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From Castlebar - County Mayo - Tom Campbell
Green Hospitality Awards (GHA) were presented on 14 January 2009 to West and North West County Hotels and Businesses at the Westport Woods Hotel, Westport, Co. Mayo. The Green Hospitality Award is a national programme supported by the EPA and Local Authorities in recognition of efforts made to improve environmental management within the hospitality sector in Ireland. This GHA is a step by step programme with awards presented at Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum levels. A total of 17 hotels were awarded under the scheme in the West/North West region alone and a further 68 awards are being presented at venues throughout the country. The region faired very well at this years awards receiving 3 Gold 5 Silver and 9 Bronze awards in total (see full details below). There are currently many other hospitality businesses in the region working towards this goal. Mayo - 3 Gold, 3 Silver, 2 Bronze: County Mayo swept the board with Golds going to: Westport Woods Hotel, Clew Bay Hotel and the Carlton Atlantic Coast. Silver awards went to Mayo hotels: The Westport Plaza, Days Hotel Castlebar and the Castlecourt Hotel, Westport. Bronze awards were presented to Ashford Castle, and Knock House Hotel. The town of Westport was voted the destination that combines the best hospitality and environmental excellence and received a Special Category Award for this distinction as the Greenest Destination. Galway - 1 Silver, 5 Bronze: A Silver Award was presented to the Radisson SAS, Galway City while Bronze Awards went to the Ardilaun House Hotel, Galway Bay Hotel, Glenlo Abbey, the Carlton Shearwater Hotel & The Connemara Coast Hotel Donegal - 1 Silver, 1 Bronze. The county received 2 awards in total, a Silver Award to Harveys Point County Hotel and a Bronze Award going to the Radisson SAS Letterkenny. Sligo - 1 Bronze: The Radisson SAS Sligo picked up a Bronze Award.
"The average Irish hotel needs to perform considerably better in terms of control of Energy, Water and Waste Management and is in fact performing up to 67% worse than the world average" said Maurice Bergin, Managing Director of the Green Hospitality Award Programme. "This is quite startling especially when you consider that the reduction in costs experienced by our members can be between €50,000 and €150,000 in the first year, after full implementation of the program. The really surprising factor is that much of these savings come from low or no cost systems and practices being put in place in each property". The Green Hospitality Award currently has 180+ members nationwide striving for best practice in this important area. The scheme differentiates itself from other programmes in that it provides ongoing advice and auditing to its members thereby offering a hands on approach. The basis of the programme is to encourage members to initiate an internal management programme to reduce the consumption of energy and water and reduce the volume of waste going to landfill as these are the areas where costs will continue to escalate over the coming years as well as carbon taxes being on the Governments agenda. GHA is benchmarked against all the top international environmental award schemes and is tailored as a best fit to the Irish hospitality industry. In 2008 the Environmental Protection Agency commenced funding the Green Hospitality Award, through its Green Business Initiative. This funding is planned to be available until 2011 and is designed to assist the award in spreading throughout the hotel and hospitality sector. 2008 Green Hospitality Award Winners West/ North West Region
To date the Green Hospitality Award is implementing it’s Environmental Management System in 180+ Irish Hospitality Businesses and has helped reduce operating costs in over 8,000 hotel rooms. Within the Hotel membership 200 food outlets have included environmental principles and procedures in their menus, buying practices and day-to-day operations and up to 3,000 hospitality professionals actively participate in the Green Hospitality Award program. Issued on behalf of Green Hospitality Award by Maeve Governey PR © Copyright 2009 by Castlebar - County Mayo - |
