http://www.traveldailynews.com/ The owners of El Gouna, one of Egypt's top leisure resort towns, are looking forward to the initial results of a pioneering new scheme, The Green Star Hotel Initiative, to which they committed last year in an effort to drive the country into a new era of green tourism.
Samih Sawiris, the chairman of Orascom Hotels and Development (OHD) is already a well-known advocate of sustainable tourism development, in a region for which currently ecotourism is regarded as the exception rather than the norm, and where eco-friendly products are not easy to source. OHD's Red Sea resort development El Gouna, which has 14 hotels, an eighteen hotel golf course and a huge range of leisure facilities, was therefore a natural starting point to pioneer The Green Star Hotel Label. Auditing of the pilot hotels take place this October, after a fast-moving eighteen month process.
The immediate goals of the Green Star Hotel Initiative, which has been specifically developed to combat the problems experienced by the region in meeting criteria laid out by existing eco-labels, are to improve the town's overall environmental performance. Area-specific criteria have been established for the Green Star Hotel Label, such as a particular focus on water conservation, given the region's arid climate. Objectives will include the reduction of water and energy consumption, and a reduction in waste generation of hotels, as well as raising awareness among hotel staff and guests, tour operators and residents.
It is also hoped that the scheme will raise awareness of El Gouna, and ultimately of Egypt generally among eco-conscious visitors from the UK and Europe.
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