We just another good read from travelmole.com.

The discovery of renewable geo thermal energy in the volcanic mountain range of Nevis is expected to transform the small Caribbean island’s tourism industry when supply begins early next year.

The clean energy source will enable the island to further develop its tourism product without damaging the local environment.

Drilling for steam, which will be harnessed to power generators, has already begun in the Spring Hill area of Nevis. The single site is expected to produce enough energy for Nevis and its sister island of St Kitts plus other neighbouring islands.

New head of the Nevis Tourist Board, Garcia Thompson-Hendrickson said the clean fuel would enable the island to develop high quality, low impact tourism.

Thompson-Hendrickson said two of her priorities were to maintain the island’s natural resources and develop high quality accommodation, such as the low-rise Mount Nevis Hotel and Beach Club.

The island will be focusing on promoting its natural lush environment and unique heritage over the coming months. A food festival, called the Nevis International Culinary Heritage Exposition, with cookery demonstrations and food prepared by Caribbean and international chefs, will be held from October 17 to 19.

That is certainly a great sign for eco-tourism since Responsible Travel is the leading OTA (online travel agency) providing green holidays. They are based in the UK.

More info below from http://www.travelmole.com/

Responsibletravel Sales Up 37%

Despite the gloomy economic outlook there’s a ray of sun for responsibletravel.com, reporting sales growth of +37% for Jan – Jun 2008 as the responsible tourism sector becomes better established. While the holiday market remains tough responsible travel & tourism is one of the few areas showing growth. The big winner is England – which knocks Thailand off the number 1 most booked country on the site (up from 14 with sales growth of +95%) as travellers look to stay closer to home. Other winners include Turkey, outside the Euro and good value, which is up from 10th to 5th most popular destination. Losers include Kenya – with sales down 40% and dropping from number 4 to number 20 after the (now resolved) political problems earlier in the year. Other, perhaps more surprising, losers include China down from number 7 to number 23 after publicity around pre Olympic human rights issues increases. The top 10 destinations in 2008 so far (with 2007 ranking in brackets) –

1. England (14) 2. Thailand (1) 3. Egypt (3) 4. Italy (2) 5. Turkey (10) 6. Spain (12) 7. Peru (5) 8. Malaysia (8) 9. Morocco (9) 10. Tanzania (6)

Justin Francis, responsibletravel.com Managing Director said – “Although a far newer category than say organic or fair trade food the responsible travel & tourism market is slowly becoming better established. As in the food sector increasing numbers of consumers want to know how products (holidays) are made, by whom and with what consequences for the environment and local people.” “However, perhaps the key to our growth is that tourists increasingly want locally distinctive holiday experiences rather than cloned resorts, and travellers are discovering responsible travel is a more enjoyable way to travel.” “Although only 25% of the companies that approach us end up meeting our criteria and joining our site we have increased our product range by 20% as more hotels and tour operators turn to responsible tourism. Over the past year we’ve focussed on growing our closer-to-home UK and European holiday offers”.

Eco-tourism in Japan thrives

In June 2004, efforts by the Japan’s Ministry of the Environment selected 13 areas of the country in which it started to start model projects to promote eco-tourism. This initiative is now in its second year. Through eco-tourism visitors can enjoy nature while caring for the environment. The Ministry of the Environment subsidised half the total project costs, such as costs for training eco-tour guides and publishing educational materials, up to ¥5 billion per model area per year.

Eco-tourism is a new form of travel in which a limited number of people, escorted by a trained guide, enjoy visiting a rich natural environment while causing the least possible environmental impact. While eco-tours have been gaining popularity around the world, they are still not well known in Japan, and few Japanese people have experienced an eco-tour.

In selecting project areas the Ministry of the Environment held an open competition in three categories: 1) areas for encountering primitive nature; 2) existing tourist spots that are introducing eco-tourism; 3) areas for experiencing eco-friendly activities, such as tree planting in semi-natural areas bordering rural villages, and agricultural areas located between population centres and foothills, where eco-tourism is being promoted by local communities.

Of the 53 areas that entered the competition, the following areas were selected: in category one, four areas including the Shiretoko Peninsula in Hokkaido and the Shirakami Beech Forest, located between Aomori and Akita prefectures; in category two, four areas including the northern foothills of Mount Fuji in Yamanashi Prefecture; in category three, five areas, including the Nanki-Kumano area, located between Mie and Wakayama prefectures.

Interestingly enough, i was booking a car @ Hertz.com the other day (we all need cars sometimes, right ?) , and I found a green option.

I wanted to highlight this in our blog …

It’s now easy to rent our most environmentally friendlyand fuel efficient vehicles Hertz Green Collection vehicles are grouped into a choice of four convenient size categories. Each category contains several makes and models, all of which conform to our minimum Green specification. Our Green Collection specification Hertz Green Collection vehicles offer a weighted CO2 output level of less than 140g/km and achieve 40 – 65 MPG, depending upon vehicle size. This weighted CO2 level is already below the 2008 voluntary levels set by the EU for the European Automobile Manufacturers Association. Hertz Green Collection vehicle range Hertz Green Collection vehicles are grouped into a choice of four convenient size categories. Each category contains several makes and models, all of which conform to our minimum Green specification. Blue Motion® from Volkswagen offers a fresh approach to modern motoring. The specialised design of the Blue Motion Polo and Passat models delivers maximum fuel economy and minimum CO2 emissions without sacrificing any of the driving fun. Available now in selected European markets with Hertz.

Another proof that becomeing greener is a prioity of hotels these days … and guess what ? their green policy started in 1990 … and was recognized in 2006 with the Worldwide Hospitality Award – Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program.

Please have a look at their corporate website on the greeing of their hotels:

Over a century ago Fairmont Hotels & Resorts was founded on an enduring connection to the land, communities and people where we do business. Then in 1990 our Canadian hotels pioneered The Fairmont Green Partnership, literally writing the book on sustainable best practices in the lodging industry, while developing a comprehensive commitment to minimizing our hotels’ impact on the planet.

Today we continue to grow environmental stewardship in ten countries – from setting expectations with external vendors, to daily business decisions affecting hotel construction, operations, renovation and training. Because the environment isn’t just something that’s ‘out there’ – it’s where we live, work and play each day.

Worldwide Hospitality Award – Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program, 2006. On November 9, 2006 during the annual Hospitality Awards ceremony in Paris, France, Fairmont received the designation as Best Corporate Social Responsibility Program for its Green Partnership program. The award recognizes the best example of environmental and humanitarian activity, sustainable development, and the involvement of local populations by hotel groups throughout the world. The Worldwide Hospitality Awards were presented by the MKG Group, an organization associated with HTR Magazine.

Our last article was on Syria – let’s go to a totally different world … Branson’s ecoresort project 😉

The Chairman of the Virgin Group is to develop an eco-resort in the Caribbean where it is planned to create twenty exclusive villas as well as a beachfront restaurant on the new “Mosquito Island”, which he says will be the most environmentally-friendly resort in the world. Plans for the resort include energy power from wind turbines and solar panels, with the buildings designed to utilize local wind patterns so as to avoid the need for air conditioning. All the food will be come from local, organic sources and all motorized transport will be powered by biofuels. Branson’s British Virgin Islands, he hopes, will serve as a model for other resort destinations throughout the Caribbean to move toward clean and renewable alternatives to carbon fuels, and that rising oil prices are a catalyst for governments to develop more environmenal and sustainable projects for the future. Branson bought the 124-acre island in 2007 for $13.2 million. It will join the Virgin Limited Edition of properties owned or partially owned by Branson. Mosquito Island sits in North Sound and is about a mile from 74-acre Necker Island, which Branson purchased in 1976 for $171,000 and is often rented out to celebrities and wedding parties. Both islands are east of Puerto Rico on the eastern end of the BVI chain. “It is actually inexcusable for the Caribbean to need to use dirty fuels anymore when it has all these natural resources on its doorstep,” said Branson, as quoted by Business Week. “We’ve managed to prove on paper and now we’ll prove in reality that the Caribbean could run with the determination of governments on solar and wind. There is no need to continue using dirty fuels.” Branson is partnering with several alternative energy consultants on the Mosquito Island project, including Ken Kao, a Boston-based architect and lecturer at the Harvard University Graduate School of Design. “The renewable energy sources of sun and wind are very promising,” Kao said. “The islands receive significant solar radiance and extensive winds.” Although the development is in its earliest stages, British Virgin Islands government is said to so far be keen on the idea. “They are trying to go green and be environmentally friendly with every aspect of the project. That’s definitely very good for the B.V.I. because we’re such a small set of islands,” said Dylan Penn, the planner coordinating the government review of the resort project.

A very interesting article from International Herald Tribune on Libya …. Libya just unveiled an important ecotourism project covering renewable energy, waste recycling … Enjoy the reading …

Here in this remote eastern region of Libya whose bleak hills resemble a lunar landscape, the Green Mountain Sustainable Development Area is the latest in a spate of Libyan projects that form a sort of global coming-out party for a country that for decades was a pariah.
Over the weekend, fleets of white Mercedes vans ferried hundreds of guests along newly paved roads for a lamb dinner among the ruins and signing ceremony, presided over by Saif al-Islam el-Qaddafi, the son of President Muammar el-Qaddafi, on Monday. In an area where many people are illiterate, newly erected signs in crisp white and blue say “Airport” in Arabic and English. Development is definitely coming to town.
A group of wealthy Libyans and a bevy of consultants are planning to create a carbon neutral green development zone in Cyrene, an area the size of Wales centered on ancient Greek ruins. It will cater primarily to tourism and serve as a model for environmentally friendly design, they say.
But the intention is clearly broader than that. “They want to show the world that Libya has turned a corner – that they can fit into the modern world,” George Joffe, an expert on Libya at Cambridge University, said in a telephone interview.
Saif Qaddafi referred to this important subtext in a press conference Monday. “In our area, it’s not common practice to talk about environment and emissions and the like,” he said in English, surrounded by slick architectural models displayed in a Greek gymnasium dating from the seventh century B.C. “It’s time now to join developed countries, so we make this statement about the environment, about culture.”

For the inauguration ceremony, hundreds of people were flown to a remote landing strip Sunday night for a party and signing ceremony, with music piped in from the Temple of Zeus at sunset. Experts on waste recycling and sustainable farming, architects, engineers, and hoteliers mingled with royalty. All were hoping to play a role in the project.

On paper, the Green Mountain project is ambitious – although on paper is the only place it exists – and even many here expressed some skepticism that the project would materialize.
Its energy is to come from the wind and solar power. Its waste is to be recycled, its trash converted to biofuel. Its buildings – resorts, hotels, villas and villages for locals – are to blend seamlessly into the rugged landscape.

The plan will protect Libya’s fantastic Greek and Roman ruins, as well its fragile coastal ecosystem – one of the last remaining natural areas of the Mediterranean – from the perils of haphazard development. The idea is that as Libya opens to the outside world, it will not become “like the Spanish coast,” said the project’s financial adviser, Mahmoud Khosan. It will also be a good investment.

This is an interesting article following our articles on Ecotourism in Europe and particularly in South Europe. Concern is growing absolutely everywhere and we are happy to share this trend with you …

A great range of ideas, experiences and areas of expertise were shared and debated at a symposium on alternative tourism in the Kackar a few weeks ago.

It was attended by around 40 government representatives, members of civil societies, representatives of the Turkish private sector and foreign journalists – the first time such an event has been organised in Turkey.

Why develop alternative tourism?
The private sector, the government and NGOs are all aware of the potential of the alternative tourism sector in Turkey, for different reasons but with the same aim: to develop the sector. With many years of experience in the tourism sector, both in the public sector as international relations manager of Turkish Airlines (THY) and the private sector through SKAL International, as editor in chief of the only incentive tourism magazine MeeTurkey (published ever 3 months) and editor of Turkey’s leading travel trade magazine New Focus Travel Magazine, Sevil Oren explained the process which led to her initiating the idea. “I could see where the world was going to go through changes in lifestyles, the changing profile of tourists, the third age groups getting healthier and wealthier but, by the same token, showing an interest in alternative tourism like trekking, culture and history-based tours, bird-watching, endemic plant and flower studies on the land, regional food, cultural heritage, sailing and ecological holiday villages. Added to which, I met Kate Clow while she was putting together her trekking guide “The Lycian Way;” what she was doing seemed very exciting for tourism in Turkey, especially as alternative tourism is the sector’s fast growing new baby.”

The Culture and Tourism Ministry is interested in diversifying the sector through investing in and encouraging alternative tourism (as set out in the Tourism Strategy of Turkey – 2023) and thus increase annual revenues. Last year the Turkish tourism sector, mainly through mass tourism, brought in over $18 billion and the ministry’s goal is to more than double that to $50 billion by 2023 by investment and diversification, mainly in the alternative tourism sector.

The Culture and Tourism Ministry and National Parks have yet to agree on what constitutes an ecotourism guide, and Karaerkek highlighted that to make some tours possible he needs to employ four guides: a KOKART guide to meet official requirements, a National Parks guide, a botanic professor to explain nature and a mountain guide to ensure the safety of the group. This is obviously impossible for a small group of 10 or 15 people, he highlighted, and emphasised the need for a specialised qualification recognised by all.

Greek nature – Ecotourism
Notwithstanding its limited surface area, Greece is endowed with a particularly rich and diversified natural environment as a result of a rare geomorphology, with many striking natural contrasts and areas of great ecological value. The country’s abundant natural gifts –thousands of indented coasts, imposing rocky massifs, caves, gorges, lakes, rivers, biotopes of spectacular beauty and unique natural habitats– coupled with the mild climate, place it among the ideal destinations for ecotourism and alternative forms of tourism.
When travelling in Greece, nature-loving tourists are offered the opportunity to:
– to wander in aesthetic forests or explore national parks not merely in the mountainous regions of the mainland, but also on certain islands or in the proximity of rivers and lakes
– to enjoy the wonderful natural monuments, gorges, caves and waterfalls.
– to watch and admire rare bird species nesting or seeking refuge in coastal ecosystems and wetlands (rocky coasts, sandy beaches, sand dunes, river deltas, lakes, marshes, coastal plains, etc)
– to study the highly diverse floral life of the Greek countryside
– to visit the unique marine parks supported near the islands of Alonissos and Zakynthos, which provide shelter to two protected species, the Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus-Monachus) and the Mediterranean green loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) respectively.
– to engage in extreme sports (canoe-kayak, rafting, monoraft, hydrospeed, canyoning, mountain biking, etc), activities which have seen a spectacular rise in popularity in recent years
– to stay in agrotourist units which are being developed all over the country and afford visitors the opportunity to become familiar with vernacular architecture, cultural and gastronomic tradition, local products, farming activities and the daily life of local inhabitants.
Visitors of ecologically sensitive areas must observe all rules for the protection of the environment against pollution, the non-disturbance of natural habitats and the preservation of the various ecosystems’ equilibrium. Information on visiting protected areas and participating in special programs can be obtained from local information centres, local authorities, and specialised agencies.