Make Holidays Greener off to cracking start

Thomas Cook’s Bodrum team green up with guests

Now a week in, Make Holidays Greener Month is off to cracking start, with travel businesses celebrating sustainable tourism both in the UK and in destination.

Here’s a quick round-up of just some of the highlights so far:

Mallorca
Thomas Cook and Thomson Holidays reps teamed up with the Calvia Foundation to take part in a sea-bottom clean up. They scuba dived to depths of 15m to collect rubbish into bags, which were then floated to boats above.

The divers spent around an hour diving for the rubbish, before hauling the bags to shore, where they were met by more reps who had volunteered to sort and help clear the rubbish.
Approximately 800kilos of waste was retrieved, including bottles, tyres and even underwear!

Bodrum
Thomas Cook reps are raising awareness of the things holidaymakers can do to make their holidays greener on customer nights out.

Fethiye
A food event has taken place at the Pine Valley Hotel, giving guests a chance to meet local producers and try locally-produced goods.

Here’s a write up from Thomas Cook rep Kylie, about Taste of Fethiye events in the Liberty Hotel, Olu Deniz, which also took part :

The Taste of Fethiye is an event run by the Travel Foundation encouraging local tourism such as the big hotels in Olu Deniz to purchase their produce from local farmers who otherwise would not get the benefit of tourism in the area.  Every Saturday night Liberty Hotel in Olu Deniz holds the ‘Taste of Fethiye event’. This is where they prepare all their food using fruit and vegetables provided by local farmers.  They also have local craft sellers come along, giving them the chance to sell their hand crafted items on little stalls set up leading up to the restaurant.  The event is combined with the hotels Turkish Night so there is also entertainment such as traditional Turkish dance groups and belly dancing. The hotel also put on a fantastic display of fruit and vegetables which reminded me of a Harvest Festival.

The first night of the event was a great success, we gave out questionnaires during the night to get feedback from the customers who, going off the questionnaires, had a great time. The food was delicious, with recipes provided for the guests to take away with them.  Especially popular were the ‘gozleme’ pancakes made in the traditional way with the lady sat on the floor cooking in front of you.

The guests who I sat with said how nice it was to see a big company like Liberty Hotels helping farmers in this way. 

Due to the success of the event, Liberty Hotel in Olu Deniz has now decided to hold this event every Saturday.

Corsica
In partnership with the Tourism Industry Carbon Offset Service (TICOS) and with the support of its customers, suppliers and staff, Corsican Places will be making its charter flights* to Corsica throughout the month of July carbon neutral. DEFRA industry standards have been used to calculate the funds required to offset the flights. The money will be raised from Corsican Places’ ongoing carbon offset ‘opt in’ payment of £3 per person, with directors of the company and Titan Airways agreeing to underwrite any additional costs required to meet the total.

Corsican Places will allocate the carbon offset funds raised during the month of July to a new reforestation project in Southern Corsica, organised through the Office National des Forêts.

As forest fires can thwart the Corsican landscape throughout the summer, reforestation is vital for the replenishment of Corsica’s forests and to sustain the eco-systems of the island.

Getting there
Thomson and Thomas Cook flights are featuring special Make Holidays Greener tannoy announcements throughout July.

Loco2, which promotes travel by train, has just launched a carbon calculator – taking it back to the "low-CO2" roots which began Loco2. The calculation shows up alongside a customer’s timetable search results, which the company hopes will help people realise the environmental benefits of travelling by train.

Airparks is displaying the Make Holidays Greener posters on its car park transfer buses throughout the month of July.

Closer to home
Cosmos Holidays is supporting the campaign and with a banner and messages on its website. Changing on a weekly cycle, these focus on various destinations – Eastern, Western Med and Long haul – promoting the destinations, offering "green travel tips" and featuring hotels with green credentials.

Holiday Extras has launched a competition for agents, to win a solar charging back-pack, and will be sending out a number of tips to customers throughout July.

Sunvil has challenged its head office staff to abandon their cars and travel to work using more sustainable modes of transport i.e. cycling, walking and public transport. During July, the company aims to save 1987 car miles – the distance between the office in Old Isleworth and Athens. You can follow their progress on Facebook and Twitter.

There’s still time to get involved! Make Holidays Greener Month lasts throughout July visit: http://www.thetravelfoundation.org.uk/greenerhols for ideas.

You can also follow the campaign via;
Facebook:http://www.facebook.com/makeholidaysgreener
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/traveltf

Valere Tjollle

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