CHUMBE ISLAND CORAL PARK ONCE MORE GETS TRIPADVISOR’S TOP RATING
Like in previous years has the Chumbe Island Coral Park once more been awarded by TripAdvisor with their coveted ‘Certificate of Excellence’ for consistently scoring the highest marks from visitors to this unique tourism attraction. For long ranked as undisputed number one attraction, out of 139 listed for Zanzibar – Chumbe Island is a small coral island near Zanzibar’s main island of Unguja – the owners and their team of dedicated staff have once more been rewarded with this global recognition, priceless really in terms of competitive advantages.
Sibylle Riedmiller of Chumbe Island had this to say about their latest award: ‘We are surprised ourselves that our quite strict ecological design and operations do have such a strong market, as the feedbacks show that our guests love the place for all the right reasons. Very encouraging for conservationists who see tourism mainly as a tool to finance conservation and sustainable development’.
Chumbe Island Coral Park has for long been recognized globally as a unique, eco compliant and sustainable tourism development in harmony with the fragile marine and island environment, living proof that conservation and business can exist side by side and in fact complement each others’ efforts. Founded in 1991, and ever since operated on the basis of sustainability and least impact of the lodge on the ecosystem of the otherwise uninhabited island, the owners have upgraded their operating systems to use latest knowledge and technology to reduce the lodge’s carbon foot print and comply with best global practices.
The Rio Summit last year recognized Chumbe Island specifically and singled it out with a special recognition when Chumbe was highlighted in one of the key reports as follows: ‘A noted example for PES (Payment for Ecosystem Services) within the context of coral reefs habitat is the private, non-profit Chumbe Island Coral Park Ltd (CHICOP) in Tanzania. The Government of Zanzibar established a protected area around the island and its fringing coral reef in 1994 and gave the management rights to CHICOP, which is responsible for implementing the CHICOP Management Plans 1995-2016’. The respective mentions can be sources via the following web links:
http://www.un.org/esa/dsd/resources/res_pdfs/ga-66 and http://www.unep.org/NairobiConvention/Information_Center
More information about Chumbe Island is available via www.chumbeisland.com
