Press reviews
Last Friday, the organization Pays Adour Landes Océanes (ALO) and the CPIE Seignanx et Adour brought together thirty tourism providers in the holiday village La Forêt des Landes, in Tarnos, for a local training program. Jean-Pierre Dufau, deputy chairman of the Pays ALO, said that this action is carried out in partnership with the Aquitaine Region and the General Council (Conseil general) of the Landes. A sustainable development charter, the result of a long collective work, has been presented and validated before being widespread throughout the ALO countries (pays ALO) in 2012. This charter will set short-term practice in tourism establishments, and in the longer term it will establish the Landes department as a nature destination.
Membership to the charter includes six binding commitments to minimize the impact of tourism activity on the environment: provide water and energy consumption, propose selective waste sorting, inform customers, use of 100% "eco-label" paper and training of staff. For example, regarding water use it has been planned in "year 1", to limit the use of dangerous cleaning products to a strict minimum, in "year 2" to equip at least 50% of the taps and showers with an efficient water saving system and to observe a reasoned watering of the green areas, and in "year 3" to equip at least 80% of taps and toilets with a water saving system.
The initiators of this project have as a perspective other forms of training in sustainable tourism and "e-tourism" and will work to sustain the actions with animations and monitoring. They are campsite managers or holiday accommodation lessors, the participants came from across the ALO country: Orthevielle, Messanges, Saint-Paul-lès-Dax and Seignanx… Seignanx is already well advanced in ecotourism (8 out of 30 establishments are eco-labelled in the Aquitaine), the day ended with a visit to the holiday village Touristra, La Forêt des Landes, an eco-labelled accommodation of the "ecotourism" process conducted within Seignanx, and the presentation of an eco-labelled accommodation in Saint-André-de-Seignanx
J.-Y. I. - www.sudouest.fr - Saturday 21 January 2012 06h00
