Gozo beach hotel, Malta
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
It is vital for Gozo to retain its tourism activity and therefore the management is aware that in order to sustain the economic activity it is in their interest to protect the environment within which they operate. As a general policy, Hotel Calypso ensures that environmental friendly measures are adopted throughout their operations in order to strike a sustainable balance between the operations and the surrounding environment within which the company operates thus supporting one of the government’s objectives of transforming Gozo as an eco- Island. Within the concept of sustainable development, the environment saves as a dual function whereby first and foremost it must be protected and safeguarded for future generations to enjoy it and yet it is also a commodity which belongs to all and must be enjoyed by all and thus enhancing the quality of life of the people living within the and frequenting the environment. The hotel ardently adheres to the company policy and seeks to encourage both the employees and guests to participate in this endeavour.
There are mainly three components which are embarked for environment intervention despite the fact that there are other components to sustain the environment.
1) Installation of power factor corrector and single & three phase controllers
A power factor corrector system will be installed within the hotel premises in order to ensure that electricity supply is distributed evenly and properly throughout the whole premises thus reducing on inadequate consumption and unnecessary waste of resources. In addition, 49 single phase and 35 three phase motor energy controllers will be produced in order to regulate the fridge temperatures to the desired levels whilst reducing wastage of resources.
Hotel Calypso strives to reduce its power consumption in to contribute towards environmental causes. To ensure this, a sensor was installed in each and every room’s slide doors whereby the air-condition only works if theses are closed.
2) Waste Management
In an effort to minimise the waste generated through its operations, hotel Calypso is also investing in a compactor & bailer which compress bulky recyclable waste such as cardboard, plastic and foot leftovers thus enabling better disposal of such waste which will then be disposed off in accordance with the national established procedures for the disposal of recyclable waste.
3) Water Management devices
In an effort to reduce unnecessary water consumption, Calypso Hotel will be procuring a total of 231 tap water control devices (129 for tap water and 102 for showers) that will be installed in the bathrooms of the hotel bedrooms. These water control devices will manage the capacity of water that flows through the respective tap.
Apart from this huge investment, Hotel Calypso contributes towards environmental sustainability by separating waste for recycling. In the administration office, the chef’s office, the reception and the reservations departments, everyone is keen on recycling and reusing paper to decrease the negative impact on the environment. Moreover, the use of electronic copies instead of printed copies is used to decrease the use of paper.
In the administration office and staff canteen there are sensors in order to switch off the lights when the office is vacant. The hotel also makes use of cut-off switches. This obviously reduces the energy consumption and hence contributes to the environmental cause.
Enhancing tourism sustainability in Gozo by mitigating seasonality through niche tourism
Hotel Calypso identified a set of components that would enable the hotel to enhance its product offer with the ultimate objective of strengthening its core competencies by diversify its product mix. In this light, Hotel Calypso set up a meeting room to accommodate the steady number of requests to host events such as meetings, workshops, conferences as well as examination sessions e.g. for diving schools as well as language schools. The meetings room was inaugurated on January 2011 and this is surely helping the company to diversify its product. Thanks to this investment, Hotel Calypso can now target the niche tourist segment that will travel to Gozo to attend specific events such as product launches, workshops, conferences and meetings. In this manner, hotel Calypso is less depended on travel during the peak tourism months. So, this project surely increased the sustainability of the hotel and hence the employees’ jobs. Environmentally friendly measures were undertaken during this project to ensure that the physical investment is undertaken in respect of the surrounding environment in a sustainable manner.
Community
The overall objective of the above mentioned project is that of enhancing whilst diversifying and also promoting the high standard quality product mix which the Calypso Hotel offers its clients. This is coupled with promoting Gozo’s potential as an all year tourist destination which has a number of niche segments within its product offer. The project aims to assist the project in:
i. Attracting quality tourism investment which in turn will lead to more sustainable jobs-
Providing conferencing facilities will enable the hotel to tap into the niche segment which tends to bring a higher value client and hence to more generated revenue. Additionally, this segment is generally less bound by seasonality and may generally prefer travel during the shoulder months. Therefore quality tourism will result in steadier and higher revenue throughout the year which in turn will contribute to sustainable jobs which in today’s economic scenario is a major global challenge.
ii. A better quality of life
More investment, revenue and job retention will lead to a better quality of life for the management and employees of the Calypso hotel and this will have a multiplier effect
iii. Contribute towards a society of both locals and patrons that exert less pressure on the surrounding environment
Offering a diverse product mix will enable the hotel to have a more evenly spread occupancy throughout the whole year thus excreting a more even pressure and presence on the surrounding environment. In addition, the project proponents aim to reduce the overall pressure on the surrounding environment by taking focused initiatives that will contribute towards a better and healthier environment.
iv. Promote a wholesome natural and cultural environment and enhance the island’s cultural identity
We believe that the island of Gozo has a lot of potential to offer to its tourists and this potential can be better exploited. In this light, we are currently constructing a programme for our residents
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