The Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport, Paschal Donohoe TD, today (Thursday) met members of the hospitality sector, who came out in their droves, as Green Hospitality hosted its National Conference & Responsible Travel & Tourism Awards at The Marker Hotel, Dublin.
Businesses in Co. Clare were the big winners on the day scooping 11 of the awards in total including the top award which was sponsored by GreenTravel.ie – the Responsible Travel & Tourism Business of the Year which went to the Burren & Cliffs of Moher Geopark.
This is the first year of these prestigious awards that recognise businesses throughout Ireland for their responsible, sustainable and environmental efforts. However, this is the fourth year of the annual national conference, with the theme this year of ‘Making Responsible Tourism Pay’.
Speaking at the event, Paschal Donohoe TD, Minister for Transport, Tourism and Sport told guests of the economic benefit and importance of encouraging and recognising businesses that make the effort to ‘go green’.
“When it comes to promoting Ireland as a destination for tourism, it is important that we practice what we promote. Ireland is promoted as a destination that has a wonderful natural environment and we sell Ireland as a ‘green’ destination, especially to many environmentally aware source nations, such as the USA. Therefore it is vital that all our travel, tourism & hospitality businesses do their best to introduce good environmental, responsible and sustainable business practices. These practices not only reduce our carbon footprint and help us attract the environmentally conscious traveller, they also make good common business sense as there are substantial savings to be made by implementing and maintaining some very simple changes to how your business operates.”
Maurice Bergin, Managing Director of the Green Hospitality Programme stated “Going green is not just about good CSR and saving the environment, it’s a solid business decision that can save your business money. These awards and the annual Green Hospitality Conference is designed to inform, encourage and reward businesses nationwide who are making the necessary changes to their business practices. The awards are intended to showcase the exceptional initiatives that businesses are implementing across Ireland and how being sustainable and responsible is an intelligent economic decision, as well as the right one. ”
The awards were open to any business that operate within the Travel, Tourism and Hospitality Industry and a specially selected judging panel chaired by broadcaster and environmentalist Duncan Stewart chose the overall winners from each category.
Other winners included the Croke Park Hotel Dublin, Radisson Blu Royal Hotel Dublin, Fitzgeralds Woodlands House Hotel, Adare, Co Limerick and Buswells Hotel, Dublin. For the full list of winners and further information, visit www.greenhospitality.ie
ENDS
Notes to Editor:
The Green Hospitality Programme is the Hospitality, Travel & Tourism resource for Sustainable and Responsible Tourism in Ireland. Green Hospitality is the only Irish developed environmental certification standard for the whole hospitality sectorand is committed to assisting the sector to become more environmentally responsible.
The National Responsible Travel & Tourism Awards are designed to identify and celebrate businesses that are committed to implementing responsible business practices to reduce their environmental impact.