Green Key certified cottage goes green on fleet transportation

The 8-hectare Étangs du Francbois holiday estate, where the Green Key certified Le Chalet les Mélèzes is located, offers now two green transportation options to its guests.

The Étangs du Francbois holiday estate

Located in the beautiful valley of river Yves, in the region of Wallonia, Belgium, the Étangs du Francbois is a holiday home perfect for those searching for a peaceful vacation. With nature surrounding the 8-hectare property, there are plenty of outdoor activities to try at Étangs du Francbois, including following the hiking trails, swimming in the Yves River, fishing, wildlife watching or even boat rowing.

Owned by the couple Ann De Vlaminck and Patrick Meirlaen, the holiday site has several accommodation options, including a Green key certified cottage, Le Chalet les Mélèzes, since 2019. As part of their sustainability commitment, the Étangs du Francbois owners have recently upgraded their transportation fleet used in the property for more eco-friendly vehicles.

My wife and I are running a 20-acre [8-hectare] holiday estate with 3-holiday cottages and two unique camping spots. Transport on the estate is one of our concerns as a ‘green key’ certified company. In the past years, we realised it is not a good idea to have our customers parking their cars at their holiday cottage”, explains Patrick Meirlaen. According to the owner, the decision to remove guests’ cars from the central area of the property was motivated by two main factors: “First of all, it is not secure because they could block the road for firefighters. Moreover, it is not very nice for the superb views on the estate to have cars parked in several places in the gardens”.

The new green transportation options offered in Étangs du Francbois can be used during Le Chalet les Mélèzes guests’ arrival, departure, and stay. The first option is an electric all-purpose and all-terrain vehicle with a cargo container, ideal for transporting visitors’ luggage. Moreover, there are also wagon carts available to all guests during their entire stay. These carts have a load capacity of up to 300 kilograms, which can be ideal for transporting children inside the property, but also groceries.

Number of Green Key establishments increase by 20% in France

In 2022, there are 855 accommodations and restaurants with the Green Key certificate in France.

On 20 January 2022, the Green Key team in France has proudly announced an increase of 20% in the number of certified establishments in 2022. According to the French Green Key National Operator, Nathalie Bel Baussant, there are now 855 accommodations and restaurants certified in France (including overseas territories), representing 25 million guest nights and 20,000 employees.

The increase has been continuous in the past four years and has even accelerated during the COVID-19 crisis. It concerns all regions and all types of establishments: hotels, campsites, holiday parks, hostels, small accommodations and restaurants.

This trend can be explained by several reasons:

• The national context encourages sustainable development: economy recovery plans after the COVID-19 crisis, ranking of hotels that including environmental actions, rising customer expectations;

• The Green Key team in France has an active partnership approach: with chains and groups, but also territories, institutional actors and representatives of the tourism industry;

• An increasing number of chains, territories and independent establishments consider sustainable development as a key success factor;

• The Green Key team in France proposes an application process that includes advice and strong support tools to ease the implementation of criteria.

Green Key France awards for region

Greek tour operator to be the first to reduce environmental impact on excursions

The Greek company Avra Tours has signed an agreement with the Green Key National Operator in Greece to reduce the environmental footprint of its transports and excursions to the minimum.

Avra Tours has now a new green strategy, aligned with the Green Key sustainable standard. The company, which is the largest Greek inbound tour operator in the country, has entered an agreement with The Hellenic Society for the Protection of Nature, the body responsible for the Green Key programme management in Greece.

The collaboration agreement was officialised by Avra Tours CEO Ioannis L. Dimitriadis and the President of the Board of Directors of HSPN, Nikolaos G. Petrol, also Vice President of the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE). In a joint statement, both parties manifested their commitment and hope on this agreement, aligning with UN goals. They also emphasised the importance of joining synergies to create short and long term results for the tourism industry.

Avra Tours is further compromising to become the first Greek tour operator with the smallest environmental footprint on excursions and transports as part of this partnership. To achieve this goal, the Greek operator will offset its carbon footprint through the FEE Global Forest Fund, helping plant trees and educating new generations to become more sustainable in the near future.

Additionally, Avra Tours will also have stricter criteria for partnerships by only working with organisations and destinations actively engaging in sustainability practices or strategies. The Greek tour operator aims to encourage the businesses it collaborates with to reduce its environmental impact.

Green Key featured in The Historic Traveller magazine

The Historic Hotels of Europe publication has dedicated a page to the eco-label certificate, highlighting the recent changes in the Green Key programme.

Historic Hotels of Europe that promotes an incredible collection of hotels, manors and palaces throughout Europe has now published the third issue of its Historic Traveller magazine, with a page dedicated to the Green Key programme. In the article, the Green Key’s International Director, Finn Bolding Thomsen, reflects on the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in the hospitality industry and Green Key’s role in supporting the certified hotels and other categories in the hospitality industry during these challenging latest years.

“During this uncertain time, we have supported our Green Key awarded establishments by showing flexibility in the certification process and by running campaigns that were tailored to the needs during the pandemic”, explains Finn Bolding Thomsen, adding that due to the recent worldwide events, the climate crisis is further becoming a top global concern.

The set of Green Key international standards for establishments is also highlighted in The Historic Traveller issue since the criteria have recently been strengthened to increasingly focus on the reduction of carbon emissions and pollution and the protection of biodiversity. Ultimately, the goal is to continue sharing the best practices of the certified establishments, as the Green Key International Director emphasises:

“Our ambition is to support our participating establishments through training, webinars, and other supporting tools […]. We also want to increase awareness of the guests visiting Green Key certified accommodation through information and involvement during the visit as well as promotion of the sustainability efforts through social media”.

Lastly, the Historic Traveller’s article on Green Key also addresses the intention of the eco-label organisation to join the Glasgow Declaration, which aims for a net-zero future by 2050.

More details on The Historic Hotels of Europe can be read here.

Belgium's Flanders region gets 13 new Green Key establishments

The northern region of Belgium has now a total of 139 sites with the Green Key eco-label.

Camping Houtum is one of the new establishments awarded with the Green Key eco-label.

Sustainability is an increasing concern for business owners in Flanders, a region in Belgium that continues to expand the number of establishments with a Green Key certificate. The organisation responsible for managing the Green Key programme in Belgium, Good Planet, has now announced that thirteen sites from Flanders have received the sustainable eco-label for the first time. The recognition was given in an event last week, which took place in the city of Mechelen. Overall, there are now 139 establishments in Flanders complying with the Green Key programme criteria.

The high number of sites in Flanders with the Green Key eco-label results from a joint effort between business owners, who wish to implement more sustainable practices, and several municipalities from the region. As explained by Good Planet, the city of Ghent and the Province of Antwerp are examples of two public institutions that have been pushing a change for more sustainable tourism by financially supporting entrepreneurs obtaining the Green Key certificate.

The theme manager and board member of Tourism Flanders, Vincent Nijs, has discussed the organisation's role in promoting more sustainability in the region: "Flanders has already taken great steps in the field of sustainability, but there are still many challenges ahead. That is why Tourism Flanders is working on an ambitious vision and wants to contribute in a structural way to a sustainable and flourishing destination by supporting the sector even better in the future. That is why we want to encourage initiatives such as the Green Key and further implement them in our policy". 

The camping site Houtum has now more organic and fair trade products on its café menu.

Camping Houtum in Kasterlee and Porta Superia in Mechelen are two of the new Green Key establishments that have shared their experience obtaining the international eco-label. Vic Van Eyck from Camping Houtum feared a "mountain of paperwork" initially but was surprised by the application process, which went through effortlessly with the help of the Tourism Province Antwerp. Awarded with the Green Key label, Camping Houtum is already making some changes in its business.

"We were already doing, sometimes unconsciously, a lot of efforts but putting organic, fair trade and local products on our café menu was such an extra effort that without Green Key we might never or only to a limited extent have done”, explained Vic Van Eyck.

For Porta Superia owners in Mechelen, getting the sustainable certificate is proof that ecology and comfort can go hand in hand. The new Green Key awarded B&B has solid sustainable practices already implemented, that include using local suppliers and organic products, solar panels, and efficient water-saving systems, including a shower with NASA technology.

Radisson is the first hotel chain to make meetings and events carbon negative

The Radisson Hotel Group has shared some of its most significant responsible initiatives for 2021.

Radisson Collection Hotel in Georgia

In 2019, the Green Key partner had already set high standards for sustainability after deciding to offset the carbon footprint for every meeting and event from its hotels at a global level. In 2021, the Radisson group achieved a new benchmark by offsetting twice the CO2 emissions from all the events and meetings across more than 400 hotels in their EMEA portfolio, becoming the first hotel chain in the world to make its events and meetings carbon negative. According to the hotel group, the initiative that started in 2019 has allowed for offsetting more than 30,000 tons of CO2, equivalent to taking more than 6,500 fuel-powered cars off the road.

Among other responsible initiatives, the Radisson Hotel Group has also developed two new partnerships that reinforce its position as a green mobility leader. The new collaborations with pan-European Allego and the Indian Sunfuel focus on bringing new electric vehicle options and stations across Radisson establishments in Europe and India. Furthermore, the Group has also compromised to reduce the surplus food from all of its hotels across Europe in an effort to reduce food waste.

At a global level, the Radisson Hotel Group is also one of the 25,000 hotels worldwide that support the creation of the Basic Sustainability Framework, currently being developed by the WTTC and the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance. This new framework will be announced in March 2022, and it aims to provide shared knowledge about sustainability and sustainable practices in hotels across the world.

With a new year ahead, the Global Senior Vice President Sustainability, Security and Corporate Communications for Radisson Hotel Group, Inge Huijbrechts, has reinforced the importance of continuing to develop responsible initiatives in Radisson hotels in 2022:

“[…] Sustainability is a top priority for our industry and our customers. At Radisson Hotel Group, we continue to work on our roadmap to Net Zero and are proud of the milestones we have realized in a challenging year for our industry. 2021 marked an opportunity to harness our focus on responsible business initiatives for both our Group and collectively for the hospitality industry. We look forward to another year of establishing strong strategic partnerships as we all work towards a responsible recovery and return of travel”.

More details of Radisson Hotel Group’s achievements can be read here.