Set within 120 hectares of land, surrounded by lush tropical vegetation, Constance Ephelia, located at Port Launay, opened its doors in February 2010.

Overlooking the Port Launay marine park on the western coast of the Seychelles main island Mahé, the resort boasts 42 Tropical Garden View Rooms, 184 Junior Suites, 40 Senior Suites, 17 Family Villas, 16 Beach Villas, 8 Hillside Villas, 5 Spa Villas and unique a Presidential Villa.

All suites have been built to offer guests either a beautiful garden view or a splendid view of the clear turquoise ocean.

On top of presenting visitors from across the globe with the natural beauty of the island destination, Constance Ephelia is one of the hotels actively promoting green tourism in Seychelles, and the green resort’s effort to save energy and water, recycle, protect the surrounding flora and fauna among other initiatives have not gone unnoticed.

After winning the Green Globe certification – which assesses the sustainability performance of travel and tourism businesses and their supply chain partners — for the third consecutive year at the beginning of 2017, Constance Ephelia was voted the Indian Ocean’s Leading Green Resort by the World Travel Awards 2017 in July.

This is also the second consecutive year that Constance Ephelia was presented with Leading Indian Ocean’s Green resort accolade. The resort was also voted the Seychelles’ Leading Family Resort by the World Travel Awards 2017.

Being bestowed with such recognitions surely goes well with the United Nations’ declaration of 2017 as the International Year of Sustainable Tourism for Development.

Speaking at a ceremony to honor the Seychelles’ World Travel Award winners, the General Manager of Constance Ephelia resort, Mr. Kai Hoffmeister said contributing towards a cleaner and greener environment is at the heart of the resort’s priorities.

“Everyone that comes to the Seychelles as a tourist, and even we realize how lush this country is…The environment and surroundings where we find ourselves in are unique and we need to do all we can to protect it,” said Hoffmeister.

Aside of small gestures like recycling, cleaning up, reducing the use of plastic and educating the staff, other green initiatives designed by the resort include the filtering of grey water from all the facilities which is then used for irrigation purposes. The sprinklers used have sensors on them which sense the level of humidity or rain, hence reducing the amount of water used.

As the hotel makes use of desalinated water, the staff also ensure that samples are constantly sent to the relevant authority to test its quality. Glass bottles are also cleaned, sterilized and refilled daily and used in hotel rooms reducing the use of plastic bottles.

As it surrounds the Port Launay wetland, Constance Ephelia has a sustainable management, which is designed to ensure that the sensitive site stays protected and remains in a healthy condition. The Port Launay wetland, which acts as a fresh water filter, is home to many flora and fauna including seven species of mangrove found in Seychelles. It was the first area in the island nation to be designated as an area of international importance under the Ramsar Convention.

In an innovative approach to encourage guests to stay in touch with nature, kayaking leisurely through the mangrove forest is one of the activities which they can partake in during their stay.

Constance Ephelia is one of seven establishments of the Constance Hotels and Resorts Group in the Indian Ocean. Aside of Constance Ephelia, the group owns another hotel in Seychelles – Constance Lemuria – located on the Seychelles’ second most populated island of Praslin. Constance Lemuria is equally involved in green initiatives including turtle conservation.

Having nature as their greatest inspiration, the team at Constance Ephelia said they intend to continue working to keep the original beauty of the place where they are located and thus will strive on improving what is already in place, save as much energy, recycle more and monitor closely the mangrove forest. More education for their guests to be more aware of the preservation and sustainability plans they have in place is also on the cards.

It must be noted that the whole Constance Hotels & Resorts Group embarked on an environmental sustainability performance program in 2013, to better promote several of its hotels’ environmental credentials across Seychelles, Mauritius and the Maldives.

In his message, when launching the group’s Corporate Sustainability Program Management Plan 2020, the Chief Executive Officer of Constance Hotels and Resorts, Mr. Jean-Jacques Vallet said: “Together we care for our guests, we care for the Indian Ocean islands where our properties are located and we care for the planet we all live on. We consider social responsibility to be an important part of our growth strategy and a source of competitive advantage.”