We are absolutely delighted to announce we have been awarded the Green Tourism Gold award with flying colours! Our report accompanying the award stated:
“Overall you have done exceptionally well throughout the three columns People, Places and Planet. As to be expected you have done really well in the Health & wellbeing (100%), Destination (98%), Chemicals, Communication, and Travel (93%), Food & Drink (92%), and Experiences, (90%), criteria. This not only shows that you provide first class experiences but also care about your guests comfort and wellbeing whilst aboard. You also had high scores in Energy (84%), Water (83%) and Biodiversity (80%).”
Although we are reassured that we are doing well in terms of our green credentials, we are already planning more improvements, to be as sustainable as we possibly can be.
Coming soon:
- Our Plant a Tree initiative in connection with Trees for Life
- Our green initiative crew member, to monitor waste, energy and carbon on each vessel
- Influencing the installation of EV charging points with our parking partner,
Further work we are planning to undertake includes:
- Improving our carbon score. This requires collating our energy, water and fuel usage and Identifying emission sources
- Supporting a more socially-based charity or campaign
We would highly recommend any organisation to work with Green Tourism. Their technical experts offer excellent practical advice and lots of support. With their help, we were able to identify where we were doing well and what we still needed to do to be a truly sustainable tourism business.
Just returned from our second successful trip to St Kilda on the Elizabeth G. It was lovely to be greeted by the familiar faces of Rob and Craig from our previous trip along with naturalist Zoe and chef Sian. Rob’s experienced weather-eye meant he paced our journey to St Kilda so that we made the best of the beautiful weather so that we had the full day ashore on the sunniest day, even better than the previous trip in 2019. As before, Craig attended to our every needs and sumptuous meals were served up by Sian, maintaining the high standard of cuisine we have come to expect on the Elizabeth G. As an experienced whale-watcher Zoe was indefatigable in keeping a lookout for whales and dolphins and her enthusiasm was very infectious. She was also careful to make sure everyone was alerted when any were sighted. All in all it was a fantastic trip and I can’t wait till the next one.
Helen Mainwood: 5 July 2021St Kilda and the isles of the Outer Hebrides