The Caribbean Hotel & Tourism Association (CHTA) introduced its Hall of Fame with the induction of Bucuti & Tara Beach Resort as its first honoree. At the CHTA Caribbean Hospitality Industry Exchange Forum (CHIEF), held June 21-23, 2019 in Miami, FL, owner/CEO of Bucuti & Tara received the Hall of Fame Award for Best Practice for Environmental Sustainability.
CHTA is committed to advancing the quality, sustainability and profitability of the tourism industry in the region. The CHIEF Awards annually recognize successful practices that CHTA member hotels and tourism-related enterprises have adopted in any of the following four categories: Business Operations, Environmental Sustainability, Sales and Marketing, and Social Responsibility.
“You can learn a lot from Bucuti,” noted Bevan Springer, president of Marketplace Excellence, as he emceed the evening’s award ceremony. In announcing Bucuti & Tara’s Hall of Fame Award, Springer noted, the resort has done “outstanding work with their success earning all kinds of awards for hotel performance and environmental standards.”
In 2017, Bucuti & Tara won the CHIEF Award for Environmental Sustainability. At the time, the resort was well on its way to becoming carbon neutral. In August 2018, Bucuti & Tara became the first Caribbean hotel to achieve and be certified for carbon neutrality. Led by owner/CEO Ewald Biemans, a well-recognized eco-pioneer in the region, the resort was recognized for its 30+ years of sustainability best practices.
In its mission to encourage other hospitality businesses to become sustainable, Bucuti & Tara hopes that its continued recognition will inspire others to ask them for help. Biemans is often invited locally and worldwide to be a panelist or guest speaker about sustainability. The resort’s Green Team routinely hosts school students and dignitaries from other countries to teach them about best practices and how to implement them successfully.
Five members from Bucuti & Tara attended the educational, informative conference and the award ceremony. Biemans is known throughout CHTA for not only being a source of sustainability and hospitality knowledge, but also for having never missed a CHTA CHIEF or Marketplace event. He believes these CHTA forums are highly educational for himself and staff, and an ideal setting for exchanging ideas to help one another in the Caribbean region.
To learn more, visit Bucuti.com.
