The interest for "green" or sustainable holiday destinations is growing rapidly all over Europe. Because of this, in Mallorca, the council of Calvià has already backed the Travelife sustainability program, which was described in last May's edition of The Khronicles.

And in Crete, many travel and tour companies have expressed interest in exploring this new program.

The Travelife System is an online system providing accommodations with the support, advice and tools to improve their environmental and social performance, in addition to saving money.

"The Travelife System is one of many non profit teams created in favour of viable growth offering voluntary work with the support of the International Federation of Tour Operators (IFTO), said Demis Evangelinos, of Iraklion's Rhodos Tours."It is an offshoot of Sustainable Tourism which is a combination of local element, nature and viable tourism, contributing simultaneously to the development of tourism destinations and to the protection of the ecosystem."

Mr. Evangelinos continued: "Unfortunately in our country, it is very difficult to apply this system because the Greeks are not sensitive to such innovations, that is, for the Greek identity not to be lost with the arrival of foreigners and at the same time for a profit to be realized from local products and services. The tour operators in this system do believe in monetary gains but not to the detriment of local cultures and nature."   

Every type of accommodation can join the Travelife System, and it can be done in English or Greek, as well as many other languages.

After a basic registration of your accommodation, which is free of charge, the system offers the possibility to do a "self-check," consisting of a list of questions on, for example, energy and water use and then a score is given with advice on how to improve the weak points and how to save thousands of euros on energy and water bills.

The questions can all be answered with Yes/No and it only takes about 20 minutes to complete. Moreover, a handbook (Greek/English) with lots of practical information on how to improve things can be downloaded at:

http://www.its4travel.com/handbooks/Travelife%20Handbook%20PDF%20Greek%2006%20P.pdf

The results from these self-check lists are not made public, but the name of the participating accommodations appear in the Travelife Database. All accommodations appear with a symbol that signifies "self-check" or "verified check-list."

This database is already used by hundreds of tour operators as an important source of information on their destinations.

Those attaining high scores are able to use the Travelife logo as a marketing aid and are able to take a subscription to the system. An auditor will come to verify your score and you can use it in all your publications.

A subscription to the system has several benefits:

• Award winners receive a Travelife plaque that can be displayed in their accommodation

• Entry into many international business directories

• An audit by a qualified Travelife Auditor

• All participating tour operators can feature the award in their brochures and websites

The subscription fee varies as to the number of beds in the accommodation, and starts from approximately 125 euros per year.