FREQUENT FLYER
Bruno Correa, Bee+hive
Bruno Correa, founder of new sustainable tourism platform Bee+hive, is on a quest to promote green travel. By Destin Tay.
As the saying goes, the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree. Bruno Correa founded Bee+hive, a booking and marketing platform this September, and its mission pays homage to Correa’s parents, who run small boutique hotels in Brazil that incorporate sustainable practices.
Sustainability is an expensive affair, and there exist similar small hotels, parks and restaurants worldwide that may not have the time and capital to market themselves. Bee+hive comes to help these establishments broadcast their mission to international travellers looking to reduce their environmental impact.
Bee+hive’s members include the Nay Palad Hideaway and Casa Dos Arandis, to name a few. They are dedicated to stimulating the local economy beyond eco-friendly practices like waste reduction and sustainable sourcing. They also develop the local workforce through proper training and are committed to maintaining fair wages.
What is the current state of sustainable tourism?
It’s hard to track concrete numbers, but sustainable tourism is currently one of the fastest growing segments in the market. We are seeing more and more trends gaining traction, such as the rise in homestays and ecological tourism, and it confirms that the overall growth of this sector is, in fact, sustainable. Our job as a platform is to help these resorts and vendors to spread their message worldwide and reach out to travellers who are looking for such an enriching experience.
How does Bee+hive choose its partners?
We have designed an internal metric in partnership with Conservation International, based on the best sustainable practices as designated by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. We will evaluate a potential partner’s practices and commitment to the local economy before separating them into different experiences.
Currently, we are concentrating on natural, cultural, and economic experiences. For example, Sweden’s Treehotel is one of our partners, which is a minimal impact luxury resort with award-winning rooms.
How do cultural experiences improve sustainability?
Not only does it help generate income for local communities, it assigns intrinsic value to cultural and traditional practices, which prevents them from dying out altogether. Take the Masuwe Lodge in Zimbabwe. It offers a dinner cruise through the Zambezi River that is operated by the locals who are caretakers of the Zambezi National Park. It helps tourists to understand the reverence that the locals give to the land, and inspires more locals to take up jobs in the tourism sector.
Nature is symbiotic with sustainability. Which partner best represents this?
San Salis Ningaloo Reef Safari Camp. It’s a safari-inspired ecoresort that offers tons of guided wildlife activities. Guests can kayak and snorkel around Ningaloo Reef, and even swim with whale sharks and humpback whales. We hope these experiences will remind tourists how important it is to conserve our oceans and the diversity of life within them. San Salis is also famous as a designated dark sky zone, which aims to reduce light pollution and enables guests to enjoy unfettered views of the Milky Way. The Nay Palad Hideaway is also great for those interested in a more tropical biome. Here, you can hike through lush jungles, explore winding mangrove swamps or swim through hidden caves.
What is the perfect holiday to you?
I hold my family near and dear to my heart, so going back to where it all started would be perfect. Casa Dos Arandis in Brazil is a veritable tropical paradise and there are full of experiences for guests to discover, from Pedra Furada Island, Atlantic Forest to Camamu Bay. A visit to Santa Rita Farm is a must. It’s an organic cocoa plantation, and visitors get the chance to taste natural cocoa and other fruits that are grown in the region. It’s a charming, delightful experience.