the winner of best green hotels in Europe...

Europe's Leading Green HotelAquaCity Poprad, Slovakia

Europe's Leading Green Hotel ChainAldemar Hotels & Spa

the winner of best green hotels in Caribbean and Central America...

Caribbean

Caribbean's Leading Green ResortTiamo, South Andros Island, Bahamass

Central America

Central America's Leading Green HotelGAIA Hotel & Reserve, Costa Rica

the winner of best green hotels in Asia and Pacific ...

Asia's Leading Green Hotel

The Orchid Hotel, India

Australasia's Leading Green Hotel

Jean-Michel Cousteau Fiji Islands Resort

the winners of best green hotels in Africa ...

Africa's Leading Conservation Company

Shamwari Game Reserve, South Africa

Africa's Leading Green Hotel

Nairobi Serena Hotel, Kenya

World Travel Awards for eco-resorts, eco-hotels, eco lodges and eco-tourism organizations

For these last posts of the year I thought it was interesting to bring to your attention the best eco lodges, eco hotels, eco resorts, eco organizations as elected in the 15th World Travel Awards, voted by travel agents worldwide.

The 2008 World Travel Award Winners for Green are:

World's Leading Conservation Company
Shamwari Game Reserve, South Africa
World's Leading Eco-friendly Airport
Singapore Changi Airport
World's Leading Eco-Lodge
KumbukRiver, Sri Lanka
World's Leading Green Cruise Line
Sea Cloud Cruises
World's Leading Green Destination
Costa Rica
World's Leading Green Hotel
Chateau Mcely, Czech Republic
World's Leading Green Resort
AquaCity Poprad, Slovakia
World's Leading Green Tour Operator
Tribes Travel, United Kingdom
World's Leading Green Transport Solution Company
Europcar
World's Leading Responsible Tourism Scheme
Quest, England
World's Leading Sustainable Tourism Scheme
Green Airport Initiative

the winner of best green hotels in Oceania...

Work in Eco-tourism! some job offers ...

Our colleagues from http://www.travelmole.com/ have just realeased a very interesting news:

"TIES website features jobs, internships and volunteer opportunities with our members from around the world. We encourage you to explore these diverse employment opportunities and to learn about careers in ecotourism and sustainable tourism. Working in ecotourism can be, particularly in these tough times, a great way to stay ahead and develop competitive skills in the ever-growing green markets."

There is indeed a great list of jobs on http://www.ecotourism.org/webmodules/webarticlesnet/templates/eco_template.aspx?a=358

Jobs include:

Cook for Maho Bay Pavilion Restaurant

Web & Marketing Producer for Holbrook

Volunteer for Holbrook's Sarapiqui Conservation Learning Center

Resort Designmier for Mithun

Trip Leader & Experienced Guide for O.A.R.S.

Group Leader for Intrepid Travel Management

Office Roles for Intrepid Travel Specialists for Intrepid Travel Retail Stores Enlightenment

Lecturers for Holbrook Travel

Planeta.com 's book of the year

The website Planeta.com has just released the winners for its third-annual book of the year award.

The winners are:

in the Environment category - Watching Giants: The Secret Lives of Whales

in Food – Eat Smart in Sicily

in Guidebooks – Traveler's Tool Kit: Mexico and Central America

in Tourism – Disappearing Destinations: 37 Places in Peril and What Can Be Done to Help Save Them

More info on http://www.planeta.com/

Other awards include the Colibri Ecotourism Award, the Ecotourism Spootlight Award and the brand-new Indigenous Tourism and Biodiversity Website Award.

Air New Zeland goes Green !

Another airline goes green : Air NZ is enabling passengers to buy carbon credits - and the fees go directly into projects like the Tararua wind farm on New Zealand's north island.

Air NZ is also optimizing things like speed and weight with the goal of reducing their carbon emissions by 100,000 tons in five years.

More important, they plan to become the first airline in the world to test a biofuel made from the nut of an Indian plant, called jatropha. They'll test it later this year and already plan to be using it on 50 percent of domestic flights by 2013.

Let's follow this !

More info at http://www.airnewzealand.co.nz/aboutus/environment/

Another major hotel chain goes into the Green business : Element by Starwood

Interestingly enough, it is not any chain but the leading luxury chain, Starwood, the US based owner of Sheraton, Westin, St Regis, Le Meridienm, A-Loft, etc.

They have just started a new brand, dedicated to green travel, Element ...

The first property opened in July in Lexington, USA.

The Element hotels are built with technology that saves water and cuts electric use, including heat-reflecting roofing materials, energy-efficient appliances and 16-foot windows to allow natural light into common areas. Laundry bags will be reusable, hybrid cars will get preferred parking, and garbage cans in the rooms will make it easy for guests to recycle.

Starwood has chosen the LEED label for these hotels: Starwood has applied for certification for the Element hotels under the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design Green Building Rating System.

More info at http://www.starwoodhotels.com/element/index.html

50 ways to be a true eco-traveler ...

Dear readers,

a very interesting mini site from National Geographic ... 50 ways to be a true eco-traveler ...


from planing to packing, traveling, staying etc ...

Enjoy the reading at http://traveler.nationalgeographic.com/sustainable-travel-tips/

Sri Lanka tourism working on becoming carbon neutral by 2018

Dear Readers

a very interesting move from Sri Lanka Tourism along with all its stakeholders (hotels and resorts, tour-operators, travel agencies, green hotels, eco hotels.

Mr Milinda Moragoda, Minister of Tourism, has launched this campaign to make Sri Lanka the most sought after green destination in Asia. He declared “Towards a Carbon Clean Sri Lanka: A Tourism Earth Lung” is the thrust we have initiated. I am happy that the initiative championed by Sri Lanka Tourism presented at the UNWTO/UNEP/WMO/ WEF 2nd Conference on Climate Change and Tourism in Davos, was recognised and is supported by the UNWTO. With the Tourism Earth Lung destination initiative, we seek to establish codes of practice for each of the industry sub-sectors. It also seeks to influence and even lead efforts at stopping de-forestation, ensuring re-forestation, encourage the use of alternative energy sources and mitigate pollution at their sources through local and regional efforts, creating an “Earth Lung Community”.

Read the full report by Milinda Moragoda, M.P., Minister of Tourism, Sri Lanka’s pledge “Towards a Carbon Clean Sri Lanka: A Tourism Earth Lung” at http://www.earthlung.travel/files/pdf001.pdf

New Zealand also its own green travel criteria and certifiation scheme ...

The New Zealand's green tourism verification scheme is called Qualmark Green.

It has recently been picked up by one of Asia's largest travel agencies, JTB, Japan Travel Bureau, the leading Japanese travel agency.

"The Qualmark Green-accredited luxury tour to New Zealand is the first of its kind in the world, providing a range of environmentally-sustainable New Zealand travel products in one package," said Mr Hiromi Tagawa, President and CEO of JTB Corporation. "New Zealand is the only country in the world with such a robust quality assessment program incorporating strict environmental sustainability practices, fully supported by their national airline."

It is indeed enouraging for Qualmark Green to be recognized by such a famous agency.

JTB's 'Royal Road', using a theme of eco-luxury, has packaged up an itinerary featuring almost exclusively Qualmark and Qualmark-Green accredited tourism operators in New Zealand including: Millbrook Resort Queenstown, Huka Lodge in Taupo, The Langham Hotel in Auckland, Johnstons Coachlines, and Real Journeys in Milford Sound.

The Royal Road tour also includes a certified carbon-offset contribution for participants and all Royal Road customers will have a tree planted in their name, with GPS tracking, at Mangarara station in the Hawke's bay - as part of Air New Zealand's Environmental Trust programme.

Other JTB package tour brands 'Look' and 'Grand Tour' have also launched new itineraries based on Qualmark-only accredited operators. JTB is aiming to include only Qualmark accredited suppliers in its package tours within the next year.

more info at http://www.responsibletourism.co.nz/

A survey on ecotourism blog

Thanks to Intakt Internet Services, a IT services company out of Berlin, Germany. They have added us in their top blog list for Ecotourism ...

Have a look at the findings of their survey at http://www.trekking.net/sustainable-tourism-blogs.htm

That's their survey positioning: "However, what does sustainable tourism really mean? How can tourism be a source of income for locals on the one hand and protect traditional local culture and enhance nature conservation on the other hand?Sustainable Tourism summarizes popular topics such as ecotourism or responsible travel. However, sustainable tourism requires a lively debate between tour operators, locals and tourists. The purpose of this debate is to create and develop new ideas and concepts in tourism in collaboration with local businesses. Weblogs are online diaries inviting people around the world to gain insight into a particular topic. Many weblogs allow comments and links to other postings and encourage an active participation of people during the development process of tourist concepts.Intakt Internet Services supports this development and started a study of current topics in commercial, personal and non-commercial blogs referring to "ecotourism", "sustainable tourism" und "responsible tourism". On http://www.trekking.net/sustainable-tourism-blogs.htm Intakt Internet Services published a list of current active blogs. The figures compared within the study refer to activities of bloggers in September 2008 such as number of postings or comments as well as search engine rankings."

Green Globe and STI form a partnership

Dear readers, eco-travel fans,

That's an interesting move. We have always commented in this globe about too many labels that were often misleading so we are happy to see the two major player get together. it is certainly not a good news for Pricing of Certification (as in any monolopoly market) but that's great for lisibility and consistency.

I also personally think it will help building on the eco-travel concept and encouraging hotels to go greener.

So good luck to the new partner teams




Press Release

Green Globe International, Inc. Announces Agreement with Sustainable Travel International for Licensing and Co-Branding Relationship for Sustainability and Carbon Neutrality Products

Issued Monday, November 24, 9:02 am ET

Agreement includes eco-tourism certification, carbon offset, carbon footprint, and renewable energy services

MURRIETA, CA--(MARKET WIRE)--Nov. 24, 2008--Green Globe International, Inc. (OTC BB: GGLB), the worldwide owner of the Green Globe brand, the premier international green brand for travel and tourism, today announced an agreement with Sustainable Travel International (STI), under which Green Globe International and STI will partner to deliver co-branded products and services to the global travel and tourism industry.

Green Globe International offers comprehensive sustainability and carbon neutrality programs under its internationally recognized Green Globe brand, including Benchmarking and Certification, consulting, communications, and carbon neutrality programs. Under the license agreement with Sustainable Travel International, Green Globe International will license certain STI properties for use as part of Green Globe programs. STI will be paid licensing fees from revenues generated by the use of its properties and services in Green Globe programs. STI may also partner with Green Globe International to license the Green Globe brand for its program participants.

Included in the products expected to be delivered as a result of the agreement is a Green Globe branded carbon offset tool for travelers.

“Sustainable Travel International is an extremely well-respected organization in the field of sustainable tourism development, and we are pleased to add them as another strategic partner to assist in our efforts to bring new Green Globe branded products to the global travel and tourism industry,” stated Steven R. Peacock, CEO and managing director of Green Globe International. “STI has developed cutting-edge sustainability and carbon neutrality products and services, and we look forward to working with STI to deliver their products as part of the Green Globe program.”

“This relationship will afford us the opportunity to expand our reach and grow revenues by including a new set of products in the Green Globe catalogue,” Mr. Peacock added.

Sustainable Travel International, a global leader in sustainable tourism development, is the developer and owner of the intellectual property rights for a variety of market-tested sustainable tourism development services including Sustainable Tourism Eco-certification Program™ (“STEP”), a voluntary, third party certification initiative, Green.travel, an on-line responsible travel portal, Traveler’s Giving Back™, a philanthropic initiative, and TravelGreen, a voluntary carbon offset initiative.

The 501(c)(3) non-profit organization’s mission is to promote sustainable development and responsible travel by providing programs that enable consumers, businesses and travel-related organizations to contribute to the environmental, socio-cultural and economic values of the places they visit, and the planet at large. For more information on STI, please visit www.sustainabletravelinternational.org.

Brian Mullis, President of Sustainable Travel International, commented, “We are extremely pleased be working with Green Globe and taking a more collaborative approach to global sustainable tourism development. This arrangement combines Sustainable Travel International programmatic strengths with Green Globe’s broad reach within the travel and tourism industry, particularly at a destination level, a combination that has all potential for success

Another hotel going green in Singapore: M-hotel

M Hotel, a leading 4 stars hotel in Singapore, part of the Millennium and Copthorne group, has embarked on a comprehensive Green Campaign in every effort towards conserving Earth’s precious resources. The campaign is targeting specifically at energy conservation and awareness.

The hotel explains below its policy:

In an extensive energy audit, M Hotel has identified various areas to improve on its energy efficiency, which include public areas comprising its hotel lobby, guest rooms and corridors, meeting rooms as well as back-of-the-house premises in all kitchens and offices.
Since early this year, M Hotel has reviewed and implemented several conservation measures, mainly involving the control of all heating and air-conditioning systems, usage of low wattage, high efficiency lighting and close monitoring of the daily operations of all machinery and equipment. The hotel also recognises the importance of setting measurable standards and guidelines without compromising on guest satisfaction and employee safety.

At the hotel lobby, timers are installed to switch off the ceiling lights from 12am till 6am every day. The timers are also fixed at other public areas including guest room corridors and the gym on The Waterfloor to switch off half of their lights from 12am till 7am daily. When cleaning rooms, all chambermaids are urged to make use of natural light whenever possible, and to maintain air-conditioning thermostats at 22.5 degree celsius in unoccupied rooms. In addition, M Hotel is planning to replace the halogen lights in all its 413 guest rooms with the energy-saving LED (Light Emittance Diode) light bulbs.

At the Banquet Suite on level 10, a lower wattage new service light has been installed to reduce energy consumption. The hotel’s banqueting employees have also been informed to be prudent with the amount of lighting used whilst setting up events and also, to switch off all lights and air-conditioning at the end of all functions.
Over at the Kitchen, all electrical and gas equipment is switched off when not in use. Water heaters are also turned off when dishwashers are inactive for more than 15 minutes. To minimise energy consumption, kitchen staff will only operate dishwashers at full load. Overheating and simultaneous start-up of all electrical equipment are also avoided to maximise energy efficiency.

Within staff premises, all office lights and air-conditioning are switched off during meal periods and at the end of the day, likewise the lights in all storerooms and pantries when not occupied. Big-item machinery including printers and copiers are set on standby mode whenever they are not in use. All staff are also urged to refrain from printing documents unless necessary, and to utilise both sides of the paper. Moreover, M Hotel encourages waste reduction and recycling of all papers, plastic and glass bottles with the placement of recycling bins at its garbage centre.

The achievement of long term results of energy conservation requires the collective commitment of the M Hotel team. The guidelines are highlighted during staff orientation and regular briefings to reiterate its importance, and constantly reviewed to ensure their effectiveness.


More info at