Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort, Aruba, Celebrates 21 Year Commitment to Green Globe Certification
Resort Manager Rik van der Berg receives Green Globe certificate on behalf of his team at Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort
2021 is certainly a remarkable year for Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort in Aruba. This year marks the resort’s 21 years of commitment to Green Globe Certification and also coincides with the COP26 Climate Change Summit taking place in Glasgow.
The resort is very proud to be one of the original members of Green Globe and is celebrating over two decades of sustainable operations and management. The fact that Green Globe was conceived at the famous Rio Earth Summit 1992 and that Ewald Biemans, Owner/CEO of Bucuti & Tara, was hugely inspired by that same conference is a success story for both organizations and recognizes the founding principles of Agenda 21. For Ewald, this has been a “spectator to speaker” story as he gained awareness in 1992, introduced sustainability to his resort, and this year was a speaker and honoree at COP26 and also while there, was invited to be a launch signatory of the Glasgow Declaration for Climate Action in Tourism.
Bucuti is the first hotel in the world to receive the United Nations' highest climate award, the Global UN 2020 Climate Action Award for Climate Neutral Now. The 2021 winners across all sectors were recently announced and Bucuti & Tara remains the only hotel winner in UN history. The UN declared Bucuti & Tara's sustainability program "highly replicable and scalable," encouraging the more than two million hotels worldwide to emulate the framework and initiatives to combat climate change.
The list of successful sustainability achievements by the property over the past year is long and continues to grow, a credit to the entire team at Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort.
Carbon Neutral Concierge Services
Green Globe Manager of Certification & Membership Care, Nathaly Stanley, congratulates Sustainability & Certifications Manager, Jareth Vermeulen who led the most recent certification
Bucuti & Tara were the first Caribbean hotel to be certified carbon neutral on August 28, 2018. More recently, the carbon-neutral stay is now able to be a completely door-to-door carbon-neutral vacation with the addition of the Carbon Offset Concierge service. Should they wish to opt-in for the offset concierge service, it is a simple process. This concierge position has been running for over a year.
Marine Life Conservation
A visit to a tropical paradise is complete when you can experience first-hand close encounters with native wildlife. Bucuti's beach is a popular nesting ground for the vulnerable Leatherback Turtle. The Sea Turtle Countdown Calendar assists guests with planning their vacations based on the possibility of witnessing a hatching and contributing to sea turtle conservation.
Treading Lightly
In Bucuti & Tara's journey to being completely carbon negative, one of the goals is to be 100% paperless. It is currently 90% complete.
To reduce its footprint even further, additional insulation of buildings has been carried out. Currently, the resort is in the midst of using MIG insulation paint on interiors and exteriors will be painted in coming months. The paint has heat and cold-regulating properties that contribute to reducing costs and CO2 emissions.
Elevated Safety Protocols
When the pandemic struck, Bucuti & Tara hosted available ICU doctors and nurses who teamed up with the leadership team to develop high-tech, hospital-grade COVID-19 safety and wellness protocols. Instead of resorting to environmentally dangerous harsh cleaning chemicals, Bucuti & Tara found a way to protect guests and employees as well as the planet. The result is the Caribbean's safest, healthiest vacation experience.
The resort is pleased to announce that new and exciting initiatives for the coming 12 months lie ahead as well.
About Green Globe Certification
Green Globe is the worldwide sustainability system based on internationally accepted criteria for sustainable operation and management of travel and tourism businesses. Operating under a worldwide license, Green Globe is based in California, USA and is represented in over 83 countries. Green Globe is an Affiliate Member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO). For information, please visit www.greenglobe.com
Contact
Amy D. Kerr
Principal
Revel Concepts
E: amykerr@revelconcepts.com
