SEVEN HOTELS have been officially designated Green Globe Hotels, receiving awards for their stringent environmental management practices.
The awards ceremony took place at the Terra Nova Hotel in New Kingston on Wednesday. The hotels which have adopted practices geared at recycling and reducing waste include the Half Moon Hotel which received Green Hotel of the year for three years, Negril Cabins Resort, Sea Splash Resort, Mockingbird Hill Hotel, Sandals Negril, Rondel Village and Grand Lido Negril.
The Jamaica Hotel and Tourist Association (JHTA) and United States Agency for International Development (USAID) were also recognised for their environmental management practices in establishing the Environmental Audits for Sustainable Tourism (EAST) project. EAST has been leading the charge in the greening of Jamaica's hospitality and tourism industry. The project was funded at $US2.7 million by USAID.
The ceremony fell under the World Tourism Organisation theme, 'Technology and Nature: two challenges for tourism at the dawn of the 21st Century.'
"The major challenge is how to use available and developing technologies to protect our natural resources, while allowing these assets to yield maximum economic benefit for our country and our people," said Director of Tourism, Fay Pickersgill.
"These awards show that we do not have to sacrifice either technology or the environment to enable economic development."
Opposition spokesman on Tourism Ed Bartlett agreed. "Tourism is the only way to fill the gap sugar left," he said. "It is the millennium industry, and Jamaica has a comparative advantage in this area."
The Green Globe programme is an international environmental certification scheme specifically designed for travel and tourism companies. It was developed in 1997 and is dedicated to improving environmental practices and awareness among tourism partners. To be awarded, the hotels must put in place measures to minimise waste, reuse and recycle, as well. Green hotels must also include other measures to manage energy use, conservation, and fresh water resources.
"We need to share this vision with the rest of Jamaica," Tourism Minister Portia Simpson Miller said, "that way everyone will understand that a cleaner and greener Jamaica will improve the quality of life.
"If we can improve the conditions of the quality of life of our people, Jamaicans overseas will stop badmouthing our country," she added.
"tourism can bring about the rebirth the country needs."
