SeaLink Travel Group has started running tours again on Kangaroo Island as new chief executive Clint Feuerherdt urged global promotion of pristine areas not burned in the island's savage fires and flagged plans to investigate zero emission ferries.

Sightseeing tours run by SeaLink to the South Australian island resumed on Thursday, with 31 people joining. While numbers remain well below a typical's summer day before the bushfires, when 870 people would usually take part in a dozen different tours offered by the company, Mr Feuerherdt said it was "a very quick and positive bounceback".