Reflections the first holiday park group in Australia to make B Corp list

Reflections Holidays has become the first holiday park group in Australia to gain B Corp certification, a result its Chief Executive Officer, Nick Baker, said was anchored by its commitment to support local communities, and to grow regional tourism by encouraging Aussies to holiday in their own backyard.

The largest holiday park group in New South Wales, headquartered in Newcastle, Reflections is a Category 1 Crown Land Manager which operates 40 holiday parks in coastal and inland NSW, and cares for 47 community reserves. A certified social enterprise, it reinvests profit into these parks and reserves.

“In 2022, Reflections committed to striving to meet the rigorous and independently assessed standards of becoming a B Corp, which meant placing a magnifying glass on every part of our operations to ensure that we were taking genuine action to ensure that the communities we operate in were benefiting from our presence in their town or village,” Mr Baker said.

“B Corp looks at a business as a whole, how it treats people, contributes to communities, cares for the environment and serves its customers and these benchmarks resonated for our park teams, which have long played a huge role in their communities, from using local suppliers and supporting local causes, to caring for their nature reserves.”

Globally, there are more than 11,000 businesses with B Corporation status, in Australia including Aesop, Who Gives A Crap and R.M Williams. The “B’ in B Corp is for “benefit”, and certified B Corp businesses have been independently assessed against standards which examine the impact a business has on people and the environment, as well as how it operates and holds itself accountable.

“Becoming a B Corp isn’t about a particular offering or service, although we believe our parks and our staff really strive to provide opportunities for our guests to connect in nature and with each other,” Mr Baker said. “For us, B Corp certification recognises something that has already been important to us: caring for people, places and communities in a way that creates a positive impact beyond profit.”

Mr Baker said the new certification was “not the finish line”, rather a tool to keep the organization accountable in its operations, including continuing its support of local suppliers and businesses and striving to do business in a way that benefited communities.

“B Corp accreditation doesn’t change our purpose, it has given us an independent instrument to assess our operations and continue to improve, and we hope this result inspires others in our industry to examine how they can improve their businesses to benefit everyone around them.”