ANOTHER FIRST FOR REUNION AS THE PALM HOTEL & SPA ATTAINS THE EU ECOLABEL
(Posted 03rd March 2015)
Created by the European Commission in 2003, the European Ecolabel is a unique label, formally recognized at European level and useable in all member states of the European Union. It allows a business to reduce energy costs, to associate the team to the life of the company, to improve relationships with suppliers and to provide answers to growing customer expectations in terms of sustainable development. The European Ecolabel acceptance and market penetration has grown by 67 percent between 2012 and 2014. In 2015, 357 institutions and companies were holding the European Ecolabel, including 286 for ‘tourist accommodation service’ and 71 for ‘camping services’ against just 197 establishments in 2013.
TheEuropean Ecolabel certificationis themost demandingenvironmental certificationof the Europeanmarket. Palm Hotel & Spa *****, an upscale hotel in the south of Reunion, has obtained this certification,the first of its kind in the island and also the first in any of the French overseas regions.. The certification process and subsequent audit focuses on these key areas:
- Reducing energy and water consumption;
- Waste sorting and reducing waste;
- Use of renewable energy sources and less harmful substances;
- Use of products from short circuits and the local economy;
- Customer awareness and staff in the environmental emergency.
Reunion Tourism was swift to congratulate the hotel, arguably the best on the island, for this achievement and no doubt will the news be spread at ITB 2015 where the hotel, together with IRT and other stakeholders, is working the European market hard to get more visitors to the island.
In a related development has the Facebook page ‘Insel La Reunion’, created for the German market, just passed the 10.000 mark. Since the beginning of 2015 has the German fan community liked the page with a passion and at the end of February was the threshold of 10.000 likes crossed
The increase was gained over the regularly published posts on the page which include photos of the scenic parts of the island, videos, articles, details on contests and competitions and other news. This comprehensive content allows users, mostly from Germany and Austria to keep in close touch with the island of Reunion. The page of course owes its success to its fans, many of whom had previously visited the island of Reunion and finally have a platform where they can share their holiday experience and pictures with other likeminded individuals on the social media.
Added to this are the different marketing actions and communications undertaken by the office of the Reunion Island Tourism (IRT) in Germany: organizing competitions, distributing e-newsletters and the publication of eight destination pages in magazines and German newspapers.
The island of Reunion, through the presence at ITB 2015 and by attending a series of other tourism trade shows across the country continues to market the island to the German public and the more than 10.000 likes show that the campaign has taken root.
A new achievement for the destination that never fails to win the hearts of visitors.
For added information about Destination Reunion click on www.reunion.fr
