By ensuring that we care for the spaces that our clients enjoy we are helping maintain them for future generations.
We work with our partners to promote a healthy, environmentally-friendly way to enjoy UK and Ireland's golf courses in a way that's both good for you and the local communities we operate in.
We always look for opportunities to support those communities, operate in an ethical manner and reduce the waste generated by our tours. We think this is the right thing to do and what we've done since we started over 30 years ago.
Morton Golf recently became a signatory to the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism.
The Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism was officially launched during COP26 in Glasgow in November 2021.
The objective is to raise the climate ambition of tourism stakeholders and secure strong actions to support the global commitment to halve emissions by 2030 and reach Net Zero as soon as possible before 2050.
Transforming tourism through climate action is crucial for the sector’s competitiveness, sustainability and resilience.
The Declaration aims to:
Along with all signatories of the Glasgow Declaration Morton Golf agree on five shared pathways to ensure climate action is aligned across all of tourism sector: Measure, Decarbonise, Regenerate, Collaborate, Finance.
We were delighted with our recent 'Silver' award from the Green Tourism Business Scheme which formally recognises our commitment to social, environmental and economic sustainability in all of our business practices.
Through this scheme we are committing to:
However, we will not rest on our laurels but rather focus on an action plan to further raise our game with a focus on securing a 'Gold' award at our next assessment.
We are delighted to have contributed to the Scottish Inbound Golf Tour Operators Association (SIGTOA) donation made to the Woodland Trust to mitigate our clients UK travel emissions.
Pip Greensmith, Head of Partnerships with the Woodland Trust commented on the new project:
"SIGTOA is making a welcome commitment to nature in choosing to mitigate the carbon footprint on behalf of their clients. These trees will provide new homes for wildlife and contribute to our work to create more resilient landscapes across the UK."
Malcolm Roughead, CEO for VisitScotland was delighted to support the initiative:
"Scotland and Scottish Tourism have ambitious plans to address the climate emergency and mitigate our carbon footprint but to be successful it has to be a collective effort and I welcome this great initiative by SIGTOA and its members in conjunction with The Woodland Trust.
This initiative demonstrates clearly how tourism is a force for good sustaining communities across the whole country and nurturing those natural assets which make Scotland a great destination for golfers from around the world."
Both individually and as part of the combined efforts of SIGTOA, we continue to seek opportunities to provide our clients with the peace of mind they are looking for to ensure that their impact on Scotland's natural landscapes is a positive one.
Morton Golf is part of the Bike2Work scheme, promoting healthier lifestyles and sustainable transport for our team.
We recycle as much as possible, but that’s just the start of our story! We have not produced any printed brochures or booklets in the last 2 years (I'm pleased to say that these were printed on recycled paper with vegetable-based inks!) and have made a commitment to take all of our brochureware online in an effort to eliminate all waste here.
The majority of our business mileage in 2020 and 2021 was done in electric vehicles. Over the coming years we will look to replace our remaining petrol and diesel vehicles with these greener alternatives.
Scotland has an ever expanding EV charging network and allows us to confidently make that commitment safe in the knowledge that it will not impact the experience for our clients.
You can follow our EV adventures via our Instagram page, with each journey we make by EV hashtagged #GreenTourism.
The recent golf experience through Scotland that all of you at Morton Golf provided us was fantastic! The entire process from arrival to departure was flawless. One in our group has travelled outside the US over 300 times and he has rarely found a team that was as punctual, full of personality and willing to take care of every need and request as the Morton team.
Jeff Benson, USAMy bucket list is not very long, but a trip to St. Andrews was right on the top of it. I spent the summer getting my game in shape, and getting myself in shape to walk the golf courses! I had high expectations for this trip, and usually when I set my expectations that high, I am let down. This trip exceeded my expectations in every way.
Pastor Nick Billardello, USAI really enjoyed have Jim as our driver. I have always done self-driving trips so that was one of my favourite parts. Jim was excellent and he had the bus provisioned very well. Jim was always courteous and on time and made the drives very enjoyable. The accommodations were exceptional. We all loved the lounge area at the Invernairne. It was a great place to relax and have a cocktail at the end of the day.
Glenn Anderson, Nova Scotia, Canada