Eco-Sustainable Event Destination

Cairns & Great Barrier Reef is a tropical region encouraging genuine connections between nature and each other. Our business events industry is committed to being custodians of our two World Heritage-listed icons; the Great Barrier Reef and the Wet Tropics Rainforest by implementing eco-sustainable measures. We understand that event organisers, companies and delegates, who choose Cairns & Great Barrier Reef for their business event want to reduce their environmental impact, stage events with purpose, and give back as part of their event.

Sustainable Travel

In our region, sustainable travel has been shaped over generations. Ancient cultures have been connected to this country and protected these fragile environments with care and respect. Explore the unique wilderness on an Eco Certified experience, join a Traditional Owner to discover a timeless connection to country, or contribute to reef restoration initiatives when you visit the Great Barrier Reef.

Eco-Certified Leaders

As a region, Cairns & Great Barrier Reef is home to the most amount of eco-sustainable accredited tourism operators in Australia, an amazing 62 operators! Thirteen of these Cairns & Great Barrier Reef operators are in the Hall of Fame after being eco-certified for 20+ years

Carbon offset made easy in Cairns & Great Barrier Reef

Cairns & Great Barrier Reef makes carbon offsetting easy with the launch of our destination carbon offset program in conjunction with Reforest – a ground-breaking new platform changing how events interact with the planet while ensuring their tree planting programs are localised to the host destination.

Reforest will calculate your event’s high-level carbon footprint, work out how event organisers can partially or wholly offset their event, and follow up with the story of their locally planted trees.

Contact us for more information on how this new initiative can fully offset your carbon footprint through the Reforest program or make a partial contribution and offer delegates the opportunity to contribute to the program throughout the event.

Visiting the Reef, helps the Reef

Contrary to popular belief, coming to see the Great Barrier Reef is one of the single best ways you can help in its conservation. Every visitor to the reef pays an Environmental Management Charge which contributes to the day-to-day management of the Marine Park and funding the research that is improving its long-term resilience. This charge also helps contribute to the Great Barrier Reef status of the world’s best managed reef.

World’s first Eco Destination

The Douglas Shire is an hour north of Cairns and is home to Port Douglas, Mossman, Daintree, and Cape Tribulation.  In 2019, it was named the first in the world to achieve Ecotourism Australia’s ECO Destination Certification. The destination first signed up for the certification program in 2018, and has worked hard to achieve the 100 criteria involved in the certification.

Cairns & Great Barrier Reef Supplier Contribution

The business events industry in Cairns & Great Barrier contributes to the conservation of our natural environment through their eco-sustainable practices.

Blog post
6 Nov 2023
10 Tips for Delivering Sustainable Events in Cairns & GBR

If you are an event organiser planning an event in Cairns & Great Barrier Reef, lighten your footprint with these ten tips for delivering sustainable events in our region.

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Media Release
26 Sep 2023
Sustainable events a focus in Cairns & Great Barrier Reef

Connect Great and Leave Greater in Cairns and Great Barrier Reef where two World Heritage Areas are a natural delegate booster for business events.

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Media Release
25 Sep 2023
Travel for good on a Tropical North Queensland expedition

Expeditions exploring the World Heritage-listed reef and rainforest in Tropical North Queensland are giving travellers the opportunity to understand the global importance of these ecosystems and help the organisations caring for their future.

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Media Release
3 Aug 2023
Planners introduced to sustainable Cairns events

Australia’s leading event planners have been gifted a tree to increase the habitat of tree kangaroos on the Atherton Tablelands in Tropical North Queensland as a thank you for attending the Cairns & Great Barrier Reef Business Events Regional Showcase in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne this week.

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Blog post
15 Feb 2023
Cairns & Great Barrier Reef – the home of sustainability

Cairns & Great Barrier Reef is in an enviable position. Gateway to two World Heritage-listed icons – the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree Rainforest, and a regional city, local business events professionals and companies that are acutely aware of their responsibility for the ongoing sustainability of not just the Tropical North Queensland environment but those who call it home.

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Media Release
13 Feb 2023
Sustainable events made easier in Cairns & Great Barrier Reef

A carbon offset program for business events and online hubs designed to make sustainable and accessible travel easy to access are among the new initiatives to be revealed by Business Events Cairns & Great Barrier Reef at AIME 2023.

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Media Release
3 Feb 2023
Sustainable Travel Hub launches in Tropical North Queensland

Travellers can easily find interactive conservation projects, immersive cultural experiences and eco-certified operators with the launch of the Tropical North Queensland Sustainable Travel Hub today (February 3).

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Blog post
13 May 2022
Nurturing Nature & Delegates

Business events can reduce their environmental impact, ensure events are staged with a greater purpose, and provide a sense of achievement for delegates who attend.

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Blog post
16 May 2022
8 Ways to be a More Eco-Conscious Event Manager

In case you missed it, there’s a green-tourism revolution afoot, with travellers increasingly making more conscious choices. Business events are a big driver of travel so let’s keep the green momentum going for delegates.

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Cairns
4 Oct 2021
Introduce your delegates to the world’s oldest rainforest

Skyrail Rainforest Cableway is an experience through Australia’s most famous rainforest, the Wet Tropics, whose ancestry predates dinosaurs and is home to 15 of the 26 families of ancient flowering plants in the world, just to name a few accolades.

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Cairns
5 Oct 2021
Minimise the impact of where your delegates lay their head

As Crystalbrook Collection expands across Australia, their three Cairns-based properties lead the way on their mantra “travel with a lighter footprint”. 

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Cairns
4 Oct 2023
Beer that helps the Great Barrier Reef

Cairns & Great Barrier Reef is the natural place to meet… and eat and drink! Ask anyone who’s visited, and they’ll tell you discovering our reef and rainforest is thirsty work.

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Cairns
5 Oct 2021
Delegates contribute to reef health

As a natural delegate booster, it’s hard to go past the world’s most extraordinary reef; the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef.

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Cairns
Whatever the weather, Cairns is the natural place to meet

Cairns & Great Barrier Reef is a full sensory experience for delegates. Our seasons deliver warm days all year. Regular rainfall over summer and autumn keeps the landscape a rich green; the rainforest is at its most lush and waterfalls are full and spectacular for pre and post-touring adventures.

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