Green Globe's director of operations, Claire Hendrie, who flew to Jamaica to present the award to Sandals Negril, commended the resort for continuously meeting and exceeding Green Globe's standards for environmental preservation and community involvement.

"Sandals have been leaders in the field," she
said. "They have been a source of inspiration."

Stewart, in response, said that with Sandals leading the way, he hoped projects such as its biodiesel refinery at Sandals St Lucia, which converts fats and oils from the resort's kitchen into fuel for its diesel engine vehicles, and its wind turbine and solar generation power plant at Fowl Cay in The Bahamas, would become commonplace in the industry.

He pointed to the ability of the award-winning hotel chain to influence environmentally friendly practices in the proliferation of Green Globe-certified hotels across the island, which no doubt followed their lead in 1998, when Sandals Negril first received Green Globe certification.

"In 1998, nobody knew who Green Globe was," he remarked. "Now there are many Green Globe-certified hotels here, among them many small ones. With the inaugural certification of Sandals Negril in 1998, all Sandals resorts had now been certified with the international body, which monitors sustainable and environmentally friendly development practices in the travel industry.

In thanking Green Globe for the recognition, Stewart said that the hotel was committed to the cause of environmental protection, evident in the launch of its Sandals Earth Guard, a programme dedicated solely to the preservation of this tradition.

The company's Earth Guard committee, he said, comprised two full-time engineers who ensured that all of Sandals' development plans, from inception, go through a multi-organisational process, which vetted them for environmental sustainability. Among the projects under the Earth Guard programme, he noted, would be the abolition of the use of plastic drink bottles at the resorts.

"Anything we are designing from the onset has to be designed with environmental standards in mind. ...this is a huge passion for me," Stewart added.

He also praised the team of environment managers at each Sandals resort, led by SRI's director of environmental affairs, Richard May, for their tireless efforts in ensuring the organisation remained at the top in environmental protection