We’ve all heard the phrase “talk the talk, walk the walk” a million times. It basically means that a person (or in our case, a company) should support what they say, not just with words, but also through action. In this blog post, we want to touch on the sometimes-underappreciated importance of “talking the talk” and then list some ways that our company is earnestly “walking the walk.”

Well, what are we “’talking the talk and walking the walk” about anyways??? SUSTAINABILITY friends, sustainability.

At Holo Holo Charters, we wholeheartedly believe that operating our Kauai boat tour company as socially and environmentally responsibly as possible makes excellent business sense!  We’ve seen it with our own eyes– consumer demand for responsible products and services is growing and as the years go by, more and more people are interested in knowing how the businesses they’re supporting are managed.

We believe that actively working towards sustainability increases our customer satisfaction, staff motivation, business efficiency, and frankly– gives us a competitive advantage.

These beliefs make us a natural fit as members of the Sustainable Tourism Association of Hawaii (STAH), with whom we recently earned our STAH Recertification, valid through December 2023. Happy dance!

Skeptics might think “Big-whoop, a fancy piece of paper, but does it actually mean anything– in real life?” The answer is, yes it does.

In the second part of this blog post, we’ll cover several examples of how Holo Holo Charters is “walking the walk.” But first, we want to “talk the talk” a bit– about the significance of the certification and the importance of starting conversations that normalize the energetic pursuit of sustainable business practices.

TALKING THE TALK

After graduating from Waimea High School, our company’s General Manager, Chandra Bertsch, studied Business Administration at CSU Chico, minoring in Managing for Sustainability. She got our company involved with STAH in 2016 and currently serves on the organization’s Board of Directors.

STAH’s mission is “to protect Hawaii’s unique, natural environment and host culture through the promotion of responsible travel and education programs relating to sustainable tourism for residents, businesses, and visitors.”

On the ground, STAH is basically a network of like-minded tour operators across Hawaii that can share ideas, inspire each other, and hold each other accountable when it comes to doing the things we can to lessen our respective impacts on Hawaii’s unique and amazing natural, cultural, and social environments.

We italicize the things we can because STAH members acknowledge that our first objective is staying in business. The solutions we implement in the name of sustainability must make financial sense. Obviously, there’s no need to talk about the sustainability of a business that went out of business.

And the more exciting reason we italicize the things we can is because the list of things we can is always growing with new ideas and new technologies. By being connected, learning, experimenting, and sharing information with each other, “fringe” new concepts, over time, become the things we can.

It’s 2022– look on the website of any company (from mining to cigarettes to boat tour companies) and there will be a page declaring their commitment to sustainability. But in many cases, that’s where it ends—just a couple paragraphs on a webpage.

With the STAH program, members must closely evaluate the ways we operate, make certain changes, and meet many criteria. If being certified by STAH was quick and easy, everyone would do it, but Holo Holo Charters is the only Kauai tour boat company to be STAH Certified.

Earlier this year, Chandra bestowed our company’s Assistant Operations Manager, Jess Rickard, with an additional title: Holo Holo Charters Sustainability Coordinator.

Wearing her Sustainability Coordinator hat, Jess logged more than forty hours gathering the documentation needed for our recent recertification. STAH recently integrated with Travelife, a global organization that helps tour operators manage and improve social and environmental impacts, and because of that integration– the process this year was more extensive and rigorous than ever.

We like to think that by talking loudly and proudly about best practices and by leading the way, other Kauai businesses (of all kinds) will be inspired to do the same. Absolutely everyone benefits when we’re actively working to protect Kauai’s natural resources and strengthen our community bonds.

Okay! Enough about talking the talk. Let’s start walking the walk.

Walking the Walk

Welcome to the second half of our blog post! You’ve made it this far and by now, you know how passionate we are about talking the talk, starting conversations, inspiring other businesses & organizations, and holding each other accountable.

Our Holo Holo Charters Sustainability Mission Statement:

To be the most ecologically conscious boat tour company on Kaua’i by providing a positive impact on our island resources and the local community. We believe that by taking people out for amazing experiences on the ocean, it will ignite an existing desire to protect the ocean and ecosystems.

Below are some examples (in no particular order) of how we’ve been walking the walk when it comes to realizing those values.