News & Press Releases

Launch of the Green Tourism Awards for London Venues

While  trees and bushes around London don shades of autumnal red and ochre, the city has been making headway in becoming one of Europe’s greenest with the launch of awards aimed at helping London's venues and attractions become more evironmentally friendly.

October saw the launch of the ‘Green Tourism for London’ awards; a London Development Agency (LDA) backed programme which provides tiered accreditation for hotels and event venues in the capital. Organisations joining the programme are given advice on how to reduce environmental impact, make cost savings and encourage staff involvement. They are then accredited with gold, silver or bronze awards, which reflect their level of green commitment.

Amongst speakers at the launch were Nicky Gavron, Deputy Mayor of London and leading advocate of sustainability and Richard Brown C.B.E, Eurostar, who both gave their views on the benefits of green business and why we should strive towards making the future a more environmentally friendly one. Andrea Nicholas of Green Biz UK introduced the concept of the awards, explaining how companies could get involved and benefit. Along with the words of Andrew Cole (Ramada Jarvis Hotels -one of the first to join the scheme), emphasis was placed on the program as a way of increasing efficiency and reducing costs and not just green marketing.

The awards drive home the message that green business is good business; bringing benefit to the bottom line as well as the environment. They have been set up to provide an incentive for companies to asses their own green efforts and provide healthy competition amongst piers. To find out more about the awards, visit www.lda.gov.uk/greentourism.

If you are a venue or event supplier that already has a green policy in palce, make yourself searchable by planners through our green supply chain: join the LondonMICE eeco Initiative (click logo for more details).