Travelife, a fair and affordable system which helps tour operators and travel agencies manage and improve social and environmental impacts, awarded Divi Resorts including Divi Mega Resort and Tamarijn Mega Resort, the annual Gold Certificate of Excellence for complying with all old and new sustainability criteria, says Marin Bijl, General Manager Divi & Tamarijn All Inclusive Resorts.
Bijl explains that ultimately, when a company meets the requirements, including the new Travelife benchmarking standards, it receives a Travelife award, an initiative launch by travel giant Tui UK, which also supports the hospitality industry on the road to sustainability with a wide range of services including training, management, planning, reporting and B2B tools.
The Travelife auditor, Bijl adds, was impressed by the thorough documentation, and was especially pleased with Divi’s social and community efforts, including beach clean-ups, and Divi ongoing support of the YMCA in San Nicholas. The in-house activities of the IMPACT team, designed to improve the quality of external and internal community service at Divi’s five resort properties on Aruba received much praise for living up to its name: Improving Motivating and Providing the Aruban Community Together.
The resorts were named the recipients of the TUI Travelife award at the end of a comprehensive sustainable audit conducted here by a visiting TUI Travelife auditor. At the end of her visit the auditor lauded the environmental efforts and achievements obtained to date, and the fact that the resorts complied with the requirements of 99 strict sustainability criteria.
Travelife helps its hospitality members develop good sustainable practices promoting their achievements within the travel industry and publishing their findings among European and international consumers. Travelife is one of the few programs in existence which values social policy as highly as environmental management, and Divi Resorts in Aruba has just obtained the organization’s stamp of approval for sustainable holiday accommodations.
“Divi’s properties are pleased to receive important travel awards,” said managing director Alex Nieuwmeyer. “We strive to offer our customers a memorable, sustainable experience, and the accolade is evidence that our hard work is translating into positive results.”
Divi Resorts are unique vacation properties in the Caribbean. The brand, created in Aruba, invites vacationers to explore its collection of colorful Caribbean resorts located on the magnificent islands of Aruba, Barbados, Bonaire, St Croix, and St Maarten. Each resort offers spacious vacation suites and hotel rooms along some of the islands’ best beaches – all with a considerable choice of amenities.