Duchally Country Estate retains Silver Award for ‘Green’ Tourism
Keeping the business ‘green’ is very much part of central policy for the Club La Costa Resorts & Hotels group, which owns and manages 22 resorts across Europe.
The approach has paid off handsomely as their Scottish resort at Duchally Country Estate in Perthshire has recently been successful in retaining their Silver Award under the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS). This success follows hard on the heels of the GTBS Silver Award achieved last year at Trenython Manor, one of Club la Costa’s two resorts in Cornwall.
At Duchally, where the first Silver Award was achieved in 2007, GTBS inspectors applied the recently revised and more rigorous ‘version IV’ standards and were particularly impressed by developments made since their last visit.
High scores were achieved in the ‘compulsory’ section – covering commitment to sustainability, management, information and green policy – as well as in ‘waste minimisation’ and ‘nature & culture’.
Areas targeted for future development included equipment efficiency, lighting and energy controls and sourcing of eco-friendly cleaning and household products.
Resort Manager Graeme McDonald said, “”A lot of hard work has gone into maintaining Club La Costa’s green plan and we are thrilled that Duchally has again been recognised as a contributor to Scotland’s green tourism strategy. Better efficiency reduces our costs, which makes commercial sense, and our customers enjoy the holiday benefits of a better natural environment.”"
Meanwhile, the good work goes on and while the resort continues to ‘go green’ they hope to also ‘go gold’ when the GTSB inspectors return in two years’ time.
About the Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS)
Members must operate in accordance with relevant environmental regulations and show that a commitment to sustainable tourism, with minimal environmental damage. Each site must meet minimum standards across a range of indicators and is audited by a qualified professional to ensure standards are maintained. They must also demonstrate a commitment to providing at least a reasonable quality of service between 1 and 5 stars. Audits are conducted every two to three years, sustainable development standards are regularly updated and the GTBS investigates all complaints about the environmental performance or commitment of members.
For more information, go to
Latest comments