What is Travel Green Wisconsin?

Travel Green Wisconsin is a voluntary, affordable program that reviews, certifies, and recognizes tourism businesses that have made a commitment to continuously improve their operations in order to reduce their environmental impact. This program allows tourism businesses to evaluate their operations, set goals, and take specific actions towards environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

Travel Green Wisconsin is designed to support the Wisconsin brand, give the state and hospitality business participants a marketing edge, promote smart business practices, reduce costs, educate travelers, and protect the beauty and vitality of Wisconsin’s landscape.

Among Wisconsin’s most popular attractions are its natural resources, cultural diversity, and the wildlife that make their home in the state. Efforts to preserve these assets for generations to come are in the best interest of Wisconsin’s tourism industry and the state’s overall economy.

What are the goals of Travel Green Wisconsin?

• Be entirely voluntary.
• Be simple and affordable so that tourism businesses are motivated to participate.
• Be adaptable and available to the full variety of business types that serve travelers.
• Make good business sense by offering identifiable cost savings to participants.
• Increase participant awareness of environmentally sustainable business practices.
• Provide a marketing advantage for program participants as well as the state.
• Lead to measurable environmental improvements.

Background and History

Wisconsin’s conservation history and leadership has a long successful tradition. With leaders including Aldo Leopold, John Muir, Frank Lloyd Wright, and Gaylord Nelson, Wisconsin has proven its commitment to the environment time and time again. The more recent additions to this longstanding tradition are business owners and innovators who are recognizing that improved environmental and social impacts are resulting in lower costs and greater market recognition.

In the spring of 2004, Department of Tourism Secretary, Jim Holperin, formed a work group of leaders representing tourism industries, non-profit organizations, and government agencies with the mission of helping tourism operators adopt more sustainable business practices. This work group called the Sustainable Tourism Ad Hoc Committee, explored the development of a voluntary environmental certification program for the Wisconsin tourism industry. The Department of Tourism then formed a contract with the Wisconsin Environmental Initiative (WEI) to take the lead on this initiative to develop the certification program, called “Travel Green Wisconsin.”

WEI developed Travel Green Wisconsin based upon goals set forth by the Sustainable Tourism Ad Hoc Committee, existing certification programs, and the Mohonk Agreement.

Travel Green Wisconsin was piloted in four areas in the state. Over thirty tourism businesses went through the certification process. Feedback was received from these businesses so the tourism industry would have the opportunity to give suggestions in order to make adjustments to the program. Travel Green Wisconsin is now accepting applications from businesses throughout the state.