Aruba does it Again

Aruba Resorts Post Top Honors in Caribbean Green-Hotel Awards

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico, June 15, 2006 - Green Globe has announced the winners of its first Caribbean Green Globe Awards, honoring Aruba's Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort as Best Overall in environmental performance. Manchebo Beach Resort and Spa, also in Aruba, won the Most Improved category, demonstrating how a business can significantly improve its performance over a one-year period.

Cathy Parsons, CEO of Green Globe Asia Pacific and GGAP International, commended those operations that had shown significant improvement in their Benchmarked performance over the previous 12 months. "Manchebo Beach resort successfully achieved six indicators at or above best practice after its first year of benchmarking. Other wonderful results were achieved by Amsterdam Manor Beach Resort, Playa Linda Beach Resort, and Bucuti Beach Resort," Parsons concluded.

Sir Royston Hopkins, chairman of the Caribbean Alliance for Sustainable Tourism, congratulated the winners and said, "The contest for the top position was extremely tight with a number of operations in contention."

Runners up in the Best Overall category were 3 Rivers Ecolodge in Dominica, Playa Linda Beach Resort in Aruba , Manchebo Beach Resort, and Long Bay Hotel in Antigua and Barbuda.

This is the first time that these Green Globe awards have been made in the Caribbean. It is proposed that similar international awards will be announced during the Green Globe and Green Tourism Caribbean conference, to be held in Jamaica from Nov. 1-3, 2006. All successfully benchmarked and certified operations around the world will be eligible for these awards.