“The Sea is Green”. The Principality Keeps Sustainable Tourism at the Fore

This whole issue of sustainable tourism is a hard nut to crack. What is it, what does it mean? The client is still king so it requires a constant to and fro of education and feedback where clients, tourist resorts and hotels embrace sustainability together.

We are starting to get some glimpses of this evolution especially in Monaco much of whose tourists are attracted by its beautiful Mediterranean sea location. 

It’s a serious issue as the impact of tourism on the environment reportedly accounts for 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. 

And much of tourism is centered around the The Sea. This is the common thread of the year 2023 sustainability thrust in the Principality organized around 4 periods: ‘The Sea is Green’, ‘New Wave’, ‘And sails the ship’ as well as ‘Mer de glace’.

And on Saturday March 11th the inaugural event of the “The Sea is Green” program took place at the Hôtel Hermitage Monte-Carlo, with the presentation of the exhibition of Jean Boghossian, a man of many cultures  who was born in Aleppo into a family that fled the Armenian genocide and spent his youth in Lebanon before settling in Belgium. Heartbreak, exodus, but also hope feed his work demonstrated by the carte blanche given to him by the SBM to exhibit on this theme “The Sea is Green”. The evening continued with a “Music of Water” dinner-recital by the Monegasque pianist prodigy Stella Almondo, organized in the heart of the Monegasque Hermitage palace, in the Winter Garden, with a menu by Chef Yannick Alléno.

The Sea is Green – Sustainability 

“The Sea is Green” theme of sustainability continued on Wednesday March 22, at the Hôtel Hermitage with a morning visit with explanations by the artist Jean Boghossian, followed by a meeting fuelled by feedback from the actors of the sustainable hotel industry on what they do in terms of respect for the environment, interviewed by journalist Leïla Ghandi, and in the presence of Pierre Frolla. This meeting is part of the official program of Monaco Ocean Week organized each year by the Principality of Monaco.

SBM is working hard to make Monaco a leader as a sustainable luxury tourist destination. 90% of hotel rooms in the Principality are reported as having obtained environmental certifications. The group’s four hotels, the Thermes Marins, the Café de Paris, and One Monte-Carlo are also Green Globe certified, a very demanding label that is difficult to obtain. 

Much of the work has taken several years with special attention to sorting waste, reducing plastic and the use of renewable energies including using heat pumps and solar panels. The Monte-Carlo Beach in particular has been rewarded for its eco-responsible approach.

Customer awareness is definitely on the rise; clients no longer resist doing certain helpful things for the environment. All this continues through education and mediation and while it takes some time to work its way through, it is accelerated by champions like Pierre Frolla who is leading the charge.