19 Nov AppreciateAZ
Arizona Responsible
Traveler & Recreation Program
State & Country: Arizona, U.S.A.
Lead Agency: Arizona Office of Tourism
The Arizona Office of Tourism and its State and Federal Agency partners have worked with two leading NGO partners in launching its responsible visitor education program AppreciateAZ.
AppreciateAZ was developed and launched by the Arizona Office of Tourism as a responsible travel education program in 2020 working with Leave No Trace. Its initial focus has been educating visitors and locals to visit and recreate responsibly in natural areas.
Plus, as part of the AppreciateAZ program, the Arizona Office of Tourism – working with Arizona State Parks & Trails and its Federal Agency partners, also educates motorized outdoor recreation users working with the national not-for-profit; Tread Lightly. This includes highlighting Tread Lightly’s set of responsible visitor principles and empowering local Arizona motorized outdoor users on responsible recreation in Arizona’s extensive State and Federal lands.
The Arizona Office of Tourism also highlights Tread Lightly education programs aimed at mechanized outdoor recreation users as part of its AppreciateAZ education activities.
AppreciateAZ’s 7 Leave No Trace Principles emphasize 7 “minimum impact” principles for spending time in the outdoors:
- Plan Ahead & Prepare
- Stick to Trails
- Trash Your Trash
- Leave What You Find
- Be Careful with Fire
- Respect Wildlife
- Share the Outdoors
More on AppreciateAZ Leave No Trace Principles.
Leave No Trace has collaborated with a range of Destination Organizations on similar programs including Colorado’s ‘Care for Colorado’ program launched in 2017.
In 2022, an inaugural ‘AppreciateAZ Day’ was celebrated and an innovative certification and ambassador program was launched. Locals, as well as visitors, can complete an‘AppreciateAZ’ certification through a simple 10-minute online education course.
Illustrating an all-important organizational and State commitment, the AppreciateAZ program and its stewardship principles are identified as critical initiatives and strategic goals in the Arizona Office of Tourism’s 3 Year plan.
To address some degree of overlap and confusion between the two separate but aligned programs of AppreciateAZ and Tread Lightly, the Arizona Office of Tourism is currently working with its partners to launch a more unified and connected visitor education program in 2025. This will also expand the responsible traveler education to focus more on visitors’ behavior in community and cultural settings including supporting small, locally owned businesses (expanding the collaboration with LocalFirst Arizona) and respectful engagement with Arizona’s Indigenous, tribal communities.
The Arizona Office of Tourism highlights opportunities for visitors to support small, locally-owned businesses in partnership with Arizona’s highly successful LocalFirst Arizona.
AppreciateAZ is one part of a border commitment to stewardship and sustainability in Arizona’s tourism by both Destination Organizations and their government and industry partners. This includes support of ‘green mobility’ solutions at both a State and local level (eg: in the city of Flagstaff). Arizona’s efforts in in fostering Electric Vehicle travel was featured in the 2023 edition of “US Road Trips – The Latest Trends & the Outlook for EV Travel” – an annual research report and webinar hosted by Miles Partnership and Longwoods International.
The Arizona Office of Tourism has also committed to a greater focus on sustainable tourism management and stewardship by being an early adopter of the Wayfinder destination management platform (developed by Miles Partnership).
