At the recent Global Sustainable Tourism Conference held in Suwon, South Korea, the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) announced that Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd (RCL) would recognise EarthCheck Certified as a preferred program for their Sustainable Shore Excursion initiative.
RCL has a long term commitment to protect the marine environment and to sustain the well-being of the people and place they visit. Their environmental policies guide both shipboard and shore-wide environmental practices.
As part of its commitment to ensure the long-term health of the world’s oceans. RCL has set a public goal to make available to passengers a significant number of unique shore excursions under internationally recognised sustainability certification programmes approved (Certified) by the Global Tourism Sustainability Council (GSTC)
The global EarthCheck environmental certification and benchmarking program is one of three approved (Certified) programs which has been appointed to work with Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd this year.
EarthCheck’s verification process ensures that shore excursion providers are operating in a way that contributes to the long-term viability of the communities, cultures and environments in which they do business. Shore excursions that are EarthCheck Certified will receive marketing benefits from Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd., including an exclusive Sustainable Shore Excursion icon, used throughout Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. pre-departure and on-board marketing channels.
“Today’s cruise customer cares about the destinations they visit and the footprint they leave behind. This includes the carbon footprint of their journey and the impact their shore excursions have on local communities.” ” said Stewart Moore, CEO and founder of EarthCheck.
“We welcome this endorsement and look forward to providing RCL Shore Excursions with an easy and affordable roadmap to gaining recognition for their commitment to responsible tourism practices. It is timely for the cruise ship industry worldwide to step up to the measurement and transparent reporting on carbon emissions and responsible work practices,” continued Mr Moore.
“Accurate performance based measurement and a sound understanding of emission profiles is a good starting point. Third party verification of emissions is quickly becoming the benchmark—and the good news is we are seeing it being embraced by leading companies to meet compliance and consumer market expectations.”
For more information about EarthCheck’s recognition please contact info@earthcheck.org
Publish your content with EB Publishing
It's about who you reach. Get your news, events, jobs and thought leadership seen by those who matter to you.
