All of you regular readers have probably twigged by now that I’m a huge fan of anything eco-friendly. So I was quite interested when I read about a new website offering eco-friendly luxury retreats. Eco Luxury is a collaboration of environmentally friendly retreats across the world “who are committed to reduce their impact on nature, on surrounding people and culture preservation, the re-investment in training and focus on local procurement whilst offering the HIGHEST level of luxury in hospitality”. They have projects in Australia, Belize and Tanzania, to name just a few. So I had a look at their website with their mission and vision etc etc and it all looks good. And then I had a look at the accommodation……. luxury tents. Now I don’t mind a bit of camping every now and then, but when it comes to luxury, the last thing I think of is a tent. Maybe I am just a snob, but if I’m going on holiday to a luxury resort, I don’t want to stay in a tent. A nice wooden cabin, yes. Tent, no. So if there any of you out there who can afford to stay in a luxury tent, this sounds like the best place to book your eco-friendly holiday!
Posts Tagged ‘environment’
Can environmentally friendly ever really be luxury?
August 6th, 2009New giant solar energy system
February 19th, 2009Yesterday at the Crowne Plaza Alice Springs hotel in Australia, the largest building-mounted solar energy system in the southern hemisphere was switched on. The new energy system costs $3.3 million but will hopefully reduce the hotels energy consumption by 40 to 80 percent, depending on the time of year. Their energy efficiency programme also hopes to cut energy consumption by a further 18 percent. 3110 light bulbs will be replaced with energy efficient options as part of the energy efficiency programme, as well as the replacement of shower heads with new energy efficient ones to save water and gas. The amount of water saved is enough to fill over 30 Olympic swimming pools. The rooftop solar panel system will save the most amount of energy, reducing the hotels annual carbon footprint by 420 tonnes of CO2. I find it commendable that such a high profile hotel chain is doing something to save energy and the planet.
Virgin biofuel flight
February 25th, 2008Yesterday Virgin Atlantic became the first airline to fly a commercial plane on a blend including biofuel. A Virgin Atlantic Boeing 747 flew from London Heathrow to Amsterdam Schiphol fuelled with a 20% biofuel/80% kerosene mixture in one of its four engines. The biofuel used a combination of coconut oil and babassu nut oil which came from sustainably cultivated crops. However, according to the BBC “Environmentalists have branded the flight a publicity stunt and claim biofuel cultivation is not sustainable”. Greenpeace has said that “last year, a leaked World Bank report said the steep food price rises of around 75 per cent seen over the year were mainly driven by biofuel production in US and Europe”. Now as much I like the idea of air travel being more environmentally friendly it brings about the question, who is right about biofuel? Are airlines just testing biofuels for more publicity or are they really trying to save the planet? Unfortunately we will not know the answers to these for a few years yet…..
Water, water everywhere but not a drop to drink
November 20th, 2007Last Wednesday, it was WTM World Responsible Tourism Day and to mark the event the WTM (World Travel Market) released a report entitled ‘No Water, No Future’. In it the WTM addresses the issue of sharing water in towns and villages between the tourism industry and hotels, and the local needs of farmers and the communities. This is increasingly becoming a problem in areas with large resorts, who have the resources to pay more for their water than the local communities. Therefore it is not the resorts who have a shortage of water, it is the villagers. It is especially true in areas such as the Maldives, where water has to be treated and as a result is incredibly expensive. This is an important issue in the world today, where climate change will most likely make the situation even worse. So as tourists or workers in the tourism industry, we all need to do our bit to save water and not to waste it.
What is the impact of tourism on global warming?
September 29th, 2007Between October 1st and 3rd, the World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) together with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the World Meteorological Organization (WMO), the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the Swiss Government will be holding the Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism in Davos, Switzerland to address “the global challenge of climate change and action by the tourism sector in both adaptation of destinations and mitigation of its own impacts”. As the travel and tourism industry totaled 846 million international arrivals and 4 billion domestic trips in 2006, it is important that the people in charge are responsible and aware of the damage they are causing to the environment. Although the travel and tourism industry does contribute a lot of greenhouse gas emissions, it is also highly susceptible to the effects of climate change. These two contrasting problems are central to the issue of climate change with the carbon dioxide emissions of the travel and tourism sector accounting for between 4 and 6% of total emissions, yet “changing climate patterns might alter major tourism flows”. It is a thorny issue to tackle but at least there are people who are trying to make some change!
