TRANSAT GETS GREENER

Posted on 04/12/2016 | About North America

With Green Key Global’s Green Key Eco-Rating Programme, which is favoured by hotel establishments in North America, just recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), Transat is pleased to announce that all of the hotel certification programmes it promotes now comply with GSTC criteria, the global benchmark for sustainable tourism.

Transat’s customers can now be secure in the knowledge that, whichever eco-friendly hotel they choose, it conforms to the highest social and environmental responsibility standards. 

“We are very pleased to see the Green Key Global program earn this official recognition from the GSTC,” says David Mounteer, vice-president and general manager, Jonview Canada, a Canadian incoming tour operator and business unit of Transat. 

“We had already been promoting Green Key-certified hotels in our brochure and on our website given the importance of this certification in our market, but this attestation from the GSTC is a boost to the program’s credibility and to customer confidence as well.” 

Of the establishments offered by Jonview Canada, 33 percent have Green Key ratings of 4 or 5, which are the two top tiers of the certification program. Jonview Canada promotes these hotels in its marketing tools, as does Canadian Affair in the United Kingdom and Vacances Transat in France, two Transat brands that commercialize Canada as a destination in their respective markets. 

“To this we can add our hotelier partners which, by earning 1, 2 or 3 Green Keys, are showing their interest in implementing best practices in sustainable management. This means that an additional 19 percent of our establishments are in the process of being certified,” Mounteer said. 

In addition, 25 percent of Transat’s hotelier partners at its Sun destinations are certified under programmes recognized by the GSTC and endorsed by Transat. 

These programmes are: Biosphere Responsible Tourism, Certification for Sustainable Tourism, EarthCheck, Green Globe, Rainforest Alliance, Travelife and now Green Key Global.