Six Cebu, Bohol properties win ASEAN green awards

CEBU, Philippines — The Cebu and Bohol corridor has moved up its eco-tourism prominence in the world following the recognition of six hotel and resort properties in the region as part of the ASEAN Green Hotel loop.

Three of the six resort properties given the Green Hotel Award are in Cebu, the Bluewater Maribago Beach Resort and Crimson Resort and Spa in Mactan and Pulchra Resort in San Fernando, south of Cebu.

The other three properties are based in Bohol, these are; Amorita Resort, Bellevue Resort, and Bohol Beach Club.

The ASEAN Green Hotel Standard fosters sustainable tourism through the adoption of the Environmentally-friendly and Energy Conservation.; compiling, adapting and creating the tools and training to engage in ASEAN Green Hotel practices.

At the heart of this ASEAN Green Hotel Standard is the minimum requirement that any hotel business should aspire to reach in order to protect and sustain the ASEAN’s natural and cultural resources while ensuring tourism meets its potential as a tool for conservation and poverty alleviation.

Meanwhile, aside from recognizing the properties, which are sensitive in practicing environment-friendly operations, and other green-related operations, the Tourism Standard Awards also acknowledged other properties which help pushed the development of MICE (meetings, incentives, conferences and exhibits) in Cebu and Bohol, while investing programs that enhance the standards and quality of accommodations which categorized as globally at par.

Radisson Blu Hotel – Cebu, Waterfront Cebu City Hotel & Casino – Cebu, Shangri-La’s Mactan Resort and Spa – Cebu, Bellevue Resort – Bohol and Quest Hotel and Conference Center – Cebu, bagged the ASEAN MICE Venue.

“We are very pleased to hear that a number of our properties in Cebu and Bohol were recognized as ASEAN Tourism Standards Awardees. The recognition given solidifies their efforts in not only delivering quality tourism services that are on par with the ASEAN standards but also supports the vision of the ASEAN community in promoting sustainable tourism practices," said DOT-7 regional director Shalimar R. Tamano.

The ASEAN Tourism Standards Awards is an initiative undertaken by the 10 ASEAN member- countries to encourage stakeholders throughout the region to further improve standards in terms of sustainable tourism services.

This is in line with the ASEAN vision of making the region globally competitive as a “quality single destination.”

According to Danilo Intong, director of the DOT-Office of Tourism Standards and Regulation, the recognition does not only promote sustainable tourism development but has also contributed significantly to the region’s tourism.

"It contributes a lot because a lot of people now are going green so they go for facilities with organic food, has clean and natural way of operating their facilities," said Intong, adding that so far the Philippines has been recognized in two award categories but hopefully more will be added in the future.

Four years ago, tourism stakeholders in Cebu and Bohol crafted the "Sustainable Strategies and Actions," to strengthen efforts of promoting green tourism within the Cebu -Bohol environment.

The program was part of the Promotion of Green Economic Development (ProGED) Project.

The ProGED Project, was a development cooperation project jointly implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit  GIZ and Department of Trade and Industry and funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development BMZ with the aim of increasing the competitiveness of MSMEs by adopting environment friendly and climate smart strategies. (FREEMAN)