Heritance Ahungalla bags gold at National Green Awards

Heritance Hotels was once again put in the spotlight when Heritance Ahungalla was presented with the gold award at the National Green Awards concluded recently at the BMICH.

Heritance Ahungalla has successfully taken over the baton from Heritance Kandalama, no doubt one of the greenest hotels on the planet, which was awarded the gold award in the Large Scale Hotel category in 2011.

Sri Lanka’s entrepreneurs, industrialists, and other stakeholders who contribute their share for environmental conservation and anti-pollution were recognised for their excellence in green practice, strategy and products.

Organised by the Central Environmental Authority (CEA), the National Green Awards scheme was initiated in order to provide an alternative system to controlling pollution and greening the environment instead of the existing command and control approaches and education and awareness programs. The main aim of the all-island program is to promote sustainable management of the environment in order to achieve a green country through a clean green environment.

President Mahinda Rajapaksa graced the occasion which was held for the second consecutive year. 49 awards were presented under 16 categories with environmentally-friendly organisations being selected by an expert panel of judges after a lengthy review of their performance.

Heritance Ahungalla, a hotel committed to sustainable practices, has been recognised both locally and internationally for service excellence, culinary expertise, as well as its sustainability initiatives. The hotel was certified for energy management system ISO 50001:2011 and was recognised as the first resort in the world to receive the certification.  

The Heritance Ahungalla team consciously makes efforts to conserve energy and preserve the ecological balance around its stunning property. To minimise social risk in the environment the hotel operates in, Heritance Ahungalla offers internships that also helps to build community relations. The hotel donates generously to the local community particularly to help children and elder care programs.

“We at Aitken Spence Hotels have set a perfect balance of practicing sustainable tourism while ensuring our commitment to service excellence is maintained. It is a tremendous achievement that all our properties in Sri Lanka have sustainability policies which are adhered to stringently, which has resulted in all our local hotels, including Hotel Hilltop and Bandarawela Hotel, attaining the prestigious Earth Check Silver status,” said Malin Hapugoda, Managing Director, Aitken Spence Hotels.

“We will continue to drive our commitment towards a sustainable operation with a sustainability focus that transcends beyond mere operational to one that is strategic, we seek to create an organisation-wide culture that in turn will inspire individuals to act as catalysts for global change.”

Aitken Spence Hotels has set precedence to other hotels on how they too can be effective responsible  tourism players by contributing in terms of conserving the natural environment, protecting biodiversity, empowering local communities, supporting livelihoods dependent on tourism, preserving local traditions, arts and crafts and mitigating climate change, especially by using biomass as renewable energy.

The company’s premier resorts operate under Heritance Hotels and Resorts. The award-winning Heritance Hotels and Resorts portfolio consisting of Heritance Kandalama, Heritance Ahungalla and Heritance Tea Factory and Heritance Ayurveda Maha Gedara.