Leisure

Bentota Beach Hotel Green Globe certified

The premier world-wide sustainability merit ‘Green Globe Certification’ was achieved by Bentota Beach Hotel recently.

The Green Globe certification requires conformity to 248 preset standards; the team at Bentota Beach Hotel worked to improve the standards of sustainability thus highlighting the importance of sustainable tourism. Energy efficient measures, emission reduction, effective water management and waste management with an emphasis on reduce, recycle and reuse practices, were some of the aspects which required adherence for certification.

The resort changed its daily practices and processes by using organic waste as fertilizer or farm animal feed, rain water is used for washing purposes and proper storm water drainage system has been put in place, a comprehensive waste sorting system, energy key system and regular tree planting campaigns, beach cleaning campaigns and training sessions on best environmental practices to educate school children and area personalities, Bentota Beach Hotel had a compliance rating of 70% of the 248 standards.

The Green Globe certification is awarded after an audit by a team of Green Globe assessors and upholds the highest standards of credibility and transparency. The organization follows an independent third party verification process and updates its criteria annually to ensure international compliance to the standards.

Green Globe Certification supports the Global Sustainable Tourism Criteria (GSTC). The GSTC is the agreed international standard for the sustainable operation and management of travel and tourism businesses. The Green Globe Standard meets and exceeds all the requirements of the GSTC.

Bentota Beach Hotel, designed by the master architect Geoffrey Bawa portrays a Dutch Fort with its high granite walls and design. The resort which celebrated its 40th year in operation has become a timeless landmark in the southern coast. Chaaya Village Habarana and Chaaya Reef Ellaidhoo were other resorts of the John Keells Hotels Group that were awarded the Green Globe Certification; whilst Cinnamon Lakeside Colombo and Cinnamon Grand Colombo have also been certified.

‘Best for big game outside Africa’:

Tourism ‘goes wild’ in September

Sanjeevi Jayasuriya

In keeping with the tourism industry growth the industry stakeholders are venturing in to diverse sectors to provide more facilities for the visitors in the area of nature and adventure.

“The theme for the months of September is wildlife and nature and we have arranged activities accordingly to promote tourism and attract more visitors to the country. The promotion titled “Best for big game outside Africa” that encompass whales, leopards, wild elephants and birds will be the main attraction for tourists where they will get first hand experience,” United Holidays Executive Director Gayani Wirasinha told Daily News Business.

“Wildlife has been the key attraction in the tourist preferences where the Wildlife Department has been able to earn over Rs 300 million last year as direct revenue. We take measures to exploit this attraction and provide the visitors unforgettable experiences, she said.

The promotion efforts are carried out through travel companies together with the Sri Lanka Tourism Promotion Bureau in collaboration with the Sri Lanka Inbound Tour Operators (SLITO).

There will be weekly talk shows on four different wildlife topics during the month starting from 7 September to 28 September.

The topics will be on wild elephants, leopards, birds and whales delivered by local experts at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce auditorium at 5.30 pm.

A presentation, discussion and safari with a strong focus on the elephant gathering of Minneriya will be held on September 30 at the Chaya Village Minneriya.

Visitor arrivals into Asia and Pacific grow by 6%

Bangkok: Preliminary results released by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) today showed that international visitor arrivals into Asia/Pacific destinations 1 grew by 6% year-on-year in June 2011.

The positive momentum of the previous months held strong for Southeast Asia, which led the region with 15.5% growth during the month of June.

The rebound in arrivals to Thailand (+54%) positively impacted this overall result, strongly supported by the other reporting destinations in this sub-region all of which enjoyed double-digit growth.

This in turn was supported by strong travel demand within ASEAN and an increase in arrivals from China.

International arrivals growth to South Asia was a robust 12% in June, boosted by double-digit increases in inbound numbers to Nepal (+38%), the Maldives (+27%) and Sri Lanka (+20%). India maintained the same pace of growth seen in the previous month at 7%. European arrivals are amongst the main contributors to this growth.

Northeast Asia saw an improvement after posting slow growth of 0.6% in May, with a 3.7% increase in arrivals for June 2011. This growth, however, was very unevenly distributed among destinations in the sub-region. Tourism demand to Japan continued to recover, reducing losses in inbound arrivals from -63% in April to -50% in May and -36% in June. Chinese Taipei (-2%) and China (+1%) registered weak results while Hong Kong SAR (+16%), Macau SAR (+15%) and Korea (ROK) (+11%) enjoyed buoyant growth for the month, supported by the key origin market of China.

It should be remembered that even though the percentage growth rate may be relatively weaker than for other sub-regions, the sheer volume of arrivals to Northeast Asia means that 3.7% growth directly translates into more than 600,000 additional arrivals for the month.

International Arrivals to the Pacific recorded an aggregate decline of 4% in June.

The main destinations of Australia (-4%) and New Zealand (-10%) showed significant decreases compared to the corresponding period last year.

This downturn was caused - in part at least - by the ash cloud disruption to air travel from the Chilean volcano together with the continued effects of the earthquake in Christchurch. Nevertheless, some Pacific Island nations still managed to show positive growth, especially Palau (+63%), Vanuatu (+27%), Tahiti (+19%), Papua New Guinea (+16%), New Caledonia (+11%) and Cook Island (+8%).

January to June 2011

Of the 31 destinations reporting half-year arrivals (January to June 2011), 26 indicted positive growth, with 14 showing double-digit gains. Clear growth leaders over this period were Sri Lanka, Myanmar and Thailand with gains of 37%, 29% and 28% respectively (January to June, year-on-year).

Collectively, these 31 destinations generated growth of 5.3% for the Asia/Pacific region during the first half of 2011. Even with the loss of almost 1.4 million arrivals to Japan, this cluster of destinations collectively not only countered that contraction but managed to add enough additional arrivals to the collective count to post a year-on-year gain of more than eight million international arrivals.

Kris Lim, Director of PATA’s Strategic Intelligence Centre, said: “The first-half year growth of around 5%, given the challenges the industry has faced so far this year underlines the resilience of travel and tourism in the Asia/Pacific region.

The comparatively weaker economies of the USA and Europe mean that much of this growth has had to come from intra-regional travel and this in turn has only been possible because of the stronger regional economies and the continued expansion of airline seat capacity within the region.”

Lim added that at the current rate of growth, overall arrivals to the region will push to the 433 million mark by the end of the year, up from 408 million last year.

The majority of the Asia/Pacific destinations will once again look at record numbers of arrivals, led by South Asia and Southeast Asia destinations in terms of percentage growth.

“While European arrivals remain key to South Asia’s growth, Southeast Asia will be driven by the rapidly growing China and India outbound markets while Northeast Asia is expected to see strong gains in arrivals from Southeast Asia driven by the steadily growing LCC network,” said Lim.

Sun Hill invests Rs 10 m for upgrade

To cater to the growing number of business travellers in Colombo, Sun Hill hotels group has invested over Rs. 10 million to open a modern restaurant in Marine Drive in Bambalapitiya.

Hotel Chairman Wasantha Perera said with peace more people are on the move and they prefer dining out.

In addition with rapid development taking place in the city where parking is being made available many locals too tend to dine out and it is for this market that we invested in the hotel.

He said that there is also a growing demand for Chinese cuisine and in a bid to offer authentic Chinese food they have also employed two Chinese chefs for the hotel.

“Due to the high demand from office staff we will soon be introducing a `take away’ lunch pack and would also offer home delivery service and undertake orders for any kind of private functions,” he said.

Perera said they have also imported modern appliances for the kitchen to provide a more efficient and hygienic service.

The Sun Hill banquet hall too has been upgraded to accommodate 80 covers and this is also being used for many corporate functions.

Sun Hill also has a 21 room star class hotel in the same premises and also operate a spa.

Their second property Sun Hill hotel Nuwara Eliya which has won many international awards, offers 20 deluxe rooms.

Perera said many opportunities are emerging and they are looking at new investments in other areas in Sri Lanka.

Singapore will host Asian Tourism Festival

Asian Tourism Festival in Singapore Organizers have confirmed that Singapore will host a major travel and tourism festival in October to showcase business opportunities in a surging Asian market.

Called TravelRave 2011, the event will string together a cluster of related events, from October 17 to 23, they said on Thursday.

They included an ITB Asia travel fair, a retreat for policymakers and industry leaders hosted by the UN World Tourism Organization, a conference on hotel and tourism investment, and an annual meeting of Asian convention and travel bureaus.

Organized by the Singapore Tourism Board, it is a follow-on to a first TravelRave last year that drew 8,000 people.

Aw Kaw Peng, the head of the Singapore Tourism Board, said it was the only “mega tourism and travel festival” in a region that saw 13 percent growth in the number of international visitors last year over 2009. “Asia Pacific will continue to lead the global recovery in tourism,” with double digit increases in both arrivals and tourism revenues, she said at a news conference here on the sidelines of a “summit” on global travel and tourism.

She said co-locating related conventions and conferences was intended “to make it even more productive for business executives.”

AFP

Green Globe announces priority mission to Sri Lanka

Green Globe Certification announced that following the PATA Travel Mart 2011, CEO Guido Bauer will conduct a priority mission to meet with leaders of Sri Lanka’s travel and tourism industry. Discussions will be held on how certification under Green Globe’s internationally recognised standard for sustainable travel

and tourism can contribute to a more successful industry.

Green Globe Certification CEO, Guido Bauer said, “Our standard for sustainable travel and tourism has been accepted for over 15 years by tourism professionals as the blueprint for successful businesses and better communities.

“Green Globe is focused on the responsibility of each tourism business, understanding that each company has an environmental footprint that can be reduced and therefore collectively make a significant impact.

In Sri Lanka, it is also the social issues, particularly around reconciliation and preservation of unique culture that Green Globe can assist with.

Green Globe’s standard and system of certification can establish the basis of planning and team building across enterprises to ensure equity, respect and engagement with staff, management and owners,” added Bauer.

Green Globe, through its years of experience, has refined and packaged all the key concepts and practical measures that need to be in place for tourism businesses to survive and prosper within their destinations.

Today the challenges to build a successful tourism industry are more than just social-economic; they are climate related tying local environmental issues to global agreements on carbon emissions. Green Globe will be investigating how it can support local initiatives related to greening hotels.

In addition the Green Globe system can assist tourism businesses to align themselves with the Sri Lanka Environment Ministry’s national green reporting system, which will contribute towards ensuring all industries are more accountable for their resource utilization and environmental impacts.

During Bauer’s time in Sri Lanka he will be showcasing some of the success stories from Sri Lanka hotels that have already been Green Globe certified.

Green Globe Certification is the worldwide sustainability system based on internationally accepted criteria for sustainable operation and management of travel and tourism businesses. Operating under a worldwide license, Green Globe Certification is based in California, USA and is represented in over 83 countries.

Green Globe is the only certification brand to be an affiliate member of the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) an agency of the United Nations, and is partly owned by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC).