Sun International Zambia is the overall winner of this year’s Imvelo Awards for Responsible Tourism.
Imvelo, which means ‘nature’ in South Africa’s Nguni language, is part of an ongoing hospitality industry campaign to encourage industry members to accept voluntary guidelines promoting responsible tourism. The awards are in line with the responsible tourism guidelines for the South African hospitality industry and the UN World Tourism Organization’s code of ethics and are supported by the Heritage Environmental Rating Programme. www.imveloawards.co.za
Since its opening in 2001, Sun International Zambia has taken its role as a stakeholder in the community to heart by embarking on a number of partnerships. The main aim is to help alleviate poverty and increase food security in the local community by encouraging and developing small scale entrepreneurship. Initiatives were created to enhance sustainable sources of revenue for local communities, including several Hydroponic and open-field farming projects. The property also developed new ways of waste management such as an on-site worm farm, or vermiculture, to process leftover food and other organic matter. The resort’s Corporate Social Investment (CSI) program also focuses on the disadvantaged in the local communities, specifically concentrating on job and wealth creation and the empowering of the disabled and socially vulnerable.
In addition, Sun International Zambia as well as The Cascades Hotel at Sun City earned Heritage Platinum status for their responsible tourism progress from The Heritage Environmental Rating Programme. The goal of the Heritage Programme is to educate tourism businesses on environmental issues, as well as help implement and evaluate responsible policies and practices. http://www.heritageza.co.za/
Sun International operates resorts in South Africa, Botswana, Namibia, Lesotho and Swaziland. Their unique properties include the award-winning Table Bay Hotel in Cape Town as well as The Palace of the Lost City at Sun City and The Royal Livingstone. www.suninternational.com
[...] Top quality service, thousands of guests and several awards for their corporate social responsibility programs that have focused on community and environmental initiatives have all made the Zambezi Sun a great hotel to visit. For company has received recognition from several local and international organizations as a leader in responsible tourism. [...]
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