One Booking, One Tree Planted: travel with a positive impact.
Travel with a positive impact with Tekoma Boutik Hotel. Since early 2020, Tekoma Boutik Hotel and François Leguat Reserve have collaborated on a project to combine travellers’ sustainability expectations with the Rodrigues Island ecosystem’s needs. This project uses a part of each reservation made at Tekoma to finance the planting of endemic trees around the island.
Modern travellers want to travel with a positive impact.
For a few years now, travellers have shown strong interest in their impact on the environment. In a post-Covid context, where everybody is changing their way of living, Travel is also evolving with a strong desire to reduce the environmental impact.
In 2018, an anti-flying movement called ‘Flygskam’ or ‘Flight Shaming’ emerged in nordic countries to spread worldwide. Aiming to protect the planet and reduce their carbon footprint, many refuse air travel and voice the necessity of acting to protect our planet.
This growing awareness has luckily forced the travel industry to rethink its approach and work on more sustainable alternatives. Tekoma has been no exception and has decided to adapt its infrastructures, operations & actions to progressively establish this boutique hotel as the leader of green efforts in Rodrigues.
Being such a remote island in the Indian Ocean, Rodrigues not only feels the impact of climate change rapidly but is also heavily dependent on air travel and tourism, as it represents an essential part of the island’s economy. The team at Tekoma has early on been aware of this challenge and worked on combining its guests’ expectations with the destination’s needs. In this vision, sustainability naturally became one of the main subjects when talking about the hotel’s good development and evolution.
Tekoma is making this positive impact a local impact!
Rodrigues island is growing to become a ‘conscious’ destination since many ecological actions are actively in place. As a hotel, we are proud to offer our guests this unique opportunity to discover a precious authentic destination with its majestic natural frame. But we also must inform travellers of the importance of respecting and preserving the island’s ecosystems, highlighting and supporting local ecological actions and leading the way to other establishments by taking measures to protect the environment.
In late 2019, the Tekoma team shared many of these thoughts and ideas with the people at François Leguat Reserve as they are an ecological entity taking firm actions in the reforestation of the island. Soon enough, we decided to collaborate with the Reserve to create a project called ‘One Booking, One Tree Planted’.
The objective? Partner with the best and make tourism contribute to the island’s environmental protection.
‘One Booking, One Tree Planted’ consists in financing the planting of endemic trees around Rodrigues island with incomes from reservations made at Tekoma. For each booking, one tree is planted. This simple but gold action allows travellers to contribute positively and locally to one of the island’s sustainable projects. Yes, we’re aware that our carbon footprints won’t just disappear, but every effort counts, and we’re very proud of this local & positive action. The other good news is that we have something cooking for your Carbon Neutral Stays. We’ll share more on that soon!
“Ansam pou nou Planet” – All together for Big changes.
On the 24th of September 2022, Tekoma Boutik Hotel and François Leguat Reserve teams gathered to celebrate the first official donation as part of the “One Booking, One tree Planted” project. At this date, our guests contributed the equivalent of almost 2000 endemic trees. This number represents the first of a long series of actions for the island’s reforestation. Our collaboration with François Leguat Reserve aims to be long-term and to last the more possible.
“One Booking, One Tree Planted” wouldn’t be possible without the participation of our guests, the support of our teams and the encouragement of Rodrigue’s local authorities. We can be proud of this new achievement and look forward to making more and more sustainable operations.
The 24th of September 2022 symbolised the launch of a beautiful collaboration and, more importantly, an additional step to more responsible tourism.
Together, we can make a difference!
You may also like: The Beach BOP Initiative
