Celebrating the First Green Flag Awarded EcoCampus in Cambodia

In November 2023, the École d’Hôtellerie et de Tourisme Paul Dubrule became the First EcoCampus in Cambodia and the first vocational hospitality school globally to receive the Green Flag Award.

Just over a year ago, the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) and the German Agency for International Cooperation (GIZ) joined forces for the Improved Competitiveness of National Enterprises (ICONE) project, which aims to increase sustainable tourism in Cambodia. By leveraging synergies between FEE’s EcoCampus and Green Key programmes, staff from vocational training schools, their students,  personnel and managers from the tourism and hospitality industry in Cambodia, were trained and supported to implement sustainability measures in their corresponding institutions/businesses, including the Green Key certification.

This past June, Green Key International Coordinator and Project Manager, Claudia Bogensperger travelled to Cambodia to participate in a regional conference on sustainability in tourism and to deliver an introductory course on sustainable tourism to three hospitality schools in Cambodia, including the school Ecole d’Hotellerie et de Tourisme Paul Dubrule in Siem Reap.

Founded in 2002, as a project of the nonprofit organisation Formation et Progrès-Cambodge, the École d’Hôtellerie et de Tourisme Paul Dubrule, has successfully established itself as one of the most renowned vocational schools for hospitality and tourism in Cambodia, having trained over 4,000 Cambodian future tourism professionals.

Last month, FEE’s Senior Director of Education, Pramod Kumar Sharma travelled to Cambodia to award the École d’Hôtellerie et de Tourisme Paul Dubrule, making it the first EcoCampus in Cambodia and the first vocational hospitality school globally to receive the Green Flag Award. In order to receive the Green Flag Award, EHT Paul Dubrule had to successfully embed sustainability initiatives not only into their curriculum but also into the overall operation of the school. EHT Paul Dubrule is a unique example that illustrates how tourism and hospitality, vocational training and sustainability can successfully work together.

We congratulate the École d’Hôtellerie et de Tourisme Paul Dubrule on their achievement and look forward to seeing the further development of the sustainable tourism sector in Cambodia.

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About FEE:

The Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE) is one of the world’s largest Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) organisations, with over 100 member organisations in 80 countries. With a network of over 60,000 educational institutions, the Eco-Schools, Learning About Forests and Young Reporters for the Environment programmes empower young people to create an environmentally conscious world through experiential, project-based learning. The Green Key and Blue Flag programmes are globally recognized for promoting sustainable business practices and the protection of natural resources. With over 40 years of impactful experience in ESD, FEE’s strategic plan, GAIA 20:30, prioritises impactful action across all five programmes to address the threats of climate change, biodiversity loss and environmental pollution.  

Jet2holidays and Green Key entering global partnership

Green Key is pleased to announce to have entered an official partnership with Jet2holidays, the UK’s largest tour operator.

To ensure that customers can continue to enjoy amazing holidays, Jet2holidays has published its ‘Jet2 Net Zero’ sustainability strategy setting the company on a path to net zero by 2050. To help achieve this goal, Jet2holidays has identified Green Key as one of two preferred international certification programmes.

Green Key is a leading eco-certification programme for hotels and other establishment categories with currently more than 4,800 certified establishments in over 60 countries worldwide. The certification is based on compliance with a strict set of internationally recognised criteria that are regularly controlled for through on-site audits and a subsequent independent third-party verification process. The Green Key programme is managed by the international nonprofit organisation, the Foundation for Environmental Education (FEE), and its national member organisations across 80 countries.

The announcement is in line with the commitment of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays to become one of the leading brands in sustainable air travel and package holidays.

Thanks to this partnership with Green Key International, over 800 hotels in the Jet2holidays catalogue can now be easily identified as a ‘Certified Sustainable Hotel’. This means that it will be easier for customers interested in more sustainable holidays to find what they are looking for. Furthermore, Jet2holidays is encouraging and supporting more hotels to gain the Green Key certification through a new Sustainable Hotel Charter which they have launched.

Steve Heapy, CEO of Jet2.com and Jet2holidays said: “As well as enjoying the award-winning experience of Jet2holidays, customers want to know their holidays are more sustainable. The launch of this cooperation empowers customers and independent travel agents to easily search and book with exactly that in mind. We are seeing more demand for sustainable hotels and, as we work with our hotels to help them become more sustainable through our new system, this collection of sustainable hotels is guaranteed to become even bigger and better. As a responsible airline and tour operator, we have already taken many tangible steps on our journey to reach our sustainability targets and today is the latest example of how we are continuing our work to become more sustainable in the air, on the ground and in resort.”

Finn Bolding Thomsen, Director of Green Key International adds: “We are pleased to see an increasing interest in the Green Key Certification also from major tour operators. Through our partnership with Jet2holidays, we look forward to having hotels working with Jet2holidays certified with Green Key in order to have more guests enjoying tourism in a sustainable manner.”