LOS ANGELES, California – The solution to many problems in our destinations often involves a change in the culture of those who live in them. An important part of our role as tourism leaders is to recognize the responsibility that we have in the creation of those changes.
Four years ago, when Karisma Hotels & Resorts began our “Passion for Sustainability” program, we saw an opportunity to create a cultural change in the way in which our 4,000 employees and their families managed the waste in their homes, in a way in which we could also strengthen two of the values of our company: Teamwork & Passion.
This is how we created an initiative called “Recycling makes Sense,” through which we invited all our employees to bring recyclable waste from their homes and at each of our properties, we collected it, classified it and sold it to an authorized supplier. The money collected over a period of three months was used to support projects centered on: Health, Education, Housing, Sports and Culture. The employees and their families developed these projects and the company further assisted by providing matching funds to the amount raised via the recycling.
So far “Recycling makes Sense” has supported the purchase of:
• 10 uniforms for the youth Basketball team “Strong” in Tulum, Trained by one of our Housekeeping maids
• One Medical Treatment for one of our collaborator´s son (10 sessions) in order to recover his full health after an accident
• Four wheelchairs for our collaborator´s sons and daughters with disabilities
• Four sets of medical hearing devices for: 1 of our Staff members and 3 family members of different collaborators
• Two eye surgeries for two of our collaborators, who needed an urgent intervention not included on their Medical Insurances
To this initiative, we have recently added the support of health professionals such as Dr. Laura Romero, who donated her time and expertise and performed the eye surgeries that allowed two of our staff members to recover their sight along with their quality of life.
All these results make us proud as a company, as we have seen that this initiative has a great impact on the quality of life of our employees and their families. We also believe it is important for us to share this initiative with the tourism community, so it can be easily taken up by other companies, communities and destinations around the world and with it we can achieve a bigger impact and a cultural change in benefit of the environment and our communities. Remember, “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” We invite you to copy this initiative and contact us if you want to know more about our programs.
Green Globe has certified the sustainable operation of six Karisma Hotels & Resorts in the Riviera Maya region of Mexico. These include: El Dorado Maroma by Karisma; Eldorado Royale & El Dorado Casitas Royale by Karisma; El Dorado Seaside Suites; Azul Beach; Azul Sensatori; and Azul Fives Hotel.
About Green Globe Certification
Green Globe is the worldwide sustainability system based on internationally-accepted criteria for sustainable operation and management of travel and tourism businesses. Operating under a worldwide license, Green Globe is based in California, USA, and is represented in over 83 countries. Green Globe is an Affiliate Member of the United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO).
Green Globe is a member of the International Coalition of Tourism Partners (ICTP) .
