Hotel Sigiriya wins accolades at WTM

Excel: Hotel Sigiriya won accolades at the World Travel Market where they were highly recommended from among 1550 hotels at the World Responsible Tourism Awards here last week.

The hotel overlooking the Sigiriya rock.

The other hotel to be commended was Hotel Frangipani Langkawi Resort and Spa in Malaysia. Kingfisher Bay Resort, Fraser Island, Australia won the first place.

This is the second occasion that Hotel Sigiriya won world fame, the first being when they won the first place at the IRHA Green Award USA.

CEO Srilal Miththapala says that they haven't embarked on costly hi-tech interventions - simply implemented basic, common sense ideas.

"A lot of people don't understand that it's the small things that matter, but it all adds up," he explains. He calculates that due to their responsible methods and current eco-friendly interventions the hotel has reduced the hotel's carbon footprint by 24.82 million tons, following the installation this year of a bio-mass gasifier for which they invested Rs. 3.5 million.

The hotel is helping locals to grow gliricidia, a highly carbonaceous plant used for the gasifier, thus providing another source of community income.

CEO, Srilal Miththapala.

The 79-roomed Hotel Sigiriya opened in 1971, way before the world had heard of responsible tourism or environmental management policies. But it was in 2005 that Hotel Sigiriya had eco-greatness thrust upon it, with the launch of a massive 'greening' project.

He said that going green has helped them to lower overheads as well. "I must say that greening was not a publicity stunt. It's just our commitment to the community," he said. The hotel has started campaigning for a polythene-free Sigiriya.

The Hotel has also become renowned for biodiversity conservation and is the first in Sri Lanka to be named 'bird-friendly'.

Initiatives to conserve energy and water, reduce pollution, step up recycling, increase the use of environmentally-friendly materials and conserve the natural environment have helped the hotel to win this award.

The Responsible Tourism Awards are the most competitive and prestigious awards of their kind in the world and are a collaboration between online travel directory responsibletravel.com, who founded and organise the Awards, UK media partners The Daily Telegraph, Geographical Magazine and BBC World News, and World Travel Market, who hosted the Awards ceremony.

The turtle conservation project (TCP) in Sri Lanka also was 'highly commended' for their efforts to save an endangered species.