An organic food garden in the hear of Bangkok

Dear readers,

an other interesting news from Travelmole ; the Chaophya Hotel Bangkok just started an organic food garden. Quite an interesting initiative in such a busy and polluted city.
The “Park Organic Veggies” was initiated in 2008 on a vacant land, near the hotel’s Golf Driving Range. Here, vegetables are grown organically, without chemical fertilisers, herbicides or pesticides.Hydroponic items are also being grown here with natural rainwater and sunlight.
What is interesting to note is that a nice part of the produce is transferred to the hotel kitchens. Another part is elegantly packaged under the Park Organic Veggies own label.
So if you pass by bangkok on holiday, you know where to shop and dine !

More info at

The leading Green Hotels of San Francisco

Dear readers,

weknow most of our readers are eco-travel fans from the US, lots of them from california, so here is some interesting piece of information from San Francisco …

San Francisco is indeed a city with a reputation for being “green” — you got there Prius taxis, plenty of organic food, etc. so the the eco-traveler is at home in San Francisco.

So here is a list of Green Hotels in San Francisco Area:

The Orchard Hotel and sister-property the Orchard Garden Hotel set the standard for green hotels. They were the first properties in California to receive LEED certification.

You will find there a guest room key card system that reduces electricity consumption, eco-friendly services like airport transfers in Toyota Prius Hybrids, discounts on rental bikes and eco-tours, and peruse copies of the Greenopia Guide, “the urban dweller’s guide to ‘green’ living.”

The Hotel Triton is a member of the Kimpton Hotel Chain, a very green chain. The Triton was one of the first green hotels, opening the “Eco 7th Floor” in 1994 with features such as water saving devices, water filtration systems, air filtration/purifiers, waste recycling, and 25% off valet parking for hybrid certified vehicles.

The W San Francisco is piloting in-room recycling bins on 6 floors, recycling 71% of waste, and exploring the installation of six wind turbines on the roof.

The Hotel Carlton has 105 solar panels on the roof, is a carbon neutral hotel, partnering with Carbonfund.org, recycles, conserves and reduces toxic materials.

The Best Western Tuscan Inn is also moving forward with eco-friendly practices such as in room recycling, organic food, composting, water conservation protocols.

Enjoy SFO !

2009 Green Travel Summit announced …

This year’s Green Travel Summit willbe mentored by CNN’s Olivia Zaleski, sustainable experts David Refkin & Auden Schendler, and EPA’s Harry Lewis.

The 2009 forum will be focused on sustainability in business – exploring green travel strategies and their impact on business travel and corporate meetings.

I have read some negative feedbaks on the fact that this was driven by business thoughts but we at Greenty always believe that business needs to be associated to green travel – and green travel needs to involve business decision makers – or green travel will go nowhere or end up as a tiny niche market – and make few or no difference at the end.

So we welcome this initiative … helping corportations understand that going for green travel can have a positive ROI is good and is the way forward to help green travevel become more than just a niche of the leisure travel market.

The Green Travel Summit will be held at the Fairmont, Newport Beach, California, March 23-24, 2009.

Rydges from Australia announces Green Globe certified Hotels

Yes indeed it is difficult to differentiate true green hotels from hotels simply communicating on green certification…

That’s why it is important to have global certification scheme, such as Green Globe .

The leading Australia hotel chain, Rydges, has just announced that two hotels have become Green Globe Bronze Benchmarked Hotels – Rydges Lakeland Resort Queenstown and Capitol Square Hotel in Sydney.

Their key green performance areas are:

•Energy efficiency, conservation and management

•Reduction in green house gas emissions

•Reduction in the consumption of fresh water and resources

•Support for local community development

•Improved management of social and cultural issues

•Improved land use planning and management

•Improved air quality and noise reduction

•Improved waste water management

•Waste minimization, reuse and recycling

Congratulations to both properties! more info at www.rydges.com/green-globe-hotels.asp

Prince Charles among other leaders for a more sustainable tourism

More leaders are taking the path of ecotourism … The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) has presented a report commiting to a green industry , together with a few global leaders including Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, the patron of the The Cambridge University Programme for Sustainability Leadership, and Robert Webb, General Council British Airways (photo)

JC Baumgarten, head of the WTTC, stated that “This report represents a collective effort and is a joint message for the Travel & Tourism industry”. The action is indeed endorsed by a large number of WTTC Members and is in fact the first phase of WTTC’s environmental initiative. The goal here is a 50% reduction in carbon emissions by 2035 over 2005 levels.
An ambitious target – so we will follow this as it goes into place. Next steps will include the development of a web portal, to disseminate information and best practices. We will review this as soon as it goes live

Responsible travel day at WTM

Dear readers from the industry,

You certainly know the WTM, the huge tourism tradeshow that takes place in London every year, in November. As you might be aware, they are embarking on green travel promotion. Last year a full day of conferences was 100% on resposible travel.

In order to prepare their 2009 edition, you have the opportunity to complete the WTM WRTD form, to tell them more about your own responsible tourism activity. This is an ambitious project to demonstrate to consumers ans suppliers that the industry is moving to a more responsible approach.

If you have significant achievement, you will qualify to use the 2009 WTM World Responsible Tourism Day logo – and get support from WTM WRTD website, newsletters, Spotlight magazine and via press and public relations.

Log on to the WRTD website on http://www.wtmwrtd.co.uk/

Good luck !

Mexico’s Los Arboles Tulum eco-community now on sale …

I know the pages on eclotourism and green hotels in Tulum, Mexico are the most popular on this blog – therefore I thought it would be useful to present you this development from the U.S. developer The Tierra Group.

Los Arboles, situated in Tulum, is an ecological subdivision of 221 residential properties located in the Yucatan Peninsula, Mexico. Lots of green efforts have been made for the development of the site: a comprehensive environmental study documenting all native flora and fauna, permeable roads, use of off-the-grid energy systems, constructed wetlands that work in lieu of septic systems, as well as a comprehensive home-owners’ association in place to govern compliance and harmony within the community.

Soif you have a passion for Mexico, Tulum, scuba diving, the outdoors, travel & the environment have a look at http://www.myjunglehideaway.com/ .

Green travel tips from another leading online travel agent: Venere.com

Dear readers

the green travel trend is here to stay … we had seen in previous blog articles Travelocity, Orbitz and Expedia going green….

Now it is the leading European portal Venere.com (recently acquired by Expedia) that is giving us green travel advices at http://www.venere.com/blog/green-travel-tips/

well, nothing revolutionnary …

1. Choose greener modes of transportation.

2. Reuse hotel towels and bedding.

3. Support the local community and culture.

4. Recycle, reduce and reuse on-the-road.

5. Bring your own reusable water bottle.

…but at least that’s on the right way 😉

more green travel gifts for your Valentine !

Dear readers

havent yet done your choice for your valentine’s gift after our post from last week ?

so here is another source of inspiration : romantic , eco, green travel oriented geaways … a great selection from the daily green :

You will find in this selection the 10 Most Romantic Ecotourism Destinations… You have green hotels, eco resorts, responsible tour operators, and nature conservation organizations.

Their selection includes:

Lindblad Expeditions, in Antartica,

Adventure Life, in Costa Rica

Country Walkers. in Vermont, USA,

Camp Jabulani, in Africa

Mountain Travel Sobek, in the Himalayas,

Ora Ora Resort Eco Spa, in New Zeland,

Victor Emanuel Nature Tours , in Les Seychelles,

and the 8 best eco lodges in Costa Rica according to the Times online


Dear readers

I have great feed back on my post yesterday on Costa Rica …seems that everyoe wants to get there …. You want more details on Costa Rica , please feel free to click the following link, it will give yiu a lot of content on the top 8 ecolodges destinations in Costa Rica …