...and so much more!
It is amazing to be recognised for something that we work so hard on a daily basis to up-keep. To be able to set the bar for not only Zoos, but other tourist attractions in the Northeast is something that we are proud of and we want to encourage.
Learn more about our Sustainability.
