Work on the Implementation of the EU Eco-label Scheme in the Areas of Marketing Lot 8

Transcription

1 Eco-label Project Marketing for tourism 2006 Work on the Implementation of the EU Eco-label Scheme in the Areas of Marketing Lot 8 Final report Ref. ENV. G2/SER/2005/ Decmber 2006 G & L Werbe und Verlags GmbH Kundmanngasse 33/8 A-1030 Wien in consortium with Energon Energie- und Umweltmanagement GmbH Jasomirgottstraße 6/7 A-1010 Wien and as subcontractors ACTA Associazione Cultura Turismo Ambiente Via Scarlatti 27 I Milano SPEED DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS SA 30 Averof Street GR-11141, Athens, Hellas BIO INTELLIGENCE SERVICE S.A. 1 rue Berthelot F Ivry-Sur-Seine ECOCAMPING e.v. Blarerstr. 56 D Konstanz ENVIROS Na Rovnosti CZ Praha 3 CES Angyal Utca 15/b H-1094 Budapest

2 Finalreport G&L Wien, Ref. ENV. G2/SER/2005/0024,Lot 8 Final report Work on the implementation of the EU Eco-label Scheme in the areas of marketing, product group development and stakeholder representation, LOT 8 Ref. ENV. G2/SER/2005/0024 Vienna, 5 December 2006 Göllner & Leitner (G&L) Werbe- und Verlags GmbH Kundmanngasse 33/8 A 1030 Wien, Austria in consortium with Energon Energie- und Umweltmanagement GmbH Kundmanngasse 33 A-1030 Wien, Austria and as subcontractors ACTA Associazione Cultura Turismo Ambiente Via Scarlatti 27 I Milano SPEED DEVELOPMENT CONSULTANTS SA 30 Averof Street GR 11141, Athens, Hellas BIO Intelligence Service S.A. 1 rue Berthelot Ivry-Sur-Seine France ECOCAMPING e.v. Blarerstr. 56 D Konstanz, Germany ENVIROS Na Rovnosti, Praha 3, Czech Republic CES Angyal Utca 15/b, 1094 Budapest, Hungary 1

3 1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY STATUS REPORT Objectives and final output as stated in our proposal General approach Organizational framework PRELIMINARY ACTIVITIES IN DETAIL Kick-off meeting Development of Information tools The website Press activities FAIRS AND EVENTS Ferienmesse Wien, January Reisepavillon Hannover, 3 5 February Estoril Conference, February BIT Milan, February ITB Berlin, 8 12 March Reisecamping Essen, March Caravan Salon Düsseldorf, 25 August 3 Sept Mondo Natura, Rimini, 9-10 September COUNTRIES REPORT The selection of countries Italy Greece France Slovenia Cyprus Germany Austria Spain Czech Republic Hungary EU WIDE ACTIVITES Tour Operators Hotel Chains Cross Marketing activities Acquisition of Camping Guides Networking

4 7. TASK LIST SCHEDULE ANNEX

5 1. Executive Summary The final report describes the marketing activities of the contracted team (contractor G&L with Energon, ACTA, Speed, Enviros, CES, BIOIS and Pro Sustainability) from 1 st January to 16 th October According to the proposal and the results of the kick-off meeting in Brussels, 17 January 2006, all activities were carried out very successful. The main objectives were: Increase the level of awareness Find new applicants Before the team started the implementation activities starter-kits were produced containing information and necessary application documents about the EU Eco-label. These starter-kits were sent to our partners who disseminated actively the kits among applicants. During the first project period the team did co-ordinate its activities with the relevant CB s for harmonized implementation activities in the individual member states. The 9 targeted countries were Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia and Spain. The team organised a number of events to promote the EU Eco-label and launched several application processes in various accommodation services and camp sites. As planned we organised several meetings and were present at several important fairs such as Ferienmesse Wien, Reisepavillon Hannover, BIT Milan, ITB Berlin, Reise Camping Essen, Caravansalon Düsseldorf and Mondo Natura in Rimini. At these fairs we organised press activities, presentations and hosted information stands to present the EU Eco-label to visitors. We also started to find partners in our target countries to win new applicants. We planned to find at least 25 companies willing to apply for the EU Eco-label. It turned out that it will take about 3 5 months for this procedure per company. The result is: 16 applicants in Italy, 6 applicants in Germany, 2 in Czech Republic, 1 in Austria. The number of interested companies with a high rate of success is: 7 in Italy, 4 in Greece, 3 in Cyprus, 3 in Germany, 5 in Austria, 2 in Spain, 2 in Czech Republic, 1 in Hungary. In summary our result shows 25 applicants and 27 companies with high interest to achieve the EU Eco-label. There is in fact a potential of 52 companies to achieve the EU Eco-label. 74 companies have been consulted with an eco-check (either directly on-site or during technical workshops). Based on previous contacts we focused our activities on tour operators which have been active in sustainable tourism. We had meetings especially during ITB Berlin in March Co-operation partners were MyTravel and LTU. Other contacts: TUI, Italian Tour operators initiative and Studiosus Reisen. We started our press activities at ITB in Berlin in March. We organised a press conference together with partners from Germany, Balearic Islands and 4

6 Austria and could target many journalists who were already at this important fair. The main message was the launch of our project and in details the activities in the target countries. This basic press release was used from the partners to start activities in their countries. One of our strategies was to perform a minimum service for the eco-labelled hotels by providing a Where-to-stay-guide. This informative brochure contained all hotels which have been awarded up to now. The brochures were distributed at fairs. They are also downloadable at the marketing website. A second edition was produced for camp site services. Both versions are available at the web-site (downloads). The info and marketing website was updated regularly. We also tried to find partners on hotel chain levels in the implementation process. In June we started to get a co-operation with VIVA Hotels on the Balearic Islands. This was not successful, as the hotelgroup decided to go for EMAS. A fruitful contact was initiated to Landidyll Hotels. This group of familyowned hotels decided to implement environmental performance as part of their mission statement. Three hotels to apply for the EU Eco-label have been located in Alto Adige / South Tyrol. Another chain in Italy is Trentino Bed & Breakfast, of which all partners will apply for the EU Eco-label. Acquisition contacts were also followed to Landal Green Park, who were interested previously but declared at ITB Berlin 2006 no detailed interest in the EU Ecolabel. We maintained fruitful contacts to Sunwing in Greece, who will have all their hotels certified with the EU Eco-label in Greece soon. In Crete we organised a presentation and eco-check for Smile hotels, based on the cooperation with MyTravel Northern. In Sardinia we are consulting the camp site chain FAITA. Similar to the goal for cross marketing activities to increase the visibility of the Flower, we carried out activities towards camping guides. One of the main results was to achieve a long-term commitment and co-operation basis. Contacts were established to ADAC Camping Guide, Austria Camping Journal and Italian Touring Club (TCI). Support we only achieved from ADAC, who is presenting the EU Eco-label in its annually published Camping Guides. One of the main goals of our marketing activities was to increase the visibility of the Flower. For that reason we decided to adopt cross marketing efforts. Here, we can take advantage of synergies with the EU Eco-label for Products. We have set up a promising contact to Lidl, EU Eco-label licence holder for tissue paper for common promotion activities for

7 2. Status report 2.1. Objectives and final output as stated in our proposal In our activities we focused on the implementation of the EU Eco-label as follows: Preliminary activities Identify interested parties for targeted information In order to get in-depth-knowledge about all key stakeholders a first general review was undertaken by the expert team. We took into account the relevance, size, influence and co-operation etc. of the key stakeholders. On the basis of these results the communication activities were started. Planning of Kick-off-Meeting in Brussels In order to co-ordinate the planned activities between the team members and the EU Commission, a kick-off meeting was organised. The meeting took place on 17th of January in Brussels. All contracting offices sent partners to this meeting. The output was a confirmed package of activities. Production of relevant materials to inform key players and stakeholders Before starting all country and EU-wide activities a set of materials had to be produced: starter-kit, brochures, roll-ups, press-kit etc. All the productions were completed in April National implementation Based on our experiences and previous projects we concentrated mainly on the dissemination of the EU Eco-label in pre-defined partner countries. It was planned to implement more or less the same strategy, methodology and tasks in all countries. However, as the implementation of the EU Eco-label is more successful in some countries than in other ones due to different reasons (organisational structures, budgetary situation etc.) it makes sense to develop more country specific strategies. Dependent on the implementation success our cluster-strategy was as follows: 1. Member States: Countries with existing EU Eco-labelled services: main focus on acquisition of new companies, market penetration and set up a service for labelled companies Countries with no existing EU Eco-labelled services: main focus on pilot acquisition of first movers (and win as best-practice examples) Countries with existing national Eco-labelled services: main focus on getting a harmonisation process 6

8 2. New Member States: First of all it was necessary to provide Competent Bodies with all necessary information to start a sustainable information process for the implementation of the EU Eco-label scheme. We gave personal advice so that the information process towards tourist accommodation services and camp sites could be started. This included the production of information material and acquisition tools in native language. As a next step first applicants (first movers) were identified and informed on the criteria. 3. The national marketing objectives in detail: Pilot-acquisition: Implementation of the EU Eco-label in at least twenty-five tourist accommodation services or camp site services in 9 countries (including three in the New Member States). Countries were Austria, Cyprus, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Slovenia and Spain. Support Competent Body (consultancy, provision of acquisition tools) Meetings with stakeholders, tour operators etc. Continuous press activities in targeted countries No. Country Responsible Tourist Acc. Marketing targets Camp Sites Total Strategy # 1 Italy Acta Destination approach Trentino, Sicily # 2 Greece Speed Destination approach Rhodes, KOS # 3 Cyprus Speed 1 1 Best-practice, first mover # 4 Germany Ecocamping 5 5 Penetration approach, BW, Bavaria # 5 Austria G&L, Energon Destination approach Salzburg, Styria # 6 Spain # 7 Czech Republic Pro Sustain., Energon 1 1 Best-practice, Balearic islands, first mover Environ Best-practice, first movers # 8 Hungary CES Best-practice, first movers # 9 Slovenia Energon, G&L 1 1 Best-practice, first mover # 10 France BIO IS 1 1 Best-practice, first mover, harmonisation optimal 27 at least 25 Result in brief: At the beginning we finalised the co-operation with Competent Bodies, defined regions and partnerships with relevant stakeholders. We started the first implementation activities in Cyprus, Czech Republic, Germany, Austria and Italy. By the end of October, 19 applicants and 24 interested companies are evident EU-wide implementation Nevertheless we also focused on common activities on EU level. 7

9 The EU-wide activities cover following fields: Contact main tour operators and camp site guides Result in brief: Based on previous contacts we focused our activities on tour operators who have been active in sustainable tourism. We had meetings during ITB Successful co-operation partners are MyTravel and LTU. ADAC Camp site guide supports the EU Eco-label indicating eco-labelled companies in the catalogues. Acquisition of hotel-chains (via head offices), hotels and camp sites with at least five meetings. Result in brief: We started to find partners in our target countries. With support of MyTravel we could build a co-operation on the Balearic Islands, Crete and Rhodes. Promotion to raise the level of awareness and to make the flower more visible. At least three presentations at fairs and meetings to present the EU Eco-label at hotels or hotel-chains and camp site services were scheduled. Result in brief: As planned we organised several meetings during the first six months and were present at several fairs such as ITB Berlin, BIT Milan and Ferienmesse Wien. At these fairs we organised press activities, presentations and hosted information stands to present the EU Eco-label to visitors. Production of a starter-kit for acquisition Result in brief: Before we started the implementation activites we produced starter-kits containing information and documents about the EU Eco-label. These starter-kits were sent to our partners who actively disseminated the kits among applicants. Provide necessary documentation (press-kit) for national and EU-wide press activities Result in brief: We started our press activities at ITB in Berlin in March. We organised a press conference together with partners from Germany, Balearic Islands and Austria and could target many journalists who were present at this large fair. The main message was the launch of our project and in details the activities in the target countries. This basic press release was used from the partners to start activities in their countries. Service for eco-labelled hotels (production of a Where-to-stay-guide ) Result in brief: One of our strategy was to perform a minimum service for the eco-labelled hotels by providing a Where-to-stay-guide. This informative brochure contains all hotels which have been awarded up to now and were distributed at fairs. It is also downloadable at the marketing website. 8

10 2.2. General approach We embarked following approach in detail: 1. Identify potential hotel groups, special interest hotels and camp site services. Identify applicants by direct contacts and use of networks of tourist federations, municipalities, chamber of commerce, NGO's and create synergies by merge marketing and promotional activities: Marketing support for increase eco-label marketing Material dissemination Co-ordinated presentations Benefit: List of all target groups 2. Enforce targeted acquisition. Develop a system for targeted acquisition including: Tourist accommodation services (in regard to environmental issues, natural preserves & national parks, etc.), camp site services Tourist federations NGO's Competent Bodies, municipalities Benefit: Informed and eco-label aware target groups 3. Basic Assist during the application process. We offered support to pilot-companies to fulfil the EU Ecolabel criteria during national workshops: Identify the current baseline Elaborate in co-operation with organisations improvement opportunities Benefit: Eco-labelled services 4. Develop best practice examples. Summarise information and promotion activities for: Best practice transfer to other areas Detailed description of implementation process Motivate other accommodation services to participate in the application process Benefit: Summary report to be used for promotion 9

11 Finalreport G&L Wien, Ref. ENV. G2/SER/2005/0024,Lot Organizational framework The role of the CBs Competent Bodies (CBs) play a key role in the implementation of the EU Ecolabel scheme at national level. Due to our experience we know that the input of the CBs is quite different. In few countries they act powerfully, but normally they do not have financial and personal resources to assist on a larger scale. Our expectations were as follows: Good basis of communication and discussion Support ongoing application activities Act as speaker at meetings, presentations (e.g. fairs) Distribution of promotional materials Setting links at national web-sites Initial talks were held with the many CBs and co-operations could be built Partnership with key-players The acquisition of hotels will be only successful if there are important benefits. One of this benefit could be the close co-operation with relevant tour-operaors. First of all we intend to co-operate with members of the tour operators initiative. Good contacts already exist with the tour operator organisation My Travel North, which is willing to co-operate in Greece and Spain. Other partners could be LTU, Studiosus, CTS, Orizzonti and Settemari in Italy. We also had contact to TUI, who were more and more open minded towards the EU Eco-label for tourism but launched in September 2006 an own standard for hotel resort. The main criteria for a co-operation is the willingness to support sustainable tourism in Europe. The acquisition of camp sites will be only successful if co-operation with relevant tour guides can be built. First talks were already held with ADAC. Furthermore, other tour guide developers were contacted as well to make the flower more visible Marketing team For a successful implementation of the EU Eco-label we selected experts with in depth knowledge of the tourism marketing, especially sustainable tourism and experience with the EU Eco-label for our marketing team. Our team consisted of: Ernst Leitner, marketing and environmental expert (EU Eco-label, Austrian Eco-label, etc.) Dagmar Diwok, Italian environmental expert (EU Eco-label, EMAS etc.) Stella Alexopoulou, Maria Menounou, Greek environmental experts (EU Eco-label, EMAS, etc.) Rainer Stifter, Austrian and international environmental expert (EU Ecolabel, EMAS etc.) Cecile des Abbayes, French expert (EU Eco-label help desk) Marco Walter, Carina Dambacher, German environmental experts for camp sites (EU Eco-label, Ecocamping) Ana Moreno Avana, Spanish expert (EU Eco-label auditor) Monica Pribilova, Enviros, environmental expert in Cech Republic Vilma Eri, CES, environmental expert in Hungary 10

12 3. Preliminary activities in detail 3.1. Kick-off meeting All partners participated in the EU Commission Kick-off Meeting, th January 2006 in Brussels to discuss the implementation activities in the home country (first approach, objectives, situation ). The meeting was co-ordinated by Ernst Leitner and Rainer Stifter. The common results were confirmed by representatives of the EU Commission Development of Information tools Starter-kit The objective of the starter-kit was to provide precise comprehensive information to all participants of the national activities. The starter-kit contained: Brochures, business fact sheets, application pack, verification pack, editorial letter, give-aways. An extra CD-ROM was produced, which contains all relevant documents for the application process. 270 kits (including 50 for camp sites) were produced for LOT #8 and partially sent to following partners: Starter-Kits LOT #8 Recipient / Distribution Date Number Cyprus, Competent Body March Italy, ACTA Milan, G&L Mid April 35 Greece, SPEED, G&L Mid April, Oct. 35 France, BIOIS, Alphéeis Mid April 15 Hungary, CES Mid April 20 Czech Republic, ENVIROS April Slovakia, CB April 12 3 Germany, ECOCAMPING Mid April 30 Austria, G&L Mid May, Sept. 25 Other: EU Commission, Austrian Consumer Association (VKI, Austria), Alpheeis (Daniela Sanna), My Travel (Kim Hansen), Landidyllhotels,... May-Oct. 17 Spain, Valencia September 10 Available at office of G&L 40 11

13 Info-brochures In order to provide professional promotional material information brochures were produced in Hungarian and Czech (each 1,500 packs). Other languages are available at the Eco-label helpdesk. The Czech and Hungarian brochures were sent to the national partners and disseminated during meetings and presentations MS Power point For meetings a professional MS Power Point-presentation was provided in English. The partners modified this presentation for their own purpose and translated it into their native languages. The presentations cover general information on the scheme, benefits and advantages, overview of criteria and marketing implementation Roll-ups A powerful info-tool is the EU Eco-label roll-up which was produced at the beginning of the project period. The roll-ups are permanently in use for presentations at meetings, photo-shootings, press events etc. The standard roll-up is in English. Another one is available in Italian and in use by the Competent Body in Italy Where to stay guides Based on the success of the Where to stay guide of the EU Eco-labelled hotels we produced a Where to stay guide in German, English and Italian in order to present the first European Eco-labelled companies. The German and Italian versions were printed digitally with about 500 items each. The guides were available at all fairs and events: Ferienmesse Vienna, Reisepavillon Hannover, BIT Milan, ITB Berlin, Reise Camping Essen and the presentation workshops until October. End of October a new English version was provided and is available at the website as PDF. 12

14 3.3. The website The info and marketing website provides easy access to reliable information regarding the application process. To keep the website attractive, it was our aim to update it regularly. See the list of articles in the following list which was launched during the first half year. Web site articles Articles - Success Stories Source Date Green hotels for Austria s most magnificent alpine region Hohe Tauern National Park Alpi Marittime A Park with Two Certifications Youth hostels win first green awards, Lockton, North Yorkshire, Langdon Beck in North Pennines Area, United Kingdom First hotels awarded the Flower in France and Malta Les Orangeries and Hilton Malta Two Austrian hotels get the Flower 13 Hohe Tauern National Park Alpi Marittime Natural Park January 2006 May 2006 DEFRA May 2006 EU Commission Austrian Environmental Ministry June 2006 September 2006 Articles Fair reports & events Source Date ITB Berlin 2006 The place to be Berlin Big acquisition tour in Cyprus Cyprus G&L Speed Consultants March 2006 April 2006 First Czech seminar on the EU Eco-label, Prague Enviros April 2006 Presentations of the EU Eco-label for services (tourist accommodations services) in co-operation Hohe Tauern National Park May 2006

15 with the "Ferienregion Nationalpark Hohe Tauern" Nationalpark Hohe Tauern First Eco-Tourism conference in Ireland Greenbox June 2006 Workshop with the Piemont CB in Avigliana (Turin), 12th of June 2006 Meeting with LA 21 in Garmisch-Partenkirchen (D), Press Conference on the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodation services and camp sites Workshop on the EU Eco-label in Spormaggiore (Trento), Presentation of the European Eco-label for Camp site Services at Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf Acta June 2006 Acta July 2006 CES July 2006 Acta August 2006 Ecocamping September 2006 Mondo Natura, Rimini, 9-10th September 2006 Acta September 2006 Two Austrian hotels get the Flower Workshop in Valencia Ministry of Environment, Austria Pro Sustainability September 2006 September 2006 First Czech Seminar on the Flower, Cesky Krumlov Enviros October Press activities Presence in the media is important to reach wide audience. We carried out our activities in connection with presentations at fairs or relevant meetings. We followed our activities as stated in our proposal: One kick-off press release to announce the ongoing activities and the programme for the coming months. This main press event took place at ITB Berlin in March 2006 (see fair report in the annex). Provide articles for journalists concerning the EU Eco-label (background information). Collect magazine clippings with articles about the EU Eco-label Kick-off press event Press brunch about the European activities of the EU Eco-label in nine European regions, ITB Berlin, Friday, from until AM. During this press brunch we introduced the ongoing EU-project aiming at disseminating the EU-Flower in 9 member states. Focus lied on the following regions: Italy (Trentino, Sicily); Greece (Kos, Rhodes Island); Germany (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria); Austria (Hohe Tauern/Salzburg); Cyprus; Spain (Balearic Islands,) Czech Republic (National Park Areas); Hungary (Balaton area) and France. Press activities Germany The following table gives an overview of the press activities in Germany (mainly camp sites): 14

16 Press Activity Result Date Advertisement in Verträglich Reisen Report about project in ECOCAMPING Newsletter 2/2006 Article about activities of ECOCAMPING for EU Eco-label Press release during Camping Forum of German Camp site Association and Fair Essen Report about EU Eco-label stand at the fair in Essen in ECOCAMPING Newsletter 3/2006 Interview with Süddeutsche Zeitung about ECOCAMPING and EU Eco-label Presse release about stand at fair Essen Television report about EU Eco-label for Campingplatz Elbsee, Aitrang Report about camp sites in Lüneburger Heide, mentioned Uhlenköper-Camp- certified with ECOLABEL Report about camp site Salzmann in Austria, awarded for ECOCAMPING and ECOLABEL Report about camp site Salzmann in Austria, awarded for ECOCAMPING and ECOLABEL Press activities Greece published Jan recipients (camp sites, stakeholders, authorities, tourist and environmental associations, etc.) Report in Campingwirtschaft Heute 2/ recipients (camp sites, stakeholders, authorities, tourist and environmental associations, etc.) Feb/March 2006 March Article published in April 13/ Report in Campingwirtschaft Heute 3/06 April/May 2006 On television Bayern Per -news service for ca. 800 German journals and news agencies, organisations, authorities, radio and TV stations Report in Caravaning, run SPEED submitted an Eco Label short presentation article (for tourism and products) to ECOTEC magazine (published magazine) and to the HOTELS & RESTAURANT magazine (internet magazine). ECOTEC has not included this short presentation in its material while HOTELS & RESTAURANT gave space to its website for the presentation of the European Eco-label in tourism. The internet reference is given attached to this document (see annex). Additionally, there was an interesting article prepared presenting briefly the necessary equipment in the different parts of a common hotel; in order this to be able to apply for the Eco-label. This article was published in the Equipment 15

17 and Services Magazine (June 2006). Unfortunately, a copy of the magazine is not available (the article is presented in the annex). Press activities Austria We focused our activities on two important points: the co-operation with the Nationalpark (NP) Hohe Tauern and the start of the ongoing project. Press Activity Result Date Press conference in Vienna Press release starting the project Press release in Mittersill Official press release of NP Hohe Tauern Official announcement of project start (press conference ITB) Official press release about the co-operation with NP Hohe Tauern March Press activities in Hungary A press conference with the Hungarian Tourist Office/Board took place on 5 July 2006 in co-operation with the Hungarian CB. The press conference was organized together with the Hungarian Tourist Office at Hotel Budapest. The objective of the conference was to inform the media on the EU Eco-label, its requirement and benefit as well as the cooperation agreement between the Hungarian Tourist Board and the project (represented by the Center for Environmental Studies) to promote the EU Ecolabel in Hungary. The conference was attended by 25 journalists in addition to the representatives of the Hungarian CBs, the Hungarian Hotel Association, the Professional Association of Hungarian Camp Sites, the Association of Hungarian Youth Accommodation Services and the Pension Centre Association of Pensions. The press conference was followed by 36 publications that transferred a positive image of the EU Eco-label. See more details in the country chapter Hungary. Press activities in Italy Press work was basically done by ARPA, mostly parallel to regional workshops. Generally, in Italy the public interest for similar issues is very low. Environmental issues are usually only touched connected to natural disasters or discoveries of major environmental pollution or crimes. Positive initiatives like the Eco-label are not noticed and therefore press releases, pictures and contacts are not followed up by the journalists. Press release to camp sites magazines A database of contacts of camp sites guides and magazines has been built, gathering 67 French journalists (general press, woman press and tourism press / magazines /guides). A press release was created and sent to this database. This press release is enclosed in the annex. An independent tourism journalist, Mr Pierre Lorimy, told us he wrote an article for the magazine L Officiel des Terrains de Camping. This article has not been published yet. 16

18 4. Fairs and Events One of the major tasks was the presentation of the EU Eco-label at important fairs and events in close co-operation with Competent Bodies, tourist associations and important stakeholders. During the presentations the following topics were presented: Framework of the EU Eco-label scheme How to get through the application process Criteria to be fulfilled EU-wide and national marketing benefits 4.1. Ferienmesse Wien, January 2006 Type of activity: Presentation of the EU Eco-label for services (tourist accommodations services and camp site services) at the Viennese Tourism Fair from Jan Where: At the stand of Federal Ministry of Environment Date: Four days from January 2006 Place: Fairground Messeplatz 1, hall B The Ferienmesse Wien is the largest tourism fair in Austria. With about 133,000 participants the best result in the history was recorded. During four days the EU Eco-label was presented as co-operation partner at the stand of the Austrian Eco-label. The stand was hosted by representatives from the Federal Ministry and from Eco-label marketing. The main goals of the fair were The active presentation to relevant stakeholders in tourism Raise the level of recognition among decision makers in tourism Find interested tourist companies to apply for the EU Eco-label Meet relevant tour operators to position this environmental award and achieve support We distributed the following promotional material (in German language): Where to stay guide for tourist accommodation services Where to stay guide for camp site services Eco-label brochures Fact sheets for tourist accommodation services Fact sheets for camp site services Promotional leaflets from eco-labelled companies (all camp sites ecolabelled in Austria) Presentation of a self-running PPT-presentation about the EU Ecolabel on an Apple Computer We also could hang up one big poster (70 x 100 cm) and place the roll-up behind the desk. 17

19 Mrs. Doraja Eberle, Environmental Minister of the Federal province of Salzburg, presents the co-operation The friendly presentation team hosting the stand 4.2. Reisepavillon Hannover, 3 5 February 2006 Type of activity: Presentation of the EU Eco-label and participation at events Where: Stand of Ecocamping Date: Four days from 3 5 February 2006 Place: Hannover fairground Reisepavillon Hannover is a unique sustainable tourism forum for travel operators, holiday regions and a great variety of institutions and NGOs worldwide. 18,000 visitors were recorded, approximately 300 exhibitors from all over the world participated. Together with Ecotrans the EU Eco-label was presented to key stakeholders in sustainable tourism during several events, e.g journalists, tour operators and consumers. In particular, this took place during a workshop organized by Ecotrans to illustrate instruments for sustainable tourism (pictures available) and the annual meeting of EUROPARC, the international organisation of nature parks. Dagmar Diwok participated in this workshop and could present the EU Eco-label. Interested auditory during the presentation of Dagmar Diwok At several partner stands (Ecocamping, Ecotrans) a lot of brochures for the EU Eco-label could be disseminated to stakeholdes and visitors. The presentation took place on 3rd February 2006, p.m., hall 2, room Prag. The main subject of this meeting was Making Tourism More Sustainable - helpful instruments and examples of good practice in Europe. Mrs. Diwok presented The Adamello 18 Marco Walter and Dagmar Diwok at the stand of Ecocamping

20 Brenta Park in Italy as model example in protected/mountain areas. In her presentation she pointed out the important role of the EU Eco-label as an environmental instrument in protected areas Estoril Conference, February 2006 Type of activity: Presentation of the EU Eco-label at the 1 st International Conference on Tourism and Environmental Certification Date: February 2006 Place: Estoril Conference Center, Portugal More than 110 participants from 12 different countries were gathered in Estoril on February during the 1 st International Conference on Tourism and Environmental Certification in Portugal. The international conference was organised by Nordeconsult and took place in the Estoril Conference Center. The main objective of the conference as stated in the programme was to describe and present different environmental management systems and ecolabels available for the tourism industry, including a number of case studies or different tourist enterprises in order to stimulate the implementation of environmental management systems in the sector as a way to increase competitiveness and sustainability. Rainer Stifter and Ernst Leitner participated in this conference and met relevant stakeholders and informed them about the EU Eco-label. Mr. Stifter also achieved an invitation as speaker on the second day. He focused at the beginning of his presentation on the Eco-label in general and explained ongoing activities in Europe. He also introduced the LIFE project Train-to-Ecolabel which started half a year ago. This is a valuable instrument to support qualification processes in the tourism sector helping optimising environmental processes like energy, water and waste management, which results in reduced operational costs and higher quality. The participation at the conference provided to get outstanding contacts to important stakeholders in the field of tourism and environment. Mr. Leitner and Mr. Stifter utilized the chance to promote the EU Eco-label in this important audience during face-to-face meeting in the break and during lunch and dinner. Mr. Rainer Stifter presents ongoing projects of the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodation services Mrs. De Pinto presents the Portuguese experience about the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodation services 19

21 4.4. BIT Milan, February 2006 Type of activity: Presentation of the EU Eco-label for services (tourist accommodations services and camp site services) at BIT Milan Where: Stand of the EU Eco-label (ACTA) Date: Four days from February 2006 Place: Fairground Fiera Milano One of the major objectives was to look for potential companies to apply for the EU Eco-Label. Another aspect was to discuss with representatives of certified hotels about their experiences and impressions about the EU Ecolabel for tourist accommodation services. Our strategy was as follows: Identify potential regions and hotel groups with a context to nature and environment Find partners for the promotion of the EU Eco-Label (e.g. tourist provinces and tour operators) Find potential companies to apply for the EU Eco-label (hotels, hotel chains) We distributed the following promotional material (in Italian/English language): Where to stay guide for tourist accommodation services (Italian) Where to stay guide for camp site services (Italian) Eco-label brochures (Italian) Fact sheets for tourist accommodation services (Italian) Fact sheets for camp site services (Italian) Promotional leaflets from eco-labelled companies We also could hang up the flag and poster (70x 100 cm) and place the Rollup behind the desk. The acquisition team: Mrs. Dagmar Diwok, ; Mr. Rainer Stifter, Left: Mrs. Diwok explaining details to a visitor Right: Mrs. Minestrini congratulating owner of the first Italian camp site, Mr. Valentini from Camping Dolomiti, for the achievement of the EU-Eco-label 20

22 4.5. ITB Berlin, 8 12 March 2006 Type of activity: Presentation of the EU Eco-label for services (tourist accommodations services and camp site services) at ITB Berlin Press Conference to launch the ongoing project Presentation together with Ugo Pretato, Toroc, Olympic Games Torino Where: Stand of the EU Eco-label Date: Four days from 8 12 March 2006 Place: Fairground Messe Berlin The ITB Berlin was represented with a stand in hall 4.1. The stand was hosted by Mr. Stefan Tauchhammer and Mr. Ernst Leitner. ITB is one of the largest tourist fairs in the world. In 2006, more than 162,000 people came, including 94,000 trade visitors, making it the most relevant fair for the EU Eco-label. One of the major objectives was to meet main stakeholders in tourism (hotelgroups, tour operators, representatives of national tourism organisations and relevant journalists) and to look for potential enterprises to apply for the EU Eco-Label. Another aspect was to discuss with representatives of certified hotels their experiences (Hotel Jardim Atlantico) and impressions about the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodation services. In summary, the fair was important to increase the visibility of the EU Eco-label at main stakeholders in tourism. We distributed the following promotional material (in German/English language): Where to stay guide for tourist accommodation services (German, English) Where to stay guide for camp site services (German, English) Eco-label brochures (main languages) Fact sheets for tourist accommodation services (main languages) Fact sheets for camp site services (main languages) Promotional leaflets from eco-labelled companies We also could hang up the flag and poster (70x 100 cm) and place the Roll-up behind the desk. All the important contacts were followed up from the EU Eco-label marketing team! The ITB team: Mr. Ernst Leitner, G&L Mr. Stefan Tauchhammer, G&L Mr. Rainer Stifter, Energon Additionally, the following two relevant events were carried out by the European Eco-label team: 21

23 Finalreport G&L Wien, Ref. ENV. G2/SER/2005/0024,Lot 8 1) Press brunch regarding the European activities of the EU Eco-label in nine European regions, Friday, , am. During this press brunch we introduced the new EU-project aiming at disseminating the EU-Flower in 9 member states. Focus lay on the following regions: Italy (Trentino, Sicily); Greece (Kos, Rhodes Island); Germany (Baden-Wuerttemberg, Bavaria); Austria (Hohe Tauern/Salzburg); Cyprus; Spain (Balearic Islands,) Czech Republic (National Park Areas); Hungary (Balaton area); Slovenia (Julian Alps) and France. The following speakers presented their activities: Mr. Pep Martorell, Conselleria de Medi Ambient, Balearic Islands, Mrs. Carina Dambacher, Eco Camping Germany, Mr. Rainer Stifter from Energon, Austria; Mr. Leitner moderating the press brunch 2) "Green Torin to Win" Hosting a public event on success of the European Eco-label in the Olympic region of Torino, followed by a quiz game. Saturday , p.m. The event was opened by Mr. Ernst Leitner, followed by Mr. Rainer Stifter from Energon who introduced the European Eco-label to the public. Afterwards, Mr. Ugo Pretato from the Olympic Team introduced his activities towards the European Eco-label in Torin, Italy. This event was completed by a quiz game held by Mr. Leitner were several hotel stays in the Torin region could be won. For participating in the quiz game the people had to fill in a small ticket. Those, whose tickets where drawn could join the quiz where they had to answer questions on interesting environmental topics. Like every year, the numbers according to the questions were determined by turning the "Eco-label Wheel". Left: Mr. Ernst Leitner moderating the quiz-game Right: Mr. Ugo Pretato, Toroc Torin, and Mr. Ernst Leitner during the interview regarding the Olympic Games 22

24 4.6. Reisecamping Essen, March 2006 Type of activity: Presentation of the EU Eco-label for camp sites towards camp site owners Where: Stand of ECOCAMPING Date: Four days from March 2006 Place: Fairground Messe Essen Marco Walter during the presentation of the EU Eco-label for camp site services The ECOCAMPING Association set up a stand at the Reise Camping in Essen in order to inform as many visitors and potential camping guests as possible about the European Eco-label. The 30 sqm stand was organised by ECOCAMPING and presented the new EU Eco-label roll-up with the EU-Flower, posters, and brochures in addition to a nature oriented design with flowers, wooden elements and green parts imitating grass. The roll-up and the poster served as primary information about the EU Ecolabel and the camping sites that are already awarded with the flower. Brochures supported this approach and were handed over to interested guests. Moreover, information was provided to guests of the fair at the stand by Carina Dambacher, Constance Braun and Marco Walter. The fair registered more than 100,000 visitors during the 5 days. The majority of visitors were German but also other guests from other European nations were there, e.g. from the Netherlands and France. The EU Eco-label booth was a good opportunity to inform potential camping and other tourist guests about the EU Eco-label and the already awarded camping businesses. The camping fair in Essen also attracts a lot of camp site managers mainly from Germany but also from other European countries. It is a central meeting event of the branch in spring. This allowed a lot of conversations with camp site managers about the Eco-label. Moreover, various stakeholders were present and Carina Dambacher, Constance Braun and Marco Walter were involved in various talks and discussions with multipliers and interested parties. Amongst them were the ADAC German Automobile Club, the BVCD Federal German Camping Association, CIVD German Caravan Industry and Trade Organisation, the ECC European Camping Guide / Drei Brunnen Verlag GmbH, and 11 regional camping associations. 23

25 At the BVCD-Forum, the central and annual meeting of the Federal German Camping Association, Marco Walter held a presentation about the EU Eco-label for camp sites to more than 100 camp site managers and stakeholders. The presentation included information about the criteria, the process of applying for the label and the marketing possibilities Caravan Salon Düsseldorf, 25 August 3 Sept Type of activity: Presentation of the EU Eco-label for camp sites towards camp site owners Where: Stand of Ecocamping Date: Nine days from 25 August 3 September 2006 Place: Caravan Salon in Düsseldorf, Germany The Caravan Salon is the most important camping fairs in Germany and sets standards every year for the sector in all of Europe. In 2006 the highest rate of visitors of the last 10 years was achieved: guests came to the fair. The ECOCAMPING Association organised a stand at the Caravan Salon in Duesseldorf in order to inform as many visitors and potential camping guests as possible about the EU Eco-label. The stand was organised in co-operation with the German Camp site Association, BVCD and with the Camp site Association of Baden-Wuerttemberg. The stand presented a flag with the EU-Flower, and brochures. The flag worked as a magnet to attract visitors of the fair to the stand. Brochures served as primary information about the label and the camping sites that are already awarded with the flower and were handed over to interested guests. Moreover, information was given to guests of the fair at the stand by Carina Dambacher, Marco Walter, and partner camping entrepreneurs. Besides the information campaign at the stand, there were various opportunities throughout the fair to inform camp site managers about the label itself and about how to apply for it. Moreover, various stakeholders were present and Carina Dambacher and Marco Walter were involved in various talks and discussions with stakeholders and other interested parties, e.g. the BVCD German Camp site Association, CAMP GROUND/Fair Friedrichshafen, Dolde Medien German Media for camping entrepreneurs, ECC European Camping and Caravaning Guide, DCC German Camping Club, ADAC German Automobile Club, German Camping Associations, CIVD German Caravan Industry and Trade Organisation. Carina Dambacher (left, ECOCAMPING) and Marco Walter (left, ECOCAMPING) informing stand visitors on the Flower 24

26 4.8. Mondo Natura, Rimini, 9-10 September 2006 Type of activity: Presenting of the EU Eco-label with an own table at Mondo Natura Where: Rimini, Italy Date: 9-10 September, 2006 Place: Mondo Natura For the second year, the Rimini fair organisation, in the person of Mrs. Gabriella Zoni, has kindly supported the marketing initiatives for the EU Ecolabel, this year putting at Mrs. Diwok s disposal a table in a well-frequented position of the Mondo Natura fair. As already noticed last year (and reason why we decided not to organize a conference but opt for an information stand instead) this fair is becoming a point of reference for consumers/tourists who wish to know more about travelling in the nature, camping, trekking, visiting protected areas and similar destinations. It is however not very frequented by stakeholders in the tourism sector. Contacts therefore were principally towards consumers, with an estimation of about 200 contacts on the 9th and 100 on the 10th of September, who were interested to know more about the EU Eco-label in general, and the already certified ac- Mrs. Dagmar Diwok at the EU Eco-label info table at Mondo Natura, 9-11 September, in Rimini commodations in particular (the fact that until now only one camp site in Italy has been awarded the EU Eco-label was generally complained about). The interest of the consumers, surprisingly, even more than towards the accommodations was for products certified with the EU Eco-label, to a point where Mrs. Diwok found it useful to print out copies of the Italian CB s website with the information on certified products, to keep at the stand, and which were very well accepted. 25

27 5. Countries report 5.1. The selection of countries Implementation in the EU Member States Number State Focus mainly on # 1 Italy Destination approach in: Trentino, Sicily All services: camp sites, tourist accommodations # 2 Greece Destination approach in: Rhodes, KOS For tourist accommodations # 3 France Best-practice strategy for camp sites # 4 Cyprus Best-practice strategy for services # 5 Germany Penetration strategy for camp sites # 6 Austria Destination approach in Salzburg All services: camp sites, tourist accommodations # 7 Spain Best-practice strategy for tourist accommodation services Destination: Islands of Balears Destination: Valencia Implementation in the New Member States # 8 Czech Republic Best-practice strategy for services # 9 Hungary Best-practice strategy for services # 10 Slovenia Best-practice strategy for services The selection of countries was done according to the following: Need to start an implementation process Agreed co-operation by the Competent Bodies (personal approval or consent by ) Predictable success Best-practice character (especially in the New Member States) Available local expert team (native speaking) Description of the implementation in detail: 5.2. Italy Situation in Italy Over the last year, the general awareness regarding the EU Eco-label has made a step forward among Italian entrepreneurs, in particular those who work with foreign customers. The label is starting to be perceived as a possible marketing instrument for the European market. The interest is growing, and several of the Italian regional Competent Bodies are organizing the support for the tourism structures who will be requesting the label. 26

28 Up to now there are 22 certified tourist accommodation services and several others implementing the criteria and should be certified soon. In addition, the first Italian camp site was certified with the support of one of the team members in 2005 (under a different contract) Objectives Co-operation with APAT (Mrs. Stefania Minestrini) with following activities: The main target was to find five businesses (e.g. 2 tourist accommodation services and 3 camp site services) for the EU Eco-label The target areas were the regions Trentino and Sicily as they have high relevance to nature and environment (nature parks) with local agenda 21-projects Following services were successful: camp sites and for tourist accommodation services: B&B, apartments and mountain huts Preference of one-to-one meetings with potential applicants in cooperation with tourist federations and regional partners Get a co-operation with the Italian tour operator CTS Co-ordinator: Mrs. Dagmar Diwok, ACTA in close co-operation with Mr. Rainer Stifter Results a. Trentino Due to previous experiences the project activities in the region of Trentino could be focused straight ahead to acquisition activities. Supported tourist accommodations Trentino Name Address / Website Description Villaggio Albergo Pineta Hotels Via al Santuario 17, Tavon di Coredo, Trento Documentation submitted to Italian CB, inspection from CB carried out, observations implemented, waiting for certification. Albergo Park Hotel Villa di Campo P. Risorgimento 40, Campo Lomaso, Trento documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB All the following B&B have finished the preparation of the documentation. They are waiting for the inspection visit from the CB. B&B La Casa delle Bambole bb.famciuffo@vir gilio.it kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=7 documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB B&B La Betulla Enrica@La- Betulla.com kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=3 documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB B&B Alla casa della sorgente info@casadellaso rgente.it kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=18 documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB 27

29 B&B Casa Incantata kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=30 documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB B&B Al Ghiro kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=115 B&B Casa Riz B&B Ca Cei Fazzilisti B&B Casa Pompermaier B&B Monte Tesobo B&B Cappeler B&B Al Piccolo Barùs Cornè B&B Domus Flavia B&B Cristina Rifugio Alpe Pozza kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=99 atamail.com casa.pompermai bo.it irgilio.it virgilio.it bedandbreakfast hoo.it akfastcristina.it kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=38 kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=82 kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=101 kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=1 kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=31 kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=29 kfast.it/beb_dettaglio.as p?beb_id=21 documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB documentation finished, already submitted to the Italian CB Workshop with B&B enterprises of the region Trentino, 6 th June Together with the Province of Trento, an agreement has been worked out with the Association of Quality B&B of the area ( default.asp) to involve the association in a process of group certification with the EU Eco-label. After several individual meetings at the beginning of May 2006, the interested accommodation structures were visited with a check list (with the help of a local consultant, Mr. Paolo Colpo) and their possible compliance with the EU Ecolabel was estimated. Over the last weeks, 14 enterprises have been Mr. Paolo Colpo outlining the next steps estimated fit to apply for the EU Eco- 28

30 label. A workshop on the 6 th of June was organized in order to finalize further steps. Mr. Colpo lined out the results of the on-site visits to the structures. Possible problems were identified in the unwillingness from local energy providers to guarantee a sufficient quantity of renewable energy in supply for such small enterprises. Other than that, most of the B&B was found nearly ready to comply with all the mandatory criteria, with an average possibility to obtain from points in the optional section. They were given the necessary documentation to fill out over the next two weeks, after which another on-site visit will be organized, in order to control and finalize the application process. The workshop then proceeded going again step by step through all the criteria, with Mrs. Diwok and Mr. Colpo clearing up eventual doubts and supplying suggestions. Mr. Fedel from APPA supplied documentation and information regarding the activities of the local CB, which are complementary to the activities of the structures during the application process. He also offered the offices of APPA for the next meeting, which took place on the 8 th of September. Workshop in Spormaggiore (Trento), 30 th August In the framework of a study visit of representatives of municipalities and authorities of protected areas from Bulgaria and Romania, the government of the Trentino Province had asked Mrs. Diwok to confer to the guest s information regarding the initiatives related to the EU Eco-label already ongoing in the Trento province and a general introduction to this certification. Speakers other than Mrs. Diwok were the manager of the Adamello Brenta Natural Parc, Mr. Enrico Miorelli, representative of the Trentino province tourism authority, Mrs. Monica Basile, Marketing Manager of the Trentino Hoteliers Association. The reaction of the guests was of great interest and they agreed to ask the support of Mrs. Diwok and the Eco-label Task Force for initiatives in their own countries. Left: Mrs. Diwok presenting the situation in Italy, right: Mr. Ferrari, Director of the Adamello Brenta Park, illustrating to the guests the advantages of certifying the accommodation structures of a protected area with the EU Eco-label. 29

31 Seminar for hoteliers, San Antonio di Mavignola (TN), 29 Sept In order to give the hoteliers, already certified with Qualità Parco, a local quality label, the opportunity to know more about the EU Eco-label and how to apply for it, a seminar was organized in the framework of another project meeting with the presence of several other members of the Marketing Team. The following hoteliers participated: Hotel Alpina Fausto Aldrighetti Bio Hotel Hermitage Barbara Maffei Albergo alla Posta Augusto Collini Hotel Tevini Fausto Tevini Hotel Crozzon Rina Masè Maso Mistrin Alice Collini Hotel Alexander Bonetti Alessandro Hotel Gianna Christian Armani (Madonna di Campiglio) (Madonna di Campiglio) (S. Antonio di Mavignola) (Frazione Almazzago) (Madonna di Campiglio) (S. Antonio di Mavignola) (Molveno) (Madonna di Campiglio) Left: Mrs. Diwok illustrating the initiatives of the Marketing team to the hoteliers, right: Mr. Stifter explaining details regarding specific training and support initiatives. Left: Mrs. Diwok with Mr. Aldrighetti, vice president of the Trentino hoteliers association. The hoteliers declared their interest in starting the application process. 30

32 Seminar for hoteliers, Azienda Agricola Dosila di Lasino, 21 Nov In the framework of the local development strategy of the Monte Bondone Area in the Province of Trento ( a seminar was organized in order to involve tourist accommodations and camp sites in requesting the EU-Eco-label. The seminar was conducted by Mrs. Diwok, with the presence of Mr. Colpo (local consultant), Mr. Fedel (APPA Trento, regional CB), Mrs. Bonfanti from the Provincial Tourism Authority, and Mrs. Sibilla, the local responsible of the project. The event is mentioned here: Pictures and press clippings will be available at the end of Great interest in the EU Eco-label from local hoteliers during the seminar at Azienda Agricola Dosila di Lasino, 21 Nov Interested hotels in the EU Eco-label Name Address / Website Albergo Monte Bondone Loc. Vaneze n. 72, Trento hotelmb@tin.it Garni Al Caminetto Loc. Vaneze n. 39 Trento info@hotelcaminetto.it Albergo Terme di Garniga Via Bagni di fieno, 13-14, Garniga Terme garnigaterme@farcomtre not.it Agritur Dosila Loc. Dosila, Lasino sibilla93@libero.it Garni Nicolodi Sopramonte n.47, Trento - 31

33 b. Piemont Although activities in Piemont were not planned, Mrs Dagmar Diwok from the marketing team participated in a regional workshop to present the EU Ecolabel. Workshop with the Piemont CB in Avigliana (Turin), 12 June 2006 For the 12th of June 2006, a workshop was organized together with the ARPA (regional Competent Body) of the Piemont region, in order to: a) inform possible new applicants of the region about the EU Eco-label and b) give already certified structures a possibility to exchange experiences and discuss further initiatives. The workshop was hosted by the authority of the Natural Park of the Avigliano Lake, a protected area near Turin. Speakers were Mr. Marco Glisoni from ARPA Piemonte, the president of the Mrs. Diwok introducing the workshop protected area, the major of Avigliano, a representative from the Piemont regional government and a technician from the local municipality. The workshop and discussion resulted interesting and stimulating to both potential new applicants and already certified structures, as it touched issues such as the PR of the EU Ecolabel in the EU member states, and possible assistance from public institutions. A conclusion shared by all participants was certainly the need for regular meetings like these and an intense PR regarding the EU Ecolabel principally among consumers, who still are mostly uninformed regarding this certification. Another activity in co-operation with the Piemont CB was the participation at a seminar at the University of Novara, a yearly event where already last year the presentation of the EU Eco-label to students and local intrepreneurs was very successful. 32

34 Mrs. Diwok at the Università Novara Students at the Università Novara c. Sicily Due to a temporary stop (due to administrative reasons of the regional government) to the activities which were serving as a support for the promotion of the EU Eco-label (European Charter for Sustainable Tourism in Parks in the Madonie Natural Park) the initiatives in Sicily have been discontinued for the moment and the planned resources invested in Lombardy and Trentino. d. Sardinia In Sardinia contacts could be made with the local ARPAT (in charge of APAT to implement the EU Eco-label) and the camp site federation FAITA (faitasardegna.it). Nearly all camp sites on Sardinia are members of FAITA. During the yearly meeting on 27 May a presentation of Rainer Stifter was planned to be held but could not be undertaken because of organisational circumstances. However, the local consultant Emanuele Cabras was presenting the EU Eco-label on behalf of Mr. Stifter. 33

35 On 14 th of October Mr. Stifter could also present the EU Eco-label during a presentation of the local ARPAT towards tourist accommodation services. e. Toscana From previous contacts, we could involve some tourist accommodations from Toscana in our efforts. Many of them have been running their businesses environmentally friendly for some years. With these prospects, it seems that some of them will be finished with the documentation this year or early in Supported tourist accommodations Toscana Name Address / Website Description Agritur Cuor di lupo Caldana Grosseto Working on the documentation Agritur Lupo Vecchio Giuncarico Grosseto Agritur Le Vigne di Caldana B&B Casa Montecucco Caldana Grosseto Zavorrano Grosseto Working on the documentation Working on the documentation Working on the documentation f. Alto Adige South Tyrol Based on a contact to the head office of Landidyll Hotel group in Vienna we could achieve the interest of three Landidyll Hotels for the EU Eco-label in Alto Adige. Mr. Stifter and Mr. Leitner provided all the application material in advance (mailed) and visited all between September to give support and advice. Supported tourist accommodations Alto Adige Name Address / Website Description Hotel Bergschlössl Lüsen, Lüsner Str. 24 Hotel Waldgasthof Tann Tannstr. 22, Klobenstein/Ritten info@bergschloessl.com com info@tann.it Hotel Waldsee Völs am Schlern info@hotelwaldsee.com g. Lombardia willing to apply for 2007 (after refurbishing) willing to apply for 2007 (after refurbishing) Interest to apply The close co-operation with the regional CB in Lombardia for the Flower Week has resulted in the proposal of forming a Lombardia task force Eco-label which involves ARPA (the CB), relevant directions of the regional government, ACTA and possibly the Bicocca University. This is still in the planning stage, but could result in a pilot initiative with its own budget for fairs, events and training/information efforts, as well as support for the interested firms (tourist accommodation as well as products). The contact persons for this initiative are 34

36 Mrs. Rossella Azzoni from ARPA and Mrs. Elena Conti from the Tourism Direction of the Regione Lombardia government. Seminar for hoteliers in Breno, 31 October 2006 On the 31 st of October, at Breno in Val Camonica, a full day seminar was organized together with the Italian tour operator CTS in order to analyze together with local hoteliers the possibility of adopting the EU Eco-label. At the end of the seminar, most of them (ca. 10) were reasonably sure they would be able to comply with most of the mandatory criteria and enough of the optional ones. Documentation will be available in time for the next meeting, probably on the 13 th December 2006 in Breno. The CTS put information regarding the EU Eco-label on their albergo verde website ( the same website the documentation regarding the seminar held in October will also be available Flower Week In the framework of the European Flower Week, Mrs. Diwok participated in a series of seminars organized together with the regional CB of Lombardia in several Universities in Lombardia who offer courses in environmental sciences, tourism and environmental economy. The seminars were held the following days: Monday 9 th October (Iulm University, Milano), Wednesday 11 th and Thursday 12 th October (Bicocca University, Milano) and Monday 16 th October (Insubria University, Como). The seminars covered the European Eco-label as a whole, both tourism and products, therefore half of the time spent will be attributed to the LOT 7 contract regarding Marketing for Products, the other half to the LOT 8 contract regarding the tourism sector. Mrs. Diwok at the Università Milano Bicocca 35

37 Mrs. Diwok at the Università degli Studi dell Insubria Many of the participating students are from hoteliers families, and the seminars have already resulted in first direct contacts asking for further assistance towards the acquisition of the EU Eco-label Tour Operator activities A meeting with the Italian Tour Operator Association (ASTOI) was organised on 2 nd May After several preliminary contacts, this meeting took place in the offices of the Italian Tour Operators Association in Milano between Mr. A. Corti (Astoi, Director of Operations), Mrs. C.Saraceno (Astoi, Press Relations), Mrs. E. Berman (Tour Operator Viaggi del Ventaglio, Environmental Coordinator of the Association), L. Canova (ACTA), D. Diwok (ACTA), and V. Del Giudice (ACTA). The meeting had the objective of co-ordinating eventual initiatives of training and information of the Tour Operators associated with ASTOI regarding environmental initiatives, in particular the EU Eco-label. The result of the meeting was an agreement on a series of workshops for: 1) The Environmental Executives (Officers) of the different tour operators. 2) The Product managers concerning the EU Eco-label and its requirements for the second half of 2006, in order to give them the possibility to promote the Eco-label with their staff and suppliers Touring Club Italy On a meeting with the Italian Touring Club on the issue of integrating the EU Eco-label in their guides (in particular the Camping guide and the Bandiere Arancioni guide for environmentally friendly destinations) took place. Mr. Girolami (responsible Bandiere Arancioni) declared TCI's readyness to mention the EU Eco-label in their guides, but stated that further discussions on this issue will have to happen on institutional level. The CB has therefore been involved and interactions will continue and be followed up by ACTA too. 36

38 Follow-up recommendations It is recommended to carry out following steps: Completion of the certification process of the 15 B&B in Trentino: eventual support during the inspective visit from the Italian CB and assistance with eventual needs for the documentation Assistance to the 7 hotels already certified with a local environmental label, Qualità Parco, in Trentino who participated in the above mentioned seminar Support to several initiatives taken by the Piemont CB, and close cooperation for further activities, also in co-ordination with other Northern Italian regional CBs Organisation of a press conference and seminar in Trento for January 2007 in order to present the 15 B&B as soon as they are certified, together with the municipalities, local CBs and hoteliers association. An event is being planned which should involve national TV and press. Participation in the process of certification with the European Charta for Sustainable Tourism in Parks of four protected areas in Lombardia, with the organisation of workshops for hoteliers and camp sites in those areas, following the strategy which has shown good results in Trentino. A workshop was already organized in Val Camonica for a group of ca. 10 interested hotel owners. Close co-operation with the Italian tour operator CTS who has declared its intention of integrating the EU Eco-label into their catalogues and strategies (contact: Mrs. Micaela Solinas, director of environmental operations of the TO) 5.3. Greece Situation Although in Greece two tourist accommodation services are meanwhile certified with the EU Eco-label, a wide promotion of the EU Eco-label is a challenge. Due to the small level of recognition of the EU Eco-label, high fees for hotels with high overnight stays, the EU Flower needs continuous support for a long-term success. There are also two LIFE-projects which concern Greece and the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodation services: Green Drachma 2 ( This project aims at building the foundations for the transition from the intensive tourism model to the sustainable tourism model in the geographical area of Halkidiki, North Greece. To do so, Green Drachma II organizes a variety of actions, which will create significant benefits for the targeted organizations-enterprises. The project targets mainly tourist accommodations (hotels), farmers, agro-food processing industries, environmental friendly suppliers of enterprises and local authorities. The environmental instruments to be adopted are EU Eco-label, EMAS and EUREPGAP. 37

39 Shmile ( Final Report G&L Wien, Ref. ENV. G2/SER/2005/0024, Lot 8 This project is supporting effective EU-wide promotion and implementation of the EU Eco-label on Tourist Accommodation Services (ELTAS), through demonstration actions in the Mediterranean region, and through raising awareness across the EU. This will address a number of issues including: reducing energy consumption related to tourism accommodation; use of sustainable construction techniques in the sector; and promotion of local awareness and know-how about sustainability. ELTAS is due to be revised in April 2007, and the project will contribute to this revision. There is one main hotel resort involved in this project: Porto Carras on Halkidike. This tourist resort has been implementing the criteria with the help of one of the team members Objectives Co-operation with the Greek Competent Body including the following activities: The main target was to find five businesses (e.g. 3 tourist accommodation services and 2 camp site services) for the EU Eco-label The target area for tourist accommodation services was the Dodecanese islands, an archipelago of over 163 islands and islets. We were focusing on the islands of Rhodes and Kos. Organise one workshop with potential applicants (tourist accommodation services) focusing on hotel-chains or regions with high relevance to nature and environment (nature parks, etc.) in co-operation with tourist federations and tour operators. The workshop was organised with the contribution of HATA (Hellenic Association of Travel and Tourist Agencies), Greek Hotels Chamber, Rhodes and Kos Hoteliers Associations and Unified Tourism Board of Kos and Nisyros. On behalf of the Ministery of Environment representatives of the Greek Competent Body will participate. Co-ordinator for Greece: Mrs. Stella Alexopoulou, Speed together with Maria Menounou Results Great effort has been made for the elaboration of contacts with stakeholders in Greece. As a result, the main established contacts include: 1. contact with Mrs. Kriara, environmental responsible of SUNWING RESORT KALLITHEA, Rhodes to discuss the possibility of a workshop organization at Rhodes at the end of April Mrs Kriara arranged a contact to the Hotels Association of Rhodes 2. We remained in close contact with Mrs. Kriara during the second reporting period for the arrangement of the workshop at their hotel, the date of which was finally determined for 9 th October contact with Mrs. Agni Cristidou, manager of Greek Hotels Chamber to provide a support to the communication with the Hotel Associations of Rhodes 4. Contact with the Hotels Association of Rhodes to ask their commitment 38

40 5. Phone call and letter to Mr. George Drakopoulos, General Manager of SETE Association of Hellenic Tourist Enterprises to ask their support 6. Mrs. Despina Diakostavrianou, Manager of Dodecanese Tourism Organisation As a result of these contacts a commitment of both SETE and Dodecanese Tourism Organisation to support the EU Eco-label promotion in Greece was gained. Mr. George Drakopoulos, General Manager of SETE (Association of Hellenic Tourism Enterprises), as well as Mrs Despina Diakostavrianou, Manager of Dodecanese Tourism Organisation, will support the EU Ecolabel promotion activities in Dodecanese which will be implemented by the Marketing Team. Competent Body Communication The contact persons of Greek Competent Body are Mr George Stamatiou and Mrs Paraskevi Xenou (both servants at the Hellenic Ministry for Environment, Planning and Public Works). A communication line has been established with them, even before the kick off meeting of the project at Brussels, which is kept active all the reporting period. As a result, Mr. Stamatiou gave a contact to a hotel interested for the European Eco-label and he participated in a technical seminar (externally organised under a different contract) and SPEED staff provided Mr. Stamatiou practical experience regarding the implementation of the EU Eco-label. A frank and trustful relationship between the EU Eco-label promotion team and the contact persons of ASAOS is very important for the highest efficiency and results of this project. Acquisition activities beyond Dodocanese Islands Mrs. Maria Menounou visited the Hotel Xenones Pola located in Avia village of Messinia Prefecture in South Peloponnese area, on the 20th of April Mrs. Menounou presented the EU Eco-label s implications for tourist accommodations, the criteria requirements and the application process. She went through all the mandatory criteria in order to determine if the already applied environmental measures at the hotel were aligned with the EU Ecolabel s requirements, the effort the people of the hotel have to put in improving the hotel s environmental performance, the probability of the hotel to be awarded. After two weeks, SPEED had a phone call with them, who announced that they were not able to meet the Eco-label criteria, at least at that time. The detailed report of this acquisition activity is given attached to this report. No other acquisition activity took place at this period because the hotel owners were engaged at the preparation of their hotels for their operation for the high season (April September). Participation at a Studiosus workshop, March A technical workshop addressed to technical staff of hotels, hotel owners and managers was organised in Athens, on 15th 16th of March by the German tour operator STUDIOSUS. The subject of this seminar was the presentation of environmental management issues in the hotels, with main focus on the fulfilment of the European Eco-label criteria. Mrs Dagmar Diwok from ACTA and Mrs Stella Alexopoulou from SPEED were the main introducers at this seminar. The seminar, although it was financed by external sources, had aims 39

41 and objectives in full agreement with those of the present project of Eco-label promotion. First Greek Environmental Award, 30 May 2006 At 30th of May 2006 the 1st Greek Environmental Awards have been given to Greek enterprises showed high environmental performance. SUNWING Resort Kallithea, Rhodes took the 2nd award in the category of Ecological Product. More details and photos of this award ceremony are included in the Annex and they can be used in the European Eco-label Site. Mrs Alexopoulou from SPEED participated at this ceremony, met all the team of SUNWING Hotel and discussed with Mr Ion Gonos Director of Operations Area East the details of the workshop organisation at Rhodes. Workshop in Rhodes island, 9 October 2006 A technical workshop for the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodation services in Rhodes was organised by Speed Consultants. The workshop took place on 9th of October at Rhodes island at Sunwing Resort hotel, which hosted it free of charge. The workshop was organised with close co-operation with Mrs Kriara from Sunwing Resort. An invitation and a participation form were prepared and sent to 110 hotels of stars in the islands Rhodes and Kos as well as local tourist operators; the Dodecanese Tourism Organisation and the Rhodes Tourist Operators Association were invited. The invitation was sent by fax and . Additionally, seven hotels of My Travel North were invited by s and personal phone calls. Moreover, the invitation was forwarded to LTU Touristik-German Tourist Operator (contact person Mrs. Wende), as they expressed their interest to have their partner hotels in Rhodes invited. Mrs. Wende arranged with Mr. Leitner to forward, by themselves, the invitation to their partner hotels in Rhodes. Mrs. Maria Menonou during her presentation Mrs Kriara also invited: the representatives of Environmental Department of the Prefecture, Mr Kaikis of the Environmental Department of the Municipality of Rhodes Mr Ipsilantis and Mrs Santzes of the Department of cleaning services of the Municipality of Rhodes the representatives of Water supply and drainage works department of the Municipality of Rhodes Mr Stamatiou from ASAOS provided SPEED with new infobrochures (20 pieces) for EU Eco-label in Greek language, in order to disseminate them to the participants. Finally, the event was attended by 19 participants from hotels. Unfortunately, the representatives of the local authorities, the tourist operators and the associations did not attend the workshop. The workshop was covered by the local TV channel IRIS. The presentations were held by Mrs. Stella Alexopoulou, Mrs. Maria Menounou and Mr. Ion Gonos, General Manager of Sunwing Resort and Director of Operations Area East. 40

42 Mrs. Alexopoulou presented the EU Eco-label and the benefits that it provides to the awarded businesses. Mrs Menounou presented the application process and the mandatory and optional criteria and explained the participants how to comply with them. Mr Gonos, who was the last speaker, presented the benefits Sunwing Resort had by being awarded and the methods and techniques they apply in order to save resources and maintain the award. Acquisition success camp site Venezuela In 16th September, Mrs Maria Menounou visited camp site Venezuela at Agios Serafim Fthiotida Prefecture for presentation of the Eco-label and on site consultation. Together with the camp site owners went deeply to the requirements of the criteria, the application procedure and the benefits of the camp site after the awarding. For that purpose, application and verification packs for camp site services were thoroughly examined. As a conclusion, Mrs Exarchea and Mr Chouliaras from camp site Venezuela were very interested in applying for the EU Eco-label, as they realised that they complied with the criteria. They decided to prepare the application by themselves as they found it very easy to do so. They will start the preparation of the application dossier in December and they estimate to apply by the end of December Acquisition activities in Agia Marina, Crete, 10 October 2006 In co-operation with the Scandinavian tour-operator My Travel Northern a workshop took place with their partner hotels to inform about the EU Eco-label scheme, application procedure, best practice examples and criteria. Two hotels from the Smile hotel group have already been checked. The meeting was attended by the managing director, the technical manager, representative from the owners and further staff member. Also the managing director from Alexandra Beach hotel participated in the workshop. All three hotels showed interest in the EU Eco-label. Applications should be following in The workshop was organised by Ernst Leitner and Rainer Stifter in co-operation with Kim Hansen, MyTravel Northern. Supported tourist accommodations Agia Marina, Crete Name Address / Website Description Iolida Beach Agia Marina, Chania Yanis Yanakopulos manager@smilehotels.gr willing to apply for 2007 (after refurbishing) Iolida Village Agia Marina, Chania Yanis Yanakopulos manager@smilehotels.gr willing to apply for 2007 (after refurbishing) Alexandra Beach Resort Agia Marina, Chania President George Dandoulakis resort@alexandrabeach.com Interest to apply Follow-up recommendations It is recommended to carry out following steps: Follow up contacts in co-operation with the local Competent Body Give support to interested applicants 41

43 5.4. France Final Report G&L Wien, Ref. ENV. G2/SER/2005/0024, Lot Situation In France there is currently a multiplication of quality/environment certifications for hotels and camp sites, which creates some confusion among tourism stakeholders. This explains the lack of visibility of the European Ecolabel in the tourism sector in France. The two main competitors of the Flower in France are: La Clef Verte ( This is a European environmental label dedicated at the beginning for camp sites, and which is now extending its scheme for hotels. Created in 1994 in Denmark, this label has been adopted in France in 1998 by l'office Français de la Fondation pour l'education à l'environnement en Europe (French Bureau of the European Foundation of Environmental Education). To be certified, camp sites and hotels must meet criteria dealing with environmental management, water, energy, waste, cleaning products, green areas, food and environmental education. There are 140 hotels and camp sites totally certified in This makes a total of more than 200 tourist accommodations certified in Europe, mainly in France and Nordic countries. HotelCert is a quality certification developed by AFAQ (now part of AFAQ-AFNOR), in partnership with French Industry and Trade Chambers (ACFCI), French Hostellers Federation (UMIH), National Federation of Local Tourism Committees (FNCDT) and the French Ministry of Tourism. Some consumer NGOs and tourism associations are also partners of the project. There are currently 173 hotels certified. According to the French Competent Body, some other European initiatives are also creating confusion among professionals of the sector: for example, the LIFE-Environment project Eco-camps, promoting eco-design for rental accommodations in camp sites, or the VISIT initiative (LIFE-Environment project) about tourism eco-labelling in Europe. Apparently, local institutions in charge of tourism and professionals get confused by the co-existence of these 2 European projects and various other labels in development. They feel there is a lack of synergy between the different initiatives lead by public authorities Objectives Co-operation with the Competent Body (Mme Patricia Proia) with following activities: Organisation of a meeting with a working group of French stakeholders: CB and challenging labels (La Clef Verte, Sites et Paysages de France...) to find synergies. Build a database of camp sites and send a direct mail presenting the EU Flower in order to find a first mover Contacts with press and camp site guides to get a standard article about the EU Eco-label for camp sites. 42

44 Co-ordinator: Mrs. Cècile des Abbayes, BIO Intelligence Service in close co-operation with Mr. Rainer Stifter Results The first EU Eco-label award for services in France was given to Hotel Les Orangeries in May 2006, and more are in the pipeline. So after 3 years of existence, the EU eco-label for tourist accommodations is finally taking off in France. Various reasons explain this delay in the development of the Flower for services in France: - The French authorities in charge of the promotion of tourism in France were more focused on the quality of accommodation services in 2003, when the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodations was launched. They were promoting Hotel Cert, a quality label for French hotels. Camping Qualité, which is a quality label for camp sites in France, is also supported by the French tourism authorities. - There is some confusion in France amongst all the different sustainable initiatives in the field of tourism: Clef Verte, LIFE-Environment projects Eco-Camps and VISIT, Pavillon Bleu So introducing another ecological label in this field was not easy. For the moment as far as we know - no camp site has shown interest in the Flower in France, mainly because the level of awareness is very low. In collaboration with the French CB (Mrs Patricia Proia, AFAQ AFNOR Certification), it was chosen to focus marketing activities on camp sites, considering the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodations is now taking off in France. As the competition with other ecological (Clef Verte) and quality (Camping Qualité) labels is quite important in France, and since representatives of these labels had never met to introduce themselves to each other and discuss, it was decided to organize a meeting with them and the French CB, to start discussing and hopefully working on finding synergies. It was also decided to do an informative mailing towards French camp site owners, to inform them of the existence of the Flower, and a press release. State of Implementation A meeting with Clef Verte, Camping Qualité and the French CB took place in the premises of Clef Verte in Paris on May, 24 th. The minutes of this meeting are enclosed. The main conclusions of this meeting are: Co-operation potential: Co-operation is possible with Camping Qualité, but Clef Verte said neither yes nor no. So it seems that doors are not entirely closed with them, but they are waiting to see if the EU Eco-label for services continues its current development, and to be convinced. Next step: The next step, as mentioned in the minutes, is to prepare the document comparing the Clef Verte and EU Eco-label criteria. This document has been 43

45 prepared, and will be sent to Mrs P. Proia, to get her comments on it. Mrs P. Proia will take care of the follow-up, and we will regularly ask her for updates. Strategies of Camping Qualité and Clef Verte: Camping Qualité is obviously going to green their criteria, so it seems better to co-operate with them before having another competing environmental label on the French market. Clef Verte is getting international and increasing its marketing efforts (partnerships with tourism offices, presence in fairs, etc.). So unless a way of collaborating is found, it may become an even more serious competitor of the Flower! - Strengths of Clef Verte: o High number of holders in several European countries, o Easy criteria, o International label. - Strengths of the Flower: o Official label, o Many categories of products / services covered (which is an important advantage considering the general demand from all stakeholders to reduce the number of environmental labels on the market because consumers get confused), o Stronger and more credible criteria. It seems that a good strategy to develop for the Flower is to get national, regional and local governments in Europe to recommend the use of the Flower instead of Clef Verte to camp sites of their territories. To do so, they need to be informed of the existence of the Flower (which is not the case at least for French local authorities in charge of tourism) and convinced of its superiority. This latest point should be possible considering the above-mentioned strengths of the Flower. Of course, continuing current marketing efforts for the promotion of the Flower for services is essential too. Mailing to French camp sites An ing was sent to all Comité Départemental du Tourisme in France to ask them for the list of camp sites of their départements. Thanks to their input, a database of 1,560 camp sites was built. An informative mailing about the EU Eco-label for camp sites was prepared, including an answer-coupon, to be returned by interested companies. The French CB took care of sending the mailing. 10 camp sites returned the coupon, which corresponds to a response rate of 0.6%, which is disappointing. Several reasons may explain this result: o The timing of the mailing was not appropriate, since summer is the full season for camp sites; it would have been better to send it in September, but this was not compatible with the time-schedule of the project. 44

46 o Camp sites may be discouraged by the number of green logos for sustainable tourism, so may not be very willing to have more information on another new label. o Lack of interest for sustainable tourism. The list of the contact details of the 10 camp sites which returned the coupon + follow-up (except workshop) is presented in Annex 1. The general follow-up procedure was the following: o If the company wanted more information by telephone, we called the contact person, asked him about the activities of his company, his knowledge / interest in the Flower, and answered all his questions about the Flower. Then we send him the Starter-Kit including: a specific letter summarizing the marketing advantages of the Flower for camp sites (in Annex), the Camp site fact sheet in French, Documents of the French CB: application guide, costs, criteria checklist, o If the company wanted to participate to a workshop, we called or sent an to the contact person to suggest him to participate to a workshop on November, 10 th. Two camp sites participated to a meeting organised by the French CB to present the criteria, the application procedure, etc.: Camping Les Cigales and Camping Le Site Castelbouc. The Camping la Barbanne also indicated to us that they were interested in participating to the meeting, though could not come. However, as they know the persons from Camping Les Cigales, they told us they would meet them to get some feedback on the meeting. Mrs. Patricia Proia, who animated the meeting, told us that the two camp sites seemed to be interested in the Flower, and will study carefully the criteria before contacting the French CB again Follow-up recommendations It is recommended to continue marketing activities for the promotion of the Flower towards tourist accommodations and camp sites in France, especially considering the development of competing labels. The following activities seem appropriate: o Propose workshops to local authorities in charge of tourism (Comités Départementaux du Tourisme), since when we contacted them this year to ask for the list of camp sites of their region, one of them spontaneously offered to organise such a workshop. It would be better if the letter offering this opportunity could be stamped with the Ministry of Tourism, and/or the Ministry of Ecology. o Continue press activities 45

47 o Go to fairs, with Hotel Les Orangeries for example, or to the specific Eco-Tourism fair Ecorismo, which we already plan to be partners (for free) Slovenia Situation With the entry in the European Commission Slovenia also commited itself to establish environmental instruments to improve sustainable tourism. Sustainable consumption and production patterns are dealt with in the Ministries of: Environment and Physical Planning; Economic Affairs - Agency for Rational Use of Energy; and Tourism and Small Enterprise. Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry and Ministry of Transport and Communications are also involved in resolving these issues. Especially the Ministry of the Economy-Directorate for Tourism intends to take some steps towards sustainable tourism and is willing to co-operate with the EU Eco-label. As target areas eco-sensible regions, e.g. national park area Triglav as well as the seaside will be identified for first activities Objectives Co-operation with the Competent Body including the following activities: Find a first mover for the EU Eco-label Organise one workshop or meetings with potential applicants (tourist accommodation services, camp sites) focusing on hotel-chains or regions with high relevance to nature and environment (nature parks, etc.) in cooperation with tourist federations and tour operators Acquisition process with support of at least one tourist service Co-ordinator: Mr. Rainer Stifter, Energon in close co-operation with Mr. Ernst Leitner, G&L Results We started to find partners for the EU Eco-label in Slovenia in March 2003 (tourist region Julian Alps), had several contacts with relevant stakeholders in tourism (at ITB). Dr. Kopac from the Slovenian Competent Body supported our activities and promised to help organising next steps. First of all we tried to find a commitment with some regions (alpine and seaside regions). We also had contact with the Ministry of the Economy, Directorate for tourism, Mrs. Mateja Tomin Vuckovic. The Ministry intended to institutionalise activities for sustainable tourism and was willing to support the EU Eco-label. To push all these promising activities a meeting was planned to discuss and co-ordinate the ongoing projects. The meeting was planned for April, but postponed. It was not possible to organise this meeting at a later time. Meanwhile we had contact to members of the Chamber of Commerce in Koper, who showed interest in involving their local hoteliers into a process of applying for the EU Eco-label. They would like to organize, with the help of the Eco-label Task Force, a workshop for local consultants and hoteliers in order to establish a strategy for this. Due to health problems of the local partner a workshop will not take place in

48 Contact with whom we will work: Irena Bartoli, Gospodarska zbornica Slovenije (Chamber of commerce) Obmo na zbornica Koper, Ferrarska c. 2, 6000 Koper, Slovenija Tel.: , fax.: Follow-up recommendations Try to organise one meeting with the Slovenian Competent Body and the Directorate of Tourism and start the promotion of the EU Eco-label in Slovenia in 2007 Find a first mover 5.6. Cyprus Situation Cyprus excels in offering high standard hotels and resorts. Some of these companies have been contacted by the Cypriot Competent Body. There are also some tour operators who are pushing environmental activities among their partner hotels. One hotel already had been awarded the EU Eco-label: Sunwing Hotel (Sandy Bay resort) in Ayia Napa. ACTE (Association of Cyprus Tourist Enterprises), which supports the promotion of the EU Eco-Label in Cyprus, is the driving force for the necessary quality improvement and upgrading of the local tourism product. Its aim is to enforce sustainability in tourism by achieving a balance between the long-term economic viability and competitiveness of tourist enterprises with environmental and cultural respect and protection. The programme of tourist accommodation enterprises EU Eco-label acquisition ran under the auspices of Mrs. Nana Asmeni, Administrative Officer of ACTE, and Mr. Zacharias Ioannidis, General Manager of Cyprus Hotel Association, and was carried out by the EU Eco-label marketing team supported by the Cypriot Competent Body Objectives Co-operation with the Competent Body (Mrs. Eleni Stilianopoulou) with following activities: Find one tourist accommodation applying for the EU Eco-label Organise meetings with potential applicants (tourist accommodation services) focusing on hotel resorts in co-operation with tourist federations and tour operators Acquisition process on-site Co-ordinator: Mrs. Stella Alexopoulou, G&L in close co-operation with Mr. Ernst Leitner, G&L Results Firstly, the project team conducted with the Competent Body of Cyprus, in order to get information about the hotels and hotel chains in Cyprus that were interested in applying for the EU Eco-label. The contact person in Cyprian 47

49 Competent Body is Mrs. Eleni Stilianopoulou. She provided the project team names of six hotels and hotel chains, which were contacted and consulted between 30 th March and 1 st April by Maria Menounou from Speed SA. All hotels were visited on site. By means of an eco-checklist, the managers have been dealt with the criteria of the EU Eco-label. Many of the hotels have already set up environmental performances, especially through ISO , and would be fit for the EU Eco-label. Some hotels had problems to match the criteria occurred with windows insulation, electricity from renewable energy sources, disposal of recycled and hazardous waste (e.g. Tochni Tavern, Olympic Lagoon Resort). Some of the hotels applications should require significant investments which can not be done at present (Coral Beach Hotel & Resort), others will take into account the EU Ecolabel as main instrument to reduce costs for the future (Louis Imperial Beach Hotel) and were willing to make technical changes to receive it (Aliathon Village Hotel Apartments). Important arguments to set up environmental protection measures are the reduction of costs troubled with the uncontrolled water and energy consumption. The Competent Body will stay in contact with the hotels and follow-up possible application processes. Name of accommodation Type Name of contact (Hotel Director) Location Tochni Tavern (Member of Cyprus Villages Traditional Houses) Agrotourist hotels chain Sofronis Potamitis Tochni - Larnaca Olympic Lagoon Resort Hotel (member of chain) Christos Pericou Ayia Napa Coral Beach Hotel & Resort (Member of Leptos Calypso Hotels) Hotel (member of chain) Michalis Evangelides Paphos - Coral Beach Louis Imperial Beach Hotel (Member of Louis Hotels) Hotel (member of chain) Christos Zenios Paphos Aliathon Hotel Themis Philippides Paphos New Helvetia Traditional hotel Nikos Matheou Platres Acquisition results During September, there was a follow up activity regarding the hotels that Mrs Menounou visited in Cyprus, in order to find out if they were still interested in applying for Eco-label. First of all, an was sent to the five of the six hotels visited, as the sixth one expressed, during the on site discussion, that they were not willing to apply due to the high investment cost for the changes they had to apply, as the hotel is old and very large. The purpose why we sent 48

50 an was to also present them the posting of SPEED s activities in Cyprus at the site of Eco-label Secondly, we contacted them by phone in order to have a discussion with them about their intensions on Eco-label application. The results were: Tochni Tavern-Cyprus villages: They are going to apply for the Eco-label next year as they run other projects now and they want to complete them first. Aliathon Holiday village: They are still interested in the Eco-label, but for now they cannot apply as they run an environmental-oriented project regarding energy saving while they are refurbishing the existing facilities. New Helvetia: They are preparing their application. Olympic Lagoon Resort: They are not interested at the moment. Coral Beach Hotel & Resort (Member of Leptos Calypso Hotels): They cannot comply with the criteria as they would have to invest an enormous amount on facility changes. So, from the meeting we had in March they said that they were not interested for these reasons. Louis Imperial Beach Hotel: They are not interested for the moment. They will reconsider it later Follow-up recommendation It is recommended to carry out following steps: Follow up promising contacts by the national Competent Body Give support to interested applicants by the national Competent Body 5.7. Germany Situation All the promotional and acquisition activities in Germany were focusing on camp sites, as the situation for tourist accommodation services was very difficult due to the political situation (competition of the national award scheme Viabono, which is supported strongly by the German Government). The interest from German camp site owners in the EU Eco-label looked very promising and it can be expected that several of them will apply for the scheme this year. The main strategy was in general to win the German Competent Body as implementation partner and motivate for EU Eco-label-activities (acquisition, press relations etc.) Objectives Co-operation with the German Competent Body (Mr. Löwe, UBA Berlin) with following activities: Find five camp sites to apply for the EU Eco-label Organise one workshop with potential applicants (camp sites) focusing on regions with high relevance to nature and environment (nature parks, etc.) in co-operation with major stakeholders. The workshop was organised at 49

51 Reisemesse Essen (22 23 March 2006) including press information (press meeting). Presentation of info material at Reisemesse Essen (22 23 March 2006), and at Reisepavillon Hannover (3 5 Februar 2006) and Caravan Salon Düsseldorf (26 August 3 September 2006) Presentation of the EU Eco-label at relevant ECOCAMPING workshops Strategy: getting the Competent Body as partner and motivate them for EU Eco-label activities (acquisition, press relations etc.) Co-ordinator: Mr. Marco Walter, ECOCAMPING Implementation: Mrs Carina Dambacher, ECOCAMPING Audition: Mrs. Bianca Hellriegel, Mr. Wolfgang Pfrommer, ECOCAMPING Results Presentations and events In the first half of 2006 the EU Eco-label was presented at several important fairs and events. Find in the following a general overview and see more details in the reports in the annex. Fairs and events in Germany Event or fair Date Description Bavarian Camp site Assciation, Lindau Reisemesse Essen, presentation workshop ECOCAMPING workshop, Hamburg 13 March March June 2006 Presentation Presentation during membership meeting of Bavarian Camp site Association Presentation of EU Eco-label at the Camping Forum of the German Camp site Association with 80 participants, most stakeholders of German Camping Sector were present. Additional press release about ECOCAMPING and EU Eco-label during ECOCAMPING Workshop with 30 participants Caravan Salon, Düsseldorf 25 August-3 September Presenting the EU Eco-label at the stand of ECOCAMPING Camp site acquisition In order to inform camp site managers and camping guests about the EU Ecolabel a wide range of communication channels was used extensively. Also partners and multipliers were included as good as possible. A lot of interested parties were informed and sensitised for the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodations and especially for camp sites. Auditing for the EU-Eco-label by ECOCAMPING has been successful up to now as can be seen from the following table. This gives an overview of the businesses and the status of the auditing process: 50

52 Supported camp sites in Germany Follow up activities (contract 2005) Name of Business Uhlenköper-Camp Körding GbR, Uelzen Campingplatz Elbsee, Aitrang Camping Mexico, Bregenz Campingplatz Königskanzel Campingplatz Langenwald Status Completed and certified Completed and certified Completed and certified Date for Certification Auditor Project Sept 05 BH Marketing I Sept 05 BH Marketing I Sept 05 BH Marketing I Completed December 06 WP Marketing I Completed December 06 WP Marketing I Name of Business Status Date of Certification Auditor Project Supported camp sites in Germany new acquisition (Lot 8 contract) Campingplatz Salzmann (Bregenz) Campingplatz Alt- Garge Campingplatz Stadtwaldsee Campingplatz Holmernhof Campingplatz Heilbronn - Breitenauer See CAP Rotach, Friedrichshafen TENDA-Camping Completed and certified July 06 BH Marketing II Completed December 06 WP Marketing II Completed December 06 WP Marketing II Audit on February 07 BH Marketing II Audit on February 07 BH Marketing II Basic audit planned December 06 Basic audit planned December BH Marketing II 2007 BH Marketing II Interested Businesses Campingplatz Wulfener Hals, Fehmarn Camping Wirtshof GmbH Kleinenzhof Inselcamp Fehmarn Proposed date Basic audition Planned for 2007 Request for information Request for information Request for information 51 Date of Certification Planned in Auditor Project WP Marketing II - -

53 W Hartls Campingplatz Dreiquellenbad, Griesbach Campingplatz Sulzbachtal Campingplatz Südstrand, Fehmarn Schwarzwaldcamp, Halbmail Campingplatz Klausenhorn Request for information at ECOCAMPING Request for information Request for information Request for information at RAL Basic audition Postponed to Planned in 2008 BH Local Agenda 21 Garmisch-Partenkirchen, 26 July 2006 On the occasion of a meeting of the Local Agenda 21 in Garmisch- Partenkirchen, Mrs. Dagmar Diwok had put to discussion the possibility of organizing initiatives involving local hoteliers and camp site owners in a program supporting their application for the EU Eco-label. The steering group of the LA 21, together with a representative from the municipality, approved the motion and asked Mrs. Diwok to involve the group in further initiatives of the Eco-label Task Force also in prevision of the Ski World Cup which has been assigned to the city of Garmisch-Partenkirchen for the year The referred contacts for the LA 21 Steering Group are Prof. Dr. Wofgang Seiler, Heiko Düsterhoft and Stefan Blumtritt Follow-up recommendations Follow up contacts in co-operation with the Competent Body Give support to interested applicants 5.8. Austria Situation Generally speaking, 200 tourist accommodations in Austria have been awarded with the national eco-label since tourist accommodations have been awarded with the EU Eco-label by now. The Austrian eco-label has strong criteria, a good marketing performance and is well situated in the tourist sector. For both labels Austrian, EU the Austrian Federal Ministry for environment is the Competent Body. In 2003 an official marketing plan was released comprising a common strategy for both labels. That means that the EU Eco-label is definitively anchored in all national marketing activities of the Austrian Eco-label Objectives Co-operation with the Competent Body (Mr. Martin Büchele) with following activities: 52

54 Find five companies (e.g. two tourist accommodations, three camp sites) to apply for the EU Eco-label Presentation of the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodation services and camp sites at the Ferienmesse 2006 (January 2006, four days) in cooperation with the Federal Ministry for Environment Acquisition activities focusing on hotel-chains or regions with high relevance to nature and environment (nature parks, etc.) in co-operation with the federal government of Styria In Austria the Federal Ministry of Environment promotes both labels: the Austrian Eco-label and the European Eco-label. In June 2005 the criteria for the Austrian EU Eco-label had been harmonized towards the EU Eco-label. This will facilitate the application process for the EU Eco-label as it is a main strategy to win applicants for both labels (one audit, reduction on the fees for the Austrian-Eco-label). Co-ordinator: Mr. Ernst Leitner in close co-operation with Mr. Rainer Stifter Results All activities in Austria started in time: Co-ordination with the Austrian Competent Body (meeting with Mr. Tschulik, Federal Ministry for Environment), participation at Vienna Ferienmesse (January 2006), Acquisition activities Due to a change of the political decision-makers in Styria (2005) all environmental activities that we had planned with the EU Eco-label were stopped. At present it seems that some activities can be continued at the end of 2006 or at least For that reason we focused our activities towards the federal country Salzburg, where we found a co-operation partner in National Park Holiday Resort Hohe Tauern. The Hohe Tauern National Park nature preserve is one of the most magnificent landscapes on earth a Noah s Arc for thousands of species of plants and animals. It is an island of nature in the heart of Europe. Austria s highest mountain peaks (the Grossglockner and Grossvenediger), broad stretches of glaciers, Alpine meadows, imposing rock faces and thunderous waterfalls cascading alongside carefully nurtured, centuries-old cultural traditions lend to its unique character. The Hohe Tauern Holiday Resort consists of 19 cosy mountain villages set in the southern most part of Salzburg State. This green region is famous for its marvellous landscape and is one of the top destinations for tourists in Austria. In 2006, the Hohe Tauern Holiday Resort started common activities with the EU Eco-label marketing team for sustainable tourism. The main focus was set on the efforts to find applicants for the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodations services as well as for camp site services. In two presentations organised by the Hohe Tauern Holiday Resort, hotels and camp site owners have been informed on the advantages of the EU Flower. This promising programme ran under the auspices of Mrs. Doraja Eberle, Minister for National Parks in Salzburg, and was carried out between the EU Eco-label marketing team and Mr. Christian Wörister, marketing director of Hohe Tauern Holiday Resort (see activity report in the annex). Two info presentations took place on 17 May in Fusch and Hollersbach. Mainly representatives from tourist federations and tourist accommodations 53

55 participated in the presentations. Organisation and moderation was carried out by members from the Ferienregion Hohe Tauern. Speakers were Mr. Ernst Leitner and Mr. Rainer Stifter. Both focused on the scheme, application procedure and the criteria. Mr. Stifter explains the criteria of the EU Eco-label Mr. Leitner at his presentation on the EU Eco-label scheme As a result following companies were consulted and eco-checked. For both, the EU Eco-label criteria can be fulfilled and they are willing to apply Supported tourist accommodations in Austria Name Jugendhotel Notburgahof Nationalpark yougendgästehaus sbründl Address Friederike Sugimoto Severin Preihs 5721 Piesendorf, Hildegard Gandler 5721 Piesendorf / Website office@notburg ahof.com, hof.com office@youendbruendl.at Description On-site inspection, eco-check with application documents On-site inspection, eco-check with application documents Acquisition activities Hohe Tauern Region In co-operation with the management of the Hohe Tauern national park, a serial letter was sent to 131 tourist accommodations (including 3 camp sites) on 7 th October. In this letter we informed these accommodations on the advantages of getting certified in a national park. The mailing was completed by follow-up calls. Following companies are interested in the EU Eco-label and are supported with detailed information. A co-operation to give help to the tourist accommodation services is done with Salzburger Umweltservice and Büro für Umweltfragen, Bad Dürrnberg. Both are also responsible for the implementation of the Austrian Eco-label on behalf of Ministry of Environment. 54

56 Interested tourist accommodations in Austria Name Hotel-Gasthof Tannenhof Almrestaurant Geisl-Hochalm Taxenbacherhof Bauernhof-Hotel Oberkarteis Address 5721 Piesendorf Friedensbach 157 / Website hotel@ghtannenhof.at Bramberg info@geislhof. com 5660 Taxenbach Raiffeisenstraße Hüttschlag, Karteis 15 info@taxenbac herhof, herhof.at info@bauern hof-hotel.at Description Short presentation about criteria and scheme Short presentation about criteria and scheme Short presentation about criteria and scheme Short presentation about criteria and scheme Follow-up recommendation Follow up all the contacts in the Ferienregion Hohe Tauern in Follow up the communication with the Competent Body and Salzburger Umweltservice (institution to support eco-label tourist accommodation on behalf of the local government in Salzburg) Spain Situation in Spain Regarding to EU Eco-labelling activities there is little progress. Spain faces the particular situation that it has several Competent Bodies (due to autonomous regions) and that still by now it is often not clear which Competent Body is responsible for which area. Up to the present moment there are 3 tourist accommodation services certified. In some regions there are eco-labels or eco-awards with local coverage: Alcúdia Municipio Ecoturístico here Hotels - Quality for Life El Distintivo de garantía de calidad ambiental In our activities we first concentrated on the Balearic Islands. Tourism is the main economic activity in the Balearic Islands and the islands are one of the main tourist destinations in Europe. For several years, the regional government of the Balearic Islands has been reducing environmental impacts of its tourist activities. Great effort has been addressed to reduce the impact in wastewater treatment, as well as promoting the establishment of solar energy installations. This government has also tried to promote the application of environmental good practices and environmental management among the numerous tourist centres in the Balearic Islands. Since the end of 2004, the Balearic Government has set up a Competent Body for the EU Eco-label and at the end of 2005 the first holiday resort was awarded with the EU Eco-label (Sunwing Resort Bouganvilla). Throughout the coming years, the EU Eco-label 55

57 should help to improve the environmental situation with particular focus on waste management and better usage of resources on the islands. The Balearic Competent Body promised to support activities to increase the number of EU Eco-labelled accommodation services on the Balearic Islands. Information activities for interested hotels had been planned for June 2006, but were postponed for September 2006 and finally for Due to this reason we decided in summer 2006 to find another region where we could organise application activities. The new target area was Valencia with a great support by the local Competent Body Objectives Co-operation with the Competent Body of Balears (Mr. Chacartegui) with following activities: Find one applicant for the EU Eco-label Organise one workshop or meetings with potential applicants (tourist accommodation services) focusing on hotel-chains located on the Balearic Island with high relevance to nature and environment (nature parks, etc.) in co-operation with tourist federations and tour operators (mainly German TO s). Co-ordinator: Mrs. Ana Moreno Avena (Spanish native speaker) with Mr. Ernst Leitner and Mr. Rainer Stifter. Result: We could not carry out the planned activities for the Balearic Islands, therefore we decided to be active in Valencia! Co-operation with the Competent Body of Valencia (Mr. Joaquín Niclos Ferragut) with following activities: Find one applicant for the EU Eco-label Organise one workshop or meetings with potential applicants (tourist accommodation services and camp site services!) in co-operation with the local Competent Body. Co-ordinator: Mrs. Ana Moreno Avena (Spanish native speaker) in close co-operation with Mr. Ernst Leitner and Rainer Stifter Results Due to some difficulties with the Competent Body on the Balearic Islands, Mr. Charcategui, we could not organise a planned workshop in June. We decided to follow up our activities in close co-operation with tour operators and hotel groups. We invited the tour operators My Travel, LTU and TUI for a close cooperation and we received an early reply from Kim Hansen (My Travel Northern). Based on this situation we tried to organise meetings on Mallorca in September 2006 in co-operation with Viva Hotel Group. Due to less time the CB from Balearic Islands was not able to provide substantial support. Together with the Tour Operator we contacted all the hotels. Unfortunately we could not proceed successfully as the hotels decided to go for EMAS. Meanwhile we had positively contacted other regions and achieved a fruitful co-operation with Valencia, where we could organise one workshop thanks to Mr. Ferragut, and motivate companies to apply for the EU Eco-label. 56

58 Presentation in Valencia, September 2006 In August 2006 the team contacted the Competent Body for a promotion event in the area of Valencia. The main focus was to spread for the first time information about the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodations services and camp site services. In one presentation on 21 September 2006, organised by the Competent Body Joaquin Niclós Ferragut in co-operation with Ana Moreno from the marketing team, hotels, camp site owners and stakeholders were informed on the advantages of the EU Flower. The presentation took place in the area of Valencia, Centro de Tecnologías Limpias. After the presentation a first camp site was consulted on 22 September 2006: Camp site Bonterra Park. The main goals of the presentation Presenting the EU Eco-label in detail to relevant stakeholders in local and regional tourism Raise the level of recognition among decision makers in tourism Find interested tourist companies to apply for the EU Eco-label Find co-operation partners in tourist and hotel associations to cooperate in the future and to find applicants The event was organised by the Competent Body Joaquin Niclós Ferragut. The speakers were Rainer Stifter, Energon, referring on marketing, fees and bestpractices. Ana Moreno explained the EU Eco-label criteria. Result of workshop 45 persons participated in this workshop. The participants were stakeholders, consultants, representatives of tourist accommodation services and camp sites, tourist association and hotel associations. It has to be underlined that information about the EU Eco-label was spread for the first time in this region and that participants could get detailed information also for the first time. Main interest was in the practical implementation of the individual criteria and financial incentives for going for the flower. After a longer discussion at the end of the workshop a hotel, a hotel association and a camp site showed interest in undertaking an eco-check to evaluate in which way the criteria could be implemented Follow-up recommendation Follow up contacts in co-operation with the local Competent Body Give support to interested applicants Czech Republic Situation The process of environmental awareness has just started in the New Member States. Czech Republic shows a favourable trend in the development of tourism. In this process sustainable tourism is integrated at the national level (Czech Republic Strategy for Sustainable development). The Czech Republic concentrates the promotion of sustainable form of tourism mainly in protected areas and in locations where the most fragile ecosystems are located (source: 57

59 Czech Federal Ministry of Environment). Projects have been created in cooperation with regional centres regarding education and assistance programmes for tourist information centres and the administration staff of protected landscape areas. The Czech Competent Body said that people are quite open minded towards sustainable tourism. Therefore, it would be reasonable to enforce activities in some areas to create best-practice examples that could trigger a positive effect on the other New Member States Objectives Co-operation with the Czech Competent Body with following activities: Find two applicants (first movers) for the EU Eco-label (one tourist accommodation service, one camp site owner) Starting a pilot-process in co-operation with the Competent Body, tourist federations and relevant stakeholders focusing on hotels or regions with high relevance to nature and environment (nature parks, etc.) Co-ordinator: Mrs. Monika Pribylova, Enviros, in close co-operation with Mr. Ernst Leitner, G&L Results Based on the communication with the Competent Body and discussion on the 1 st Czech seminar on the EU Eco-label which took place , various dissemination channels are being considered and used. The easiest option is internet information. At this moment, there is information about the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodation services on the website The seminar was advertised on website of eco news ( and on the website of Enviros ( The newly translated brochures were disseminated partially during the above mentioned seminar. Representatives of eco tourist accommodation association and other tourists associations asked for taking a small package of the brochures to distribute during their activities. The Eco-label was promoted during business breakfast of the British Chamber of Commerce on 25 th of May. An article describing the EU Eco-label promotion project in the Czech Republic and its activity was issued in the Environmental aspects quarterly magazine 2/2006. Further dissemination activities will include communication with representatives of regional tourist offices and environmental NGOs, placement of information about Eco-label on various tourist relevant internet sites and communication with potential applicants. A second seminar for the EU Eco-label tourist accommodation service took place during the Flower week on 13th of October 2006 in České Budějovice or Český Krumlov in co-operation with the regional authority of South Bohemia region. This seminar had two parts one focused on tourist accommodation and other on camps. Enviros was responsible for getting the participants and CB helped with presentation and communication with the regional authority. 58

60 First Czech Seminar on the EU Eco-label in Prague, 12 April A first seminar took place on 12 April 2006 in Hotel Adalbert (in premises of historical monastery called Břevnovský klášter) in Prague. The target groups were hotels and pensions in middle Bohemia region covering Prague, with size of beds. There were 26 participants from whom 11 were representatives of hotels, pensions and other accommodation services, several Monika Pribylova during her presentation representatives from national board on eco-labeling tourist services (representatives from MoE, Ministry of Agriculture, Ministry for local development, European centre for Ecological and Agricultural tourism, Accommodation services association, ). The program was prepared in close co-operation with the Czech Eco-label Competent body (the Eco-label Agency). The program consisted of: Opening - presenting the aim of the seminar, introduction of the EU project for support of EU Eco-label in tourism by Monika Přibylová, Enviros. Presentation of MoE s role in the eco-label system (activities in tourism area) by Mr. Daniel Hájek, MoE Presentation of requirements for awarding the Eco-label, benefits and costs for accommodation operators, Eco-label award procedure by Ms. Adéla Princová, Eco-label Agency, CENIA Sharing of experience with obtaining the 1st EU Eco-label in the tourist accommodation category in the Czech Republic by Mr. Filip Kühnel, director of Adalbert hotel Presentation of implementation benefits of EU Eco-label in tourist accommodation in by Ernst Leitner, G&L Discussion Visit of hotel Adalbert premises with discussion of changes needed to comply with the Eco-label criteria. Result of the seminar: The director of Adalbert hotel expressed that the interest and support of the CB and Enviros in awarding his hotel with the 1 st EU Eco-label in the CR was great incentive for achieving the criteria needed for obtaining the EU Eco-label. The official Award of the EU and Czech Eco-label took place on 25th April. For more information see: Immediately after the end of the seminar Mr. Zbyněk Čermák from Pension Primus expressed interest in applying for the EU Eco-label. He was given the full version of the criteria and had one meeting with the CB (Ms. Princova). The second Czech seminar took place on 13 October 2006 in Hotel At The Town Vienna in Cesky Krumlov along with the Eco-film festival. This seminar promotes the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodation service and camp site services. 59

61 Second Czech Seminar on the EU Eco-label in Cesky Krumlov, 13 Oct. There were 14 participants from whom 8 were representatives of hotels, pensions and other accommodation services, 2 were representatives of camp site services and several representatives from Ministry of Environment of the Czech republic, Ministry for Regional Development and Czech Environmental Information Agency. The program consisted of: Opening presenting the aim of the seminar and representation of the EU project to implement the EU Eco-label in the region by Monika Bilkova, ENVIROS The short introduction of the process Eco-labeling by Adela Princova, CENIA The benefits of implementation Eco-label in tourist accommodations and camp sites and practical examples of benefits of implementation Ecolabel at the Hotel Adalbert at the Czech republic and the other hotels and camp sites from abroad was presented by Monika Bilkova, ENVIROS. Presentation of requirements for awarding the Eco-label by Adela Princova, CENIA Discussion The focus of discussion was mainly the application fee, the criteria, the benefits for tourist accommodation services and camp site services and the marketing benefits. Like a best practice the Hotel Adalbert at the Czech Republic (the first hotel which was awarded with the EU Eco-label at the Czech Republic) was presented. After the discussion three participants (representatives from Penzion Laura, Hotel na Pláži and Apartmans in Trebon centr ReVa) spoke about their potential interest to award the EU Eco-label. They obtained the useful materials about the EU Eco-label and contact addresses and Adela Princova from CENIA will be in contact with them. One direct outcome of the workshop in Cesky Krumlov is that two companies applied for the EU Eco-label: Sporthotel Zaton and the camp site ATC Oasa. The application process is in progress. The certification can be expected end of December or January Follow-up recommendation Follow up contacts in co-operation with the local Competent Body Give support to interested applicants 60

62 5.11. Hungary Situation Final Report G&L Wien, Ref. ENV. G2/SER/2005/0024, Lot 8 Sustainable tourism is also a relevant issue in Hungary, which can be concluded from the many ongoing activities. A main focus in previous times was set in the development of rural tourism. Meanwhile Hungary is an active partner in the European Community. The EU Eco-label therefore is an important instrument for the coming efforts of Hungary towards sustainable tourism. One tourist accommodation was awarded the EU Eco-label last year. It was a challenge to find more applicants in Hungary. With the support from the Hungarian Competent Body as well as the national tourism authorities an adequate strategy was developed Objectives Co-operation with the Competent Body with following activities: Find two applicants for the EU Eco-label (one tourist accommodation service, one camp site owner) Starting a pilot-process in co-operation with the Competent Body, tourist federations and relevant stakeholders focusing on hotels or regions with high relevance to nature and environment (Lake Balatony) Co-ordinator: Mrs. Vilma Era, CES in close co-operation with Mr. Ernst Leitner Status The initial contacts were set with main stakeholders: the Hungarian Tourism Office, its Lake Balaton Regional Tourist Project Office, and Balatontourist Lpc. (owner of all Lake Balaton camp sites) The main objective was to inform about the EU Flower and the ongoing project. Both the Hungarian Tourism Office and Mr. Toth, director of the Regional Project Office offered co-operation. They agreed that the Lake Balaton region is a good target region for the first acquisitions. A co-operation agreement was signed with the Hungarian Tourism office. As part of the agreement, the Hungarian Tourist Office helped in disseminating information on the EU Ecolabel for tourist accommodation and camp sites, gave contact information and offers to include certified tourist accommodations in its brochures, maps and other publications. As a first awareness raising activity, the agreement was announced on a press conference. (See annex) Co-operation with the Lake Balaton Regional Project Office was less successful as the director contacted in spring quit and new contacts with the new director were hindered by summer vacations. The camp sites Balaton area belong to two different organizations. One is the Hungarian camp site federation; the other is Balatontourist LPC., owner of all camp sites around Lake Balaton. Both organizations were approached. The Hungarian camp site federation (41 camp sites) sent out the information on 61

63 the EU eco-label that had been sent by the marketing team to them. This is how Thermal Cemping Pápa learned about the possibility and the project. Balatontourist LPC on the other hand was interviewing its camp site to learn whether they were willing to meet the EU eco-label requirements, because they were interested in the EU Eco-label only if all their camp sites were willing to implement it. But it turned out that not all camp sites showed interest in the labelling procedure. Consultance of Pápa Thermal Camping After the first information package sent out to stakeholders (hotel and camp associations, Thermal Camping, Pápa ( called for further information on the EU Eco-label. This is a new camp site owned by a German company and equipped with up-to-date facilities and a dynamic manager, very interested in environmental issues. Detailed information were sent to the manager, Mr. Gábor Hegyi including information on the application procedure, the requirements of the EU eco-label and the national eco-label, the application pack, and the verification forms. Assistance was also offered to the application but it was not requested, as the application seemed to be simple. The camp site could easily meet the requirements and there were no language barriers in filling in the application form. (Though the application pack is available only in English but it can be filled out in Hungarian). The only issue the manager of the camp site raised was the fee. All necessary information was sent to him but after having discussed the issue of application once again with the owners, they pulled out due to the costs related to the eco-label use and the application. Their withdrawal might be temporary and they might be contacted again next year. Press Conference on the EU Eco-label for tourist accommodation services and camp sites - 5th July 2006 The press conference was organized together with the Hungarian Tourist Office at Hotel Budapest. The objective of the conference was to inform the media on the EU Eco-label, its requirements and benefit as well as the cooperation agreement between the Hungarian Tourist Board and the ongoing project (represented by the Center for Environmental Studies) to promote the EU Eco-label in Hungary. Participants' folders included a press release, the new EU Eco-label brochure in Hungarian, the Hungarian versions of the tourism and camp site factsheets (see annex) as well as a short summary of the experience of the Kolping Hotel (prepared by the director of the hotel), the first Hungarian eco-labelled hotel. The conference was attended by 25 journalists in addition to the representatives of the Hungarian CBs, the Hungarian Hotel Association, the Professional Association of Hungarian Camp sites, the Association of Hungarian Youth Accommodation Services and the Pension Centre Association of Pensions. In his introductory, Dr. Gábor Galla, CEO of the Hungarian Tourist Office emphasized how important the clean and healthy environment is for the tourist industry and urged tourist accommodations to apply for the eco-label. Dr. Vilma Eri, contact person for Hungary informed the participants on the requirements and the benefits of the EU Eco-label. After the presentations, 62

64 journalists asked several questions that were answered by Dr. Galla, Dr. Eri, and representatives of the national Competent Bodies. The representative of the Hungarian Hotel Association presented his doubts related to the EU Ecolabel. He argued that some of the eco-label requirements (e.g. serving local food and avoiding individual packaging of jam, honey and butter) are in contradiction with the European hygienic requirement, and suggested that the Hungarian "Green Hotel" award issued by the Hungarian Hotel Association was good enough, therefore there was no need for a European Eco-label. In his response, Dr. Galla maintained that the Hungarian tourist industry did need the EU Eco-label because it is based on strict, unified criteria and signals both environmental excellence and high quality of service. The press conference was followed by 36 publications that transferred a positive image of the EU Eco-label. Doubts presented by the Hungarian Hotel Industry were not mentioned in the articles. Slide from presentation Vilma Eri Dr. Gábor Galla, Chief Executive of the Hungarian Tourist Office Mrs. Vilma Eri, CES, at her presentation on the EU Eco-label Databases of tourist accommodations A database of tourist accommodation services in the Balaton region was received from the Regional Project Office (452 addresses). Most of these accommodations have been checked in order to select 40 accommodations that are in good conditions, are expected to be open to changes and can be interested in applying for the EU Eco-label. 63