education, support sustainable development and protect wildlife and the environment. Hotel groups donate too, with
Banyan Tree Hotels & Resorts matching guests’ contributions to its Green Imperative Fund, and Amari Hotels donating to an education-focused programme for disadvantaged children in its native Thailand. The Sandals Foundation supports education, community and environmental work in the Caribbean, with more than $3.6 million raised in the last five years.
l STAYING SUSTAINABLE Clients don’t have to head for an eco-lodge to stay somewhere with sustainable credentials. Many major UK tour operators, including Tui UK & Ireland, Thomas Cook, Cosmos, Kuoni and Virgin Holidays have joined the Travelife certification scheme, so customers can easily look for the bronze, silver and gold awards logos to see how committed properties are to sustainability. Other widely used certification schemes include EarthCheck, and Green Globe. These days, sustainable hotels
are less about opting out of having your towels washed, and more about what goes on behind the scenes. Most hoteliers are keen
Turtle power: Burj Al Arab Jumeirah
Up-and-coming: the Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship
to ensure that guests’ experiences aren’t affected by the property’s commitment to the environment, so clients won’t have to make sacrifices.
Luxury Indian chain ITC Hotels
makes sure clients can run the air-conditioning without guilt by sourcing 55% of its electricity from renewable sources, and that they
HANDS-ON ACTIVITIES
Some clients may decide they would actually like to see sustainable practices in action on their trip. The Sani Resort in Greece runs a series of Eco Days throughout the season, flagging up its green initiatives with eco games for kids, a market for local producers and bird-watching trips in the wetlands on the hotel’s reserve. In South Africa’s Eastern
Cape, Kwandwe Private Game Reserve lets clients get hands on with a three-day, not-for-profit Rhino Conservation Safari, where participants take an active role in administering medication to the
preparing and serving meals to local communities. Four Seasons Resort
reserve’s black and white rhino, as well as taking measurements and DNA samples for scientific and medical purposes. Banyan Tree celebrates its 20th anniversary this year with a range of new Guest Voluntourism Initiatives, from planting trees to
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travelweekly.co.uk — 14 August 2014
Maldives at Landaa Giraavaru has supported the Maldivian Manta Ray Project since 2006, and now offers guest the chance to join a seven-night research expedition to study these creatures with a leading expert. Guests on certain
Travelsphere tours can see how their donations are spent, whether by meeting former street children in Delhi or visiting the panda research centre where Bo Bo, the panda adopted by Travelsphere, lives.
can take long showers by recycling enough water to irrigate 65,000 trees.
Sandals offsets up to 12% of
its energy consumption through using photovoltaic cells to heat water, and Half Moon Resort in Jamaica treats 130,000 gallons of waste water per day. The Costa Navarino resort
on the Peloponnese peninsula, Greece, was built with two reservoirs to cover its irrigation needs, including two golf courses, plus a photovoltaic park and a geothermal system.
Off the Queensland coast, the
owners of Bedarra Island Resort rebuilt the property following Cyclone Yasi with the environment
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