Green Travel a Growing Trend

For all you beach bums out there, here’s our holiday travel site recommendation! Who says your responsibility for good stewardship needs to take a break just because you’re on a vacation?

More than one million vacationers will hit the beach in 2011, but with the help of the growing eco-friendly vacation trend, their impact on the environment can be minimized, protecting the fragile ecosystems of our beloved jungles, beaches and oceans and enhancing relationships with the local culture.

Eco-friendly travel is more just than a buzzword; it is a way to preserve beautiful destinations for future generations and for the locals lucky enough to live there.
Apple Vacations is proud to partner with a variety of resorts that have made an extra-effort to preserve our planet. Eco-friendly resorts can fit any budget and will leave travelers with a more authentic vacation experience, due to a deeper understanding and respect for the places they visit.

“Green” resorts can now be found throughout Mexico, the Caribbean and Hawaii. For example, Sandos Caracol Eco-Resort & Spa in Riviera Maya, Mexico offers travelers luxury accommodations coupled with a light carbon footprint. Features include:

• 96 ecological rooms that reduce CO2 emission by 75%
• Solar water heating
• Ultra-efficient air conditioning systems with low electrical consumption
• Furniture made from certified wood
• Guided Eco Tour exploring the Mayan jungle including 16 natural cenotes, indigenous animals and exotic plants.
• Recycling and separating the trash
• Use of biodegradable bottles throughout the resort
• Wildlife conservation
• Using recycled paper for all printed material

To get the full list of Apple Vacations’ eco-friendly resorts, please visit www.applevacations.com/gogreen.

So eco-friendly....

An eco resort in Cambodia, construction of which involved the removal of swaths of trees and the building of a road in forest land, has been cancelled, according to the Phnom Penh Post.

The Sar Lar Investment company had already spent US$2 million of the total projected US$6 million project budget clearing forest and constructing a road to develop the Bou Sra Waterfall Eco Resort in Mondulkiri province, Cambodia, before pulling out of the project because of "capital concerns," the paper reported.

One of the largest waterfalls in Cambodia, the Bou Sra site is popular with tourists and has seen an increase in visitors over the last year, but the area only has one guest house and various stores. Located in the country's south east, the site is about a 45 minute drive from the city of Sen Monorom, around 400 km from the capital Phnom Penh.

They decided to stop the project investment on March 20 because the housing development business of Okhna Sar Lar in Phnom Penh cannot sell anything. That is why they don’t have enough of a budget to continue the project. They have already completed a garden and a set of stairs down to the Bou Sra waterfall from the top. For now, the Mondulkiri Tourism Department will take care of the site until another investor comes along. As for when that will be, it is unclear. It is also uncertain how much of the forest has been cut down, and what will happen to that land if no new investors are found. Cambodia.com made mention of the planned resort before it was cancelled, saying Sar Lar Investment Co "has assured nearby villagers that the five-year project will not be disruptive to the environment as no forests are to be cut down for the development. Instead, Sar Lar hopes to make it an ecotourist undertaking which will create around 100 jobs for the ethnic minorities." Seriously guys, which part of it is eco-friendly?

Unless they revamp an old resort into an eco-friendly one then it'll be understandable but clearing away trees.. Maybe they should just replant trees there.

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