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SUSTAINABLE TOURISM James Post 10/2007 Sustainable tourism and responsible travel are hot items these days now that we all start to realize that we should be more careful with our resources and environment. Paradise Bay, the recently opened resort & spa in Grenada takes sustainable tourism very literal and implemented the concept in every aspect of her activities and is an example of how far sustainability can go. What is sustainable tourism? In the past decade people started to acknowledge that hotels are not in all aspects a blessing for the local population and eco system. More recently, we also started to understand what impact traveling has on the ecological systems and global warming. Where ECO tourism and sustainable tourism have much in common, the technical difference is that sustainable tourism also considers the social aspects where the tourism facility settles down. But, historically there are many ECO resorts with excellent social programs who could consider changing tags. Has sustainable tourism only a local impact? In most cases sustainable hotels and resorts concentrate on how they impact the local community in particular and the country in general. They are called sustainable hotels/resorts/lodges or sustainable destinations if there are more of them in an area or country. Add the impact of the travel to the destination and we have sustainable tourism. Energy Paradise Bay installed a 80 kW windmill with an expected yearly yield of 180,000 kWh. It is the first utility-grade windmill installed in Caricom and we could not find any resort that already installed a windmill, although there are several with plans and one under construction. With an estimated yearly power use of 120,000 kWh the resort will be better than zero carbon, once the connection to the mains is realized, as the remainder of the energy is sold to the local electricity company. Paradise Bay encourages other resorts to use wind energy and assist them in their feasibility study, give practical advice and can even offer assistance in installing by a factory trained team. For interested students and prospective windmill owners they organize free seminars at the windmill. To minimize the energy consumption the resort uses air conditioners with heat recovery units, which convert the heat loss into hot water, in addition to solar water heaters. In addition, a high efficiency dish washer with hot water connection is installed. Although with a smaller impact, energy saving lamps combined with solar lights are used. Energy efficient refrigerators and washing machines round it off. Last July and August the resort sold energy saving light bulbs to the local public and offered them a free lunch for every 4 light bulbs purchased. Informal seminars were –and are- held and articles distributed to create awareness of energy saving. In a country were most appliances are only bought on price –and thus energy inefficient- this is not a luxury. The owners typically earn back the price difference with an energy saving class A refrigerator within 1 1/2 year. For many hotels and resorts, the placement of a windmill or solar panels may not be feasible because of financial or practical reasons. But using solar water heaters and air conditioning heat recovery units should not only be important points on the wish list of sustainable hotels and resorts from an environmental point of view, but also save them money. Finally there is the option to offset the emission by purchasing carbon credits. The hotels and resorts could do this or the individual traveler. CARBON FREE VACATION Before the end of 2007 Paradise Bay will implement a carbon offset program where all flights by guests will be offset by carbon credits purchased by the resort, on an automatic basis, in addition to the stay, local transport and activities which is already carbon free because of the windmill that supplies energy back to the electricity net. The guest’s vacation is therefore guaranteed carbon neutral. The new carbon offset program, called Zero Carbon Travel, plants trees in Ethiopia which has additional social and ecological benefits. Due to aggressive deforestation in Ethiopia only 3% of the forest is still there. In a country where the majority of the poor population depends on firewood for their dinner this means that many have to walk for miles to find twigs to cook. Deforested areas are also more likely subject to erosion, with significant medium and long term negative effects. These additional valuable benefits underline the truly sustainable approach of this carbon offset program that will become available for general travel before the end of 2007 for all flights, sea, train and car travel and combinations hereof, destinations and tourism facilities. For a typical transatlantic flight almost 40 trees are planted, much more than most other carbon offset programs that do not consider the re-emission of carbon dioxide after the lifetime of the tree and use too optimistic lifetimes for the trees. In the unregulated carbon offset sector it happens that 5-6 times less trees are planted for the same trip at a cost 2-3 times higher. Efficiency and overhead are the issues. Zero Carbon Travel was designed to be transparent, accountable and efficient. All hotels and resorts will be able to use this efficient and therewith affordable plan to offer their guests a Carbon Free Stay or Carbon Free Vacation (including compensation of flights. Sustainable tourism facilities -in my view- should at least opt to offer their guests a carbon free stay and offer the compensation of flights as an option. Reports on the contribution of travel to global warming vary; the lowest states that aviation is responsible for 2.6% of carbon dioxide emission. But as emission at high altitude have a much higher impact on global warming due to radiative forcing, which is a factor between 2.2 and 3.4. Using this correction factor, the total effect of aviation on global warming is roughly 6 – 9 %. Governments are implementing or considering environmental taxes to put a limit on growth. However, these taxes are usually not directly applied to fight global warming. Carbon offset is therefore the only feasible, easy and affordable way to deal with this. Water Paradise Bay built a surface well with underground channels to collect the rainwater from the hills around the resort. As there is neither industry nor inorganic agriculture the water is extremely pure. For the drinking water, they go to a source in the mountains, the same water as used for commercially bottled source water and supply the water in glass, reusable bottles. Fossil fuel Guests are asked to cooperate in combining full cars for tours. When guests go to town, they are requested to take the bus rather than a taxi (on a voluntary basis). Laundry The resort asks guests to keep using the towels and bed linen as long as is comfortable for them. Use of organic materials From January 2008, the resort uses organic soap, shampoo, conditioner, lotion in dispensers. They use local organic meat and vegetables and preferably purchase locally made goods. Social responsibility Paradise Bay hires local staff where possible so the area benefits from the resort’s presence. After hurricane Ivan the resort set up Recovery Grenada Council to distribute food, water, medicines, vitamin pills, seeds and Christmas presents in the wide area (report available on request), initially from own means, later supported by teams in Canada, the USA and the Netherlands. They also help local cultural organizations with in kind donations, assist local NGO's and financially support projects, such as -this year- the reconstruction of the Berean Christian Academy in St. George’s. Next year the resort starts a revitalization program for crop and tree farmers: After hurricane Ivan (9/2004) many gardens became inaccessible by dead trees and debris. Many of those that could be accessed received assistance, notably from Oxfam. But many of those further away are still not in operation. Hurricane Emily (7/2005) was not a motivation to get started again and several farmers that had just rebuilt gave up and moved into construction which was high in demand after Ivan without realizing this is a dead end. Now that the reconstruction boom is over they lose their jobs and after a while they do not have any reserves to start up their farm. Paradise Bay’s revitalization program will assist them to clear their land, plough and provide basic tools seeds, nursery and other materials where needed. From April 2008 the resort starts a revitalization program aimed at crop and tree farmers. Many of them never restarted their farm after hurricane Ivan and moved into construction work. Now that the reconstruction boom is over they find themselves without a steady job and typically have no reserves. This is not only a social problem for the farmers themselves: vegetables now have to be partly imported to satisfy the demand at sharply increased prices. The program helps the farmers to get back in tune, from clearing their overgrown land to providing manure, seeds and seedlings, as well as advice on how to produce more economically. Starting in January 2008 the resort also starts social community services and green energy / conversation awareness programs. For these programs the resorts introduced the Volunteer Vacation that offers a healthy balance between volunteer work and enjoying the island, while getting to know the friendly population. The resort offers free accommodation to the volunteers, who only pay for meals, drinks and services. They can opt for luxury: spa treatments, gourmet food and exclusive excursions or a more simple approach. A combination of the two is appropriate for longer stays, But even if the volunteers opt for a luxury approach, their stay will be substantially cheaper as the resort does not charge for the rooms. Miss Paradise Contest This unique contest brought a team of local fashion photographer, fashion trainer & consultant plus a make up artist together, who produce presentations for 12 finalists, selected by model agencies. The finalists are featured on the internet, where the international public chooses the winners. The models have a chance to a modeling career; the team can offer producers the option to contract them at lower costs, generating a better income for local models and production team. This way, even a beauty contest –initially designed to promote the resort and sponsors- has a sustainable effect. Paradise Bay has the sincere wish and determination to fulfill its environmental ideals and contribute to the well-being of their neighbors and endeavors others to (re)evaluate their sustainable practices. How to select a sustainable resort/hotel Like everything in life, nothing was created equal. As there are no up-to-date standards or benchmarks I recommend verifying their sustainable practices. An up-to-date source is the Islands Hot 100 Blue List of sustainable resorts, hotels and lodges that appears 11/11/2007 in the December issue of Islands Magazine. Other sources are responsibletravel.com, greentraveler.co.uk, itsagreengreenworld.com and other on line directories. When you like a hotel’s approach but-it lacks carbon compensation, you can purchase carbon credits to fill the gap. In this article I did not consider cultural and ecological heritage protection which are factors to be considered in sustainable tourism, but are not my line of expertise. Clearly, the need for protection differs substantially from destination to destination. In the Caribbean for example, I do not see much need for cultural heritage protection, but for ECO lodges settling in unexploited areas this would very much apply. How many sustainable tourism facilities? Exact figures on the number of lodges, hotels and resorts are not available but it is clear that it is a small minority. On the other hand, a new global survey by Lonely Planet reveals that travelers are keen to make significant changes to their behavior to travel sustainable. The annual “Travellers’ Pulse” survey of August 2007, which polled over 24,500 people worldwide, showed 84% of respondents said they would consider offsetting their emissions in the future. 93% of people said they would or might purposefully partake in environmentally friendly travel in the future. While the worldwide figures may be lower it is encouraging to see that a fast rising percentage of travelers wants sustainable tourism. It is up to the travel industry to pick up the challenge and deliver. About the author James Post, a 56 year old Dutch national, was the ultimate frequent flyer in his former career as high tech executive in the electronics industry. That allowed him to evaluate island destinations for his dream: to build a boutique oceanfront sustainable resort. After careful evaluation he decided to land in Grenada, one of the last unspoiled islands with friendly people, very low crime and not only gorgeous beaches, but also a very beautiful hinterland with pristine rainforests and waterfalls. The resort (www.paradisebayresort.net) was opened in April 2007. The Day Spa received over 120 visitors in the first 2 months and local guests spend up to 45 minutes to go for lunch at Aloe Vera, the gourmet restaurant of the resort. Unique is the Super Inclusive option, which offers guests not only food & drinks (including fine Cava Champagne) but also a myriad of activities: full body Aromatherapy massage and other treatments, whale/dolphin watching, Catamaran sailing trip, scuba diving, 9 course golf green fees, horseback riding, 5 different walks and hikes, as well as an island tour, The small (18 rooms and suites) resort offers the personal service that James deems especially important for those who want to get away from it all and don’t like to be a number in their vacation, as well as space, privacy and a setting to die for. This combined with gourmet food and high end activities makes his resort the perfect place for a serene, relaxing vacation.
Article Source: http://www.greenbuildingarticles.com
James is a passionate advocate for green energy and has written several articles to promote this, especially in the Caribbean. He is now one of the driving forces behind the new carbon offset company Zero Carbon Travel, launching before the end of 2007. James can be reached at (++1) 473 405 8888 jamespost@spiceisle.com www.paradisebayresort.net Most of the photos within this article are by Angus Thompson: transdis@aol.com
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