When going green, chances are your guests want to know how! It’s important to share with guests the sustainable strides made at an attraction.
Incorporating sustainability initiatives into business objectives allows attractions to meet growing guest demand, or legislative and investor pressure, as well as show commitment to reducing their environmental impact on their community and the planet.
However, some sustainability efforts may go unnoticed, with guests left unaware of an attraction’s current green initiatives.
How can attractions let visitors know about their eco-friendly work? By taking full advantage of signage to tell a compelling sustainability story.
Food for Thought
Attractions can easily alter food and beverage areas to become more sustainable, and proper signage can illustrate these efforts to guests.
For example, at Pacific Park on the Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica, California, signage plays an important role in letting guests know about the park’s efforts to eliminate single-use plastics and its use of marine-safe biodegradable straws, says Nathan Smithson, director of marketing and business development for the park.
“We have signage educating guests on that because we do have some folks that come in from out of country [or] out of town that don’t necessarily understand,” he explains. Pacific Park also added signage on its trash containers to showcase its recycling efforts after partnering with the City of Santa Monica’s organic collection program.
“We have some signage that was provided from the city that explains what can be composted and what should be going into recycle,” Smithson says. “We developed a signage program with the city that would be used not only on the city-owned trash receptacles, but the receptacles that we have here on our private property as well.”
Attractions can connect with their local municipalities to borrow the same sustainable language and icons the community may already recognize.
Brian Albaum, director of culinary sustainability for attraction operations solutions provider SSA Group, says food and beverage signage is especially important. Proper signage can help guests discern which items should be thrown away, and which should be reused.
“We don’t want to have to buy more ceramic plates and metal forks because people are throwing those away,” Albaum tells Funworld. “Making it clear through visual cues and signage is very important so that we’re not only doing the right thing, but that we’re making sure that we’re financially efficient,” he adds.
Modifying Merchandise
Andrew Fischer, vice president of sustainability and conservation for SSA Group, also believes in the importance of sharing a sustainable message in the retail space. He says its merchandise team established a consistent signage program throughout the attractions they work with, named “Let’s Change the Way We Shop.”
“Essentially we identify the product where we reduced single-use plastics, what it’s made of [now], and why it shifted,” Fischer details. “The idea [is] creating a brand that’s within the store so when a guest comes in that has some interest in this, an employee [can] say we have made some sustainable changes; look for this graphic signage around the shop. That’s something I would recommend to all attractions is find a way to create some branding.”
By designing a logo and brand name for sustainable retail products, an attraction can showcase its merchandise in a way that is enticing and original, allowing a guests to feel confident that they are making a smart choice.
Build Differently
At The Field Museum in Chicago, museum staff members educate guests about their various green efforts—including their LEED Gold status—through various signage, says Mark Bouman, Chicago region program director in the Keller Science Action Center at The Field Museum.
The museum also aims to educate guests about all the sustainability efforts of its scientists through the Restoring Earth exhibit in the Abbot Hall of Conservation, which was designed to be sustainable.
“That is a way to walk the walk within the exhibit spaces,” Bouman explains. “There’s no painted surfaces. They use recycled fallen oak trees as furniture. And there’s a fair amount of digital content ... because a lot of visitors like digital and it’s good to have that to update content on a regular basis, but it also means you don’t have to use lots of paints and solvents to redo exhibit spaces.”
While digital signs need power to operate, they produce less waste when updated compared to printed signage. Prices on ticket windows, menu boards, and wait time signage can also be updated remotely from an office.
Using Staff as Signage
Despite an attraction’s best efforts with signage, the sad truth is, sometimes guests do not take the time to read them. That is why experts agree having staff trained to point out signage and talk about your attraction’s green efforts is also important.
“Staff are often working there because they’re passionate about the work that is happening at those [attractions],” Albaum says. “Being able to share that conservation connection will be an important motivator to get folks to institute some behavioral changes.”
Albaum and Fischer from SSA Group give the example of zoos offering bird-friendly coffee in their cafes and retail spaces that help support bird populations throughout the world. Fischer suggests employees proactively seek communication with guests. He uses the example of an aviculturist working in a bird habitat who could approach guests and simply say, “‘If you want to support these amazing birds that we have at our zoo, go purchase bird-friendly coffee in the retail shop or in our coffee location, because you’ll be making a difference.’ You can have signage associated with that as well, but it’s like verbal signage.”
An attraction will receive more cooperation from frontline staff when explaining the benefits of sustainable changes if they are trained, coached, and made to feel they are making a difference.
He says traditional signage is also important to help convey to guests why a cup of bird-friendly coffee may be more expensive than their last visit, along with arming frontline employees with accurate information so they can intelligently answer a guest question as to the price hike.
“You give them the resources, so they have at least one or two reasons to explain and give a reference,” Fischer says.
In addition to communicating sustainability efforts during quarterly staff meetings, Bouman says they also implement programs like a bike-to-work challenge, an employee-led garden, and staff volunteer days to work in The Field Museum’s native garden to allow staff members to stay connected to its sustainability efforts. “It has to do with the engagement pieces around them,” he adds.
