Villa holiday, Akrotiri Peninsula, Crete, Villa Elion

Built by the family using the local materials and contractors this property does as much as possible to ensure that local people benefit from tourism and that it minimises its environmental impact. The hot water is solar heated and recycling bins are provided for clients in order to recycle paper, bottles and cans. There is an information pack which gives details of local businesses and our local representative promotes many of the local mini-markets, tavernas and businesses to ensure that local people benefit from tourist revenues.

As a company we aim to encourage local economic growth and to work in harmony with local communities and to respect their culture, traditions and environments. All of our owners (bar one) and suppliers used are local.

We prefer to employ the services of independent local business as suppliers in each of their destinations. We work with local car hire firms for all our car rentals, boat hire firms for boat rental and we utilize the services of local village shops and mini markets to compile our welcome hampers. We also encourage our guests to use the services of local restaurants and shops, archeological sites/excursions - always booking through locals rather than large multi national companies. In addition to this we encourage our guests to visit local attractions and beaches within the area they are staying, as opposed to suggesting they go further afield.