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We are taking care of the environment and our local community to preserve our beautiful beaches and the unique culture of Barbados. We are doing our best to make sure that your holiday benefits the country’s economy through buying local produce where possible thereby supporting agriculture on the island. Furthermore, we support local schools and non-profit organisations, such as the Aids Food Bank and Verdun House Rehabilitation Centre.
How we support our local community: It is one of our goals to keep our beaches and towns tidy and attractive for both our guests and locals.
We organise beach and coastal area clean-ups four times every year and guests are invited to join staff for all these initiatives.
We take this very seriously and therefore we are founding members of the Maxwell Beautification Project. The project’s purpose is to beautify the community, increase environmental awareness and provoke community spirit and solidarity.
How you can get involved: If you are interested, we would like to invite you to one of our Garden Tours to show you the diverse range of plants found on the island and at the resort, and to illustrate the use of compost. Kids can visit our turtle and rabbit centre for educational talks and re-used materials such as, icicle sticks and juice boxes are used for arts and crafts.
How we protect the environment: Just like you we would like to preserve the island’s natural beauty for generations to come. We are trying to find ways to save towels, linen and energy. Moreover, we purchase from local producers that use sustainable methods and at least 80% of our employees live within ten miles of the resort. We also use low wattage bulbs especially around the beach area to ensure hawk’s bill turtles can nest in peace.
Recycling is always on our minds and we encourage our employees to reuse everything that they can. We buy recyclable office paper and after use we shred and donate it to local pottery firms, chicken farms and also local gift shops to use it for packaging. Administration offices use boxes as garbage receptacles in administration offices, and old business cards as ‘post its’. We hatch plants on property in tire gardens and reused old tubs. Furthermore, cuttings from around the property go straight to our compost station and re-used as fertilizer.
As a tour operator
People and places. When you think about it, that’s what holidays are all about. As the UK’s leading long haul tour operator we want to protect them both by striking a balance between having a great time and acting with consideration for the planet and its people. We are working to achieve this balance in 3 ways:
Getting our business in order
We are working hard to address our own direct impacts. These are mainly energy, water use and waste disposal and of course the holiday brochures we produce each year. At our Head Office we are focusing on reducing our energy usage and carbon emissions and of course recycling is law.
Being a good partner
As part of being a good partner we aim to work with our suppliers to encourage them to be more sustainable. We audit our hotel suppliers under the Travelife Sustainability System. This scheme assesses hotels for environmental impact, staff relations and level of community support. Successful hotels can qualify for a bronze, silver or gold Travelife Award.
We also want to highlight excellence in sustainable tourism. That's why we act as headline sponsor of the Responsible Tourism Awards each year and through our own in-house ‘Partnership in Sustainability Award’.
We realise our suppliers face many challenges and are often not large businesses themselves. That's why we invest in destination initiatives that help make it easier for our suppliers to do the right thing. Some of the projects we are currently supporting are;
- A joint project with Oxfam and the Travel Foundation to help Caribbean farmers to grow more and encourage local hotels to buy it, supporting local economies and reducing the reliance on imported goods.
- Switch Off - Save Big; a project with the Travel Foundation to encourage Caribbean hoteliers to save energy and water.
- A Travel Foundation project in Kenya to empower local Maasai communities to earn a fair wage from tourism. The income generated helps the village to provide health care, fresh water and education for the community.
Giving something back
We are committed to helping youth shine by providing life changing opportunities for young people both in the UK and overseas. Through our Caribbean scholarships and support of numerous destination projects we are helping youth shine in whatever they choose to do.
We invite every traveller who books a holiday via us to send in a review. Because we don't run the holidays they're completely independent and unedited... remember to read between the lines though, as two people on the same holiday can have different views!
