Canadian resort creates first ‘carbon-neutral vacation’
King Pacific says it is achieving a first in the hospitality industry by offsetting carbon emissions of all lodge operations as well as guests traveling to and from the lodge.
The move creates what it calls a “truly carbon-neutral vacation.”
“We believe this is a very important step, but it is only the first step in a multi-faceted plan to reduce the lodge’s carbon footprint by 50% over the next five years,” said Michael Uehara, president of King Pacific.
The air travel being offset by the lodge is from the guest’s point of origin anywhere in the world to Vancouver on any airline, and from Vancouver to the lodge via the lodge’s private air and seaplane charters, according to Mr Uehara.
Among the other key elements of the lodge’s carbon-footprint-reduction plan are installing a river-hydro plant and solar panels for the lodge’s power needs and using suppliers who conduct their own program of carbon reduction.
“At King Pacific Lodge, it has always been our mission to do everything we can to minimize our imprint on the land,” said Mr Uehara.
“With the additional steps we are now taking, however, notably the offsetting of guests’ air travel, we are raising the bar on ecological responsibility and hope to stimulate more efforts in the hospitality world to protect the environment.”
King Pacific is a floating luxury lodge that is towed to uninhabited Princess Royal Island from Prince Rupert for the May to September season. The lodge was the first tourism business in British Columbia to sign a working protocol with an indigenous people, the Gitga’at.
The lodge, which is accessible only by boat or seaplane, is surrounded by – and is working to protect – the Great Bear Rainforest.
Guests of King Pacific Lodge may see pods of humpback whales and orcas, porpoises, sea lions, seals, sea otters and black bears, as well as experience 1,000-year-old hemlocks and cedars, a network of untouched watersheds, cascading waterfalls, fjords and high alpine ice fields, sheer mountain faces and vast forests, white sand beaches and countless islands and inlets.
The rivers and ocean here are filled with Chinook, Coho, Chum and Pink salmon, halibut, rockfish, lingcod and yellow eye.
King Pacific Lodge, which has 17 rooms and suites, is a member of the Dallas-based Rosewood Hotels & Resorts collection.
Report by David Wilkening
David
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