|
Banyan Tree Group signed two key agreements, reaffirming its commitment to sustainable tourism development.
The commercialised arm of Banyan Tree, GPS Development Services(GPS), which provides development and technical expertise internally within the Group as well as to external parties, signed a memorandum of understanding with EC3 Global, the international environmental management and certification company that owns and manages the EarthCheck program.
Building on its existing sustainability programme, Banyan Tree will continue extending the Group's participation in EarthCheck, with a view to have Banyan Tree and Angsana branded resorts certified and supported by expanded capacity building frameworks.
As of August 2012, 17 resorts are already part of the EarthCheck program. In April 2012, Banyan Tree Lijiang became the first resort in China to achieve EarthCheck Gold Certified status. Five resorts have achieved Bronze Benchmarked status (Banyan Tree Ungasan, Banyan Tree Ringha, Banyan Tree Vabbinfaru, Angsana Velavaru, and Angsana Ihuru) and are pursuing Silver Certification. Seven more resorts are working towards achieving EarthCheck benchmarked status including Banyan Tree Mayakoba in Mexico, Banyan Tree Bintan in Indonesia, Banyan Tree Madivaru in Maldives, Banyan Tree Seychelles, Banyan Tree Bangkok, Angsana Bintan, and Maison Souvannaphoum Hotel in Laos. Additionally, Banyan Tree Phuket, Angsana Laguna Phuket, and five other elements of Laguna Phuket are pursuing EarthCheck Benchmarked status as part of the precinct of Laguna Phuket's sustainability efforts.
Source - PATA |
