Grenadas Spice Island Beach Resort is one
step closer to again achieving Green Globe Certification, a
landmark status that attests to a propertys high grades in
environmental performance.
The 64-room resort
recently received the Green Globe Benchmarked Certificate, the
final step before receiving full certification from Green Globe,
the global benchmarking, certification and improvement system that
assists the international travel and tourism industry in attaining
sustainability.
In 2004, Spice Island
was the first property on Grenada to achieve Green Globe
Certification; however, the certification expired during the time
the resort was closed for rebuilding and renovation following
Hurricane Ivan in 2004.
During the $12
million rebuild leading up to its December 2005 reopening, Spice
Island followed environmentally-conscious operating procedures,
always with the goal of attaining Green Globe Certification again,
said Royston Hopkin, chairman and owner of Spice Island Beach
Resort.
Its the
responsibility of those in the hospitality and tourism sectors to
ensure that our operations integrate environmental and social
policy, Hopkin said.
According to Hopkin,
by instituting environmentally-conscious measures, the resort
reduces the use of non-renewable resources and yields extensive
cost-savings.
Some of the
environmental practices Spice Island used that paved the way for
the Benchmarked Certificate included switching the swimming pool
water from a chlorine base to a salt base, launching a bottle
return program, setting up a composting system and installing and
maintaining a vegetable garden.
Obtaining the
Benchmarked Certificate comes on the heels of the resort receiving
the AAA Four Diamond Award for the third time. Less than 3% of the
more than 32,000 AAA-approved properties achieve this rating, which
will appear in the AAA 2007 Caribbean TourBook guide.
For resort
information, visit www.spiceislandbeachresort.com.
To
contact the reporter who wrote this article, send e-mail to Gay
Nagle Myers at [email protected].