Gold all the way!

• 7 Jetwing properties awarded Travelife awards

Continuing its wave of global recognition for sustainable efforts, Sri Lanka’s Jetwing Hotels have been awarded the prestigious Travelife Gold Award for seven of its properties.

Travelife (www.travelife.org), the international certification scheme developed by the travel industry for the travel industry announced recently that they have awarded seven Travelife Gold Awards to hotels belonging to the Jetwing family of properties, namely: Jetwing Blue, Jetwing Beach, Jetwing Vil Uyana, Jetwing Ayurveda Pavilions, Jetwing Sea, Jetwing Lighthouse, and Jetwing St. Andrew’s. At present, Jetwing possesses the most properties located in Sri Lanka on the Travelife Collection – seven out of the eight listed.

Set up in 2007 by leaders in the travel and tourism industry including TUI Travel, Thomas Cook, Kuoni, Virgin Holidays and others, the Travelife Sustainability System is a way of managing the environment, people, and local community issues of hotels and accommodation.

The addition of a hotel that buys goods from community businesses support the local economy, keeping citizens happy – creating positive impact. Also, goods bought locally need not travel far to reach a hotel, which reduces carbon emissions thus benefiting the environment. To encourage others and to reward achievement, Travelife has an award system of Gold, Silver, and Bronze.

Achieving a Travelife award depends on an independent, third party auditor who will assess the property against the substantial and comprehensive requirements of the Travelife sustainability criteria.

In short, a Bronze Award hotel will show an active environmental policy, as well as treating their staff fairly and with respect; a Silver Award hotel buys local produce for their restaurants and give their staff responsibility for green issues; a Gold Award hotel will do all of the above, as well as be an industry leader, improve the living standards of the local community, along with publishing regular reports on their sustainable actions.

Through the Jetwing Eternal Earth Program, known as JEEP (www.jetwingeternalearthprogramme.com), Jetwing looks at four main areas of sustainable practice – Community Outreach (the Lighthouse Community Pool, the PATA Grand Award winning Jetwing Youth Development Project, and the Tuk Tuk! Project), Sustainability (energy and water conservation and optimisation, the usage of energy saving appliances and technology such as LED lighting, biomass boilers, etc.), Eco Projects (the Whale and Dolphin Centre at Jetwing Lighthouse, Primate Research) and Humanitarian Programs (cataract surgeries for the less fortunate, etc.).

“To us, having seven of our properties certified with the Travelife Gold is an honour. Jetwing Lagoon will be undergoing the audit very soon, and we look forward to seeing another Gold award!” said Hiran Cooray, Chairman of Jetwing. “Our commitment to sustainability has always remained steadfast, as our future will depend on it. The efforts of our engineering, naturalist and hotel teams and associates have brought us this far, and so it shall continue.”

Family owned and in the tourism industry for the past 40 years, Jetwing Hotels has surpassed expectation at every aspect. Building on their foundation of being passionate, as well as the experience of true, traditional Sri Lankan hospitality, constantly pioneering discoveries captures the essence of the brand.

Such a strong statement and direction have enabled Jetwing Hotels to imagine, create and manage marvels and masterpieces, where distinctive design and elegant comfort complement each other and the environment. Considered a priority, sustainable and responsible practice is implemented through the award winning Jetwing Eternal Earth Program; with energy efficiency, community upliftment, and education of earth saving measures to schoolchildren being a few tenets of the Program.