DESTINATIONS — RESPONSIBLE TOURISM
Learning curve: Children in the Wilderness
Honey to the bee: Fairmont Hotels
in mind, from solar- generated power to sourcing water from rain and springwater. Taj Group is
working on ambitious conservation plans, and within five years will have saved enough electricity to power more than 50,000 homes, saved enough water to fill 338 Olympic- sized swimming pools and reduced carbon dioxide emissions by an amount comparable to taking 6,675 cars off the road. It’s not all about energy
however, the group also helps young people from underprivileged and marginalised sections of society to gain employment in the hospitality industry by providing training and recruitment in skills such as housekeeping, food and beverage service and baking. In Africa, Wilderness Safaris not only builds its lodges and camps to the highest environmental standards, but also runs the Children in the Wilderness programme across seven countries. Camps are closed to tourists and host local children who are taught about protecting
the environment. In Bali, Alila Villas Uluwatu is helping Bali Life
Foundation to build a new house
for 60 orphans, and has set up a training
programme to provide
technical skills so they can find employment.
l WILDLIFE WELFARE When clients are taking a safari, trekking in the jungle or snorkelling, it’s likely they’ll be concerned about the welfare of the wildlife around them. With rhino poaching at an all- time high in South Africa, &Beyond and Great Plains Conservation are working together on Rhinos Without Borders. The programme will safely relocate 100 rhino from an &Beyond reserve in South Africa to one in Botswana, where they’ll be protected by a dedicated anti-poaching team. Riu Hotels & Resorts has
established a 200-hectare Private National Wildlife Refuge next to its two hotels in Costa Rica to protect endangered species. In Peru, eco-lodge group Inkaterra has created a rescue centre
Sustainable rebuild: Bedarra Island Resort
for spectacled bears, started a butterfly breeding programme and restored five hectares of cloud forest, attracting hundreds of indigenous species. Clients will also find programmes
to protect wildlife in areas they might least expect it. Cities might not seem like nature reserves, but the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto is the location for the group’s first ‘pollinator bee hotel,’ set up on the roof alongside an apiary of six hives that have been flourishing for the last 15 years. More than 150 hives can be
found at 26 Fairmont hotels around the world, and are visited by more than five million bees a
year. This programme provides honey for guests, but also works to reverse the declining global bee population – a serious concern when you consider that one in every three bites of food we eat is the result of animal pollination. In Dubai, the Jumeirah Group’s
turtle rehabilitation project has just celebrated its 10th anniversary with the release of 110 critically endangered hawksbill turtles back into the ocean. It can be as much about what guests don’t do, as what they do. Intrepid Travel recently stopped offering elephant rides on its trips, and only visits a limited selection of approved sanctuaries. TW
14 August 2014 —
travelweekly.co.uk • 39
FAST FACT Lux Resorts &
Hotels offsets 100% of guests’ carbon emissions during their stay
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