Top 10 UK green tourism businesses get gold star

UK Green tourism week awards announced

See Andrea Nicholas and Jon Proctor exclusive interview www.travelmole.tv/watch_vdo.php?sid=&id=15575

Over 100 leading green tourism professionals gathered last week (June 9) at the Royal Thames Yacht Club in London to see environmental campaigner and writer Tony Juniper present the first Green Tourism Week Awards.

Endorsed by VisitEngland, the week and awards have been organised by the Green Tourism Business Scheme tourism eco-label with the aim of highlighting the bottom-line benefits of green-mindedness to tourism businesses.http://www.greentourismweek.co.uk

Four categories of award were presented, with the judging panel including Tony Juniper – also patron of Green Tourism Week, Richard Hammond of www.greentraveller.co.uk, and John Firrell, Director of the Considerate Hoteliers Association.

The categories are: Goldstar awards representing the ten highest GTBS achievers of the last 12 months , Best Performance for Carbon Reduction in a Hotel Chain Award, Best Performance for Lowest Carbon Footprint Award, in categories of: hotel, bed and breakfast, guesthouse, self-catering and holiday park; plus a ‘Green Traveller’ award for a environmentally-considerate celebrity traveller.

Gold Star Award winners:

• Maximillion Events, Edinburgh
• Arcola Theatre, London
• Battlesteads Hotel, Northumbria
• Cote How Guest House, Cumbria
• Cwmbiga Farm Partnership, Powys
• Dolbeare Park, Cornwall
• Lochranza Youth Hostel, Isle of Arran
• Strattons Hotel, Norfolk
• Treshnish & Haunn Cottages, Isle of Mull
• Wheeldon Trees Farm Holiday Cottages, Derbyshire

Best Performance for Lowest Carbon Footprint:

• Dolbeare Park, Cornwall (Holiday Park)
• Treshnish & Haunn Cottages, Isle of Mull (Self-catering)
• Lifton Hall Hotel & Village Inn, Devon (Hotel)
• Signal Rock Cottage B & B, Glencoe (Bed and breakfast)
• Silversprings, Devon (Guesthouse)

Best Performance for Carbon Reduction for a Hotel Chain:

• Ramada Jarvis

‘Green Traveller’ Award:

• Nicholas Crane

Said Tony Juniper, “Going green sometimes seems to involve sacrifice, or somehow going against the interests of good business. The winners of the Goldstar award for Green Tourism demonstrate that the opposite is in fact the case. The winners, including name of business here, have demonstrated how it is not only possible to go green while attracting customers, but makes good business sense in any event. By cutting emissions and waste it is possible to cut costs and increasingly attract those customers who are looking to lighten their impact on the Earth. I have been hugely impressed by the efforts made by name of business and am delighted that their pioneering efforts are paying off in terms of customer loyalty and increased bookings.”

Said Andrea Nicholas, managing director of the Green Tourism Business Scheme, “Many congratulations to all of our winners. In judging these awards we have seen so many impressive achievements, initiatives and innovations – as well as attitudes. We wanted an opportunity to highlight some of the exemplary practices undertaken by GTBS members and the cost savings they have made and to help educate and inform those businesses who have not yet made a green commitment.

Holding a focused Green Week with an awards ceremony for some of our greenest members is a great platform to get out the message that being green can benefit your bottom-line.’

Comments Richard Hammond of http://www.greentraveller.co.uk “We’re delighted that Nicholas Crane has accepted the greentraveller award. Through his journalism and television work, he has inspired millions of people that travelling with a lighter footprint – on foot or by bike, bus and train – is not only the more environmentally friendly way to travel, but that it can also be great fun.”
See also: http://www.youtube.com/user/GreenTourismGTBS

Valere Tjolle