Treasure Island’s exceptional environmental performance in showcasing and protecting the local people and their culture, in showcasing, interpreting and protecting the local environment; and high level of sustainable practice in every department may come as a surprise to many people. However part of the process of responsibly operating in a sustainable manner is “benchmarking before boasting”, and the opportunity provided by the AON Fiji Excellence in Tourism awards to undergo peer review is an important part of the process of running an sustainable resort. Treasure Island is running an extremely eco-conscious operation, but in addition to that is building the processes and policy as well as the checks and balances that will ensure that it only improves its status each year as market leader in sustainable operation.
As stated earlier it is easy to maintain a green operation in a small exclusive property where lots of money is charged for the privilege and only small numbers are catered for, or in a small resort offering basic facilities only as part of the customer experience (i.e. roughing it!). Additionally in a limited operation such as an office there are a limited number of areas to work on. The sheer size of this essay only underpins the difficulty of working on an operation as diverse as Treasure Island; however Treasure Island has risen to the challenge to provide the 3 1/2 to 4 star customer with their own affordable eco-friendly sustainable holiday destination, thereby setting a benchmark for other resorts.
Other resorts have large fossil fuelled boats, big airconditioned spaces, boutiques full of Australian brand clothes and pringles chips, contractors who drive Hummers, numerous ex-pat staff members and lush heavily watered, and artificially fertilised gardens leading to their deep fresh water pools. They have imported paper straws containing white sugar sitting on beautiful, but imported furniture. Most resorts return very little to the local land owners beyond their lease payments, and have little involvement in fostering and highlighting local culture beyond a weekly meke and some torch lighting. Other small basic or new resorts may have a good sustainability status as a result of size rather than policy, with no checks or balances in place to ensure they would retain this status if/when they grow bigger or become busier.
Treasure Island can argue that it is possible to alter this culture of consumerism without compromising the bottom line or the customer experience; and it is backed up by recent customer surveys that found exceptional opinions of the staff and the food, and of course the fact that Treasure Island has one of the highest proportions of returnees in Fiji, which surely must be proof in itself.
References and Disclosure
In the interest of disclosure I must state that although I am married to the GM of Treasure Island, Graeme Back (so of course naturally biased), I am not in anyway involved in the operations of Treasure in any form (apart from living on the island etc). I have formed this submission in a semi independent manner for Treasure Island from interviews and observations, with facts on sustainability coming from several main sources referenced below, and from my own experience (I have a BAgr Sci with majors in primary product marketing and Ecology). I do sincerely believe in my experience Treasure Island is doing an exceptional job in supporting the local environment and culture, in showcasing the local environment and culture to visitors, and is a responsible global citizen. I continue to be impressed especially with the companies culture formed from the top with the Chairman and Board of Directors, who truly believe in both their resort, and in Fiji and its cultures, attractions and future.
As we will also post this online for the judges to read hence saving paper (at http://treasureislandresort.wordpress.com/) I have left out details/exact figures that may be commercially sensitive, however Mr Back is happy to answer these to clarify any questions if contacted directly. He can be contacted at (email) gm@treasure.com.fj; (mobile) (679) 999-9375; or (office) (679) 666-1599
My key sources for figures quoted included:-
-Australian Conservation Foundation
-Tourism Partnership.Org
-Biodiesel Basics and Beyond: William Kemp
-McCook, (2003) Study on the Marine Environment of Treasure Island
-Global Development Research Centre (www.gdrc.org)
Meg Back29 November, 2007
