The Delight Swakopmund not only impresses with its warm hospitality and modern design, but also with its excellent environmental compatibility. Eco Awards Namibia bestowed the highest environmental seal of quality to this charming hotel under the Gondwana group at the coast: 5 green flowers. The special distinction was created in 2018 to honour tourism companies that have invested primarily in the "green" environmental areas, namely conservation, water, energy and waste management.
“We wanted to create a challenge to those establishments, who worked really hard in the four ‘pure Environmental Sections”, says Hazel Milne, the programme coordinator from Eco Awards Namibia. “We started to calculate an average percentage on the score for these sections. Only when an establishment scores more than a 90% average in only these sections, we award the ‘Green 5 Flowers’. So, there were no new criteria, only an additional challenge in the standard Eco Awards Namibia assessment.”
Eco Awards Namibia is a cooperation between the private sector and the government in an effort to promote sustainable tourism. The standard evaluation, which awards one to five desert flowers, focuses on the sustainability concept. In addition to the environmental compatibility of the participating tourism companies, the areas of human resources, social responsibility and legal compliance also play a major role.
The Delight Swakopmund is the first accommodation establishment in the Gondwana Collection to receive 5 Green Flowers. During the past years, Gondwana’s efforts to run their lodges in a sustainable manner were repeatedly acknowledged with 5 Desert Flowers. Currently, ten of the Gondwana Lodges have a 5 Desert Flower rating; which is similar to the star-rating system for tourist accommodations. Other lodges that previously received a three or four flower rating are due for a new review. The participation in the Eco Awards programme is voluntary. Applicants are re-evaluated every 3 years.