El Nido wins sustainability award

TEN KNOTS’ EL NIDO RESORTS HAS RECEIVED ANOTHER international award, the 2014 Sustainable Hotel Award in the Sustainable Communities category, from the Hotel Investment Conference Asia Pacific (HICAP).

The award was presented to El Nido Resorts for their efforts in “embracing the wisdom of partnering with local communities and investing in environmental protection.” Ten Knots Group’s president Laurent Lamasuta received the award at the presentation ceremony of the 25th annual HICAP in Hong Kong last Friday.

Lamasuta explains, “Our resorts employ 90 percent locals, whom we train and equip with the skills and knowledge to be at par with international standards. They also act as our champions for the environment, educating guests on the biodiversity of El Nido, at the same time making sure that it is protected.”

“Furthermore, we make sure that as much as possible, we source our ingredients locally, in turn reducing our food miles and creating more sustainable menus which our guests appreciate,” he adds.

The 2014 Sustainable Hotel Award marks another global recognition and affirmation that the Ten Knots Group is fully committed to responsible tourism, green practices and community development.

The Ten Knots Group, which after changes in ownership is now part of the AyalaLand Hotels and Resorts Corp. (AHRC), operates four luxury eco-resorts, namely, Miniloc Island, Lagen Island, Apulit Island and Pangulasian Island, all within the El Nido-Taytay Managed Resource Protected Area in Northern Palawan. An in- ternational panel of experts evaluated the resorts’ sustainable efforts and programs that benefit the local community.

According to the archives of the El Nido municipality, the place was “discovered” by a group of tourists in the late ‘70s on board dive boat M/V Via Mare. The group was just passing through Bacuit Bay when a fishing line dis- abled the boat’s propeller in the middle of the night and the crew dropped anchor. The next morning, the tourists woke up to an amazing scenery of brooding limestone cliffs, white sand beaches, clear blue waters. The scenery so impressed the travelers that in 1982 they founded a Filipino-Japanese joint venture company that set up Miniloc as a divers’ resort.

In the next decades, other resorts were added to the collection. As more travelers were impressed by the pristine environment of Bacuit Bay, the government took steps to keep it untouched through a number of laws and administrative orders. In 1998, Bacuit Bay and part of Taytay was declared a protected area.

“Miniloc and the rest of the El Nido Resorts collection are a showcase of the Philippines’ geological and biological diversity,” says Lamasuta. Sustaining the natural and cultur- al beauty of the islands of the El Nido Resorts collection has been a goal of its shareholders since its founding in 1982.

He adds that they have adopted the sustainable planning principles of the Ayala Land group to which it belongs and has applied these to all its properties, including its resorts.

Preserving the original ambience of the El Nido Resorts reminds visitors and shareholders alike of its original mission to “promote harmony between nature and local communities.”

HICAP is Asia’s biggest and longest-running hotel investment conference and is attended by leading industry professionals. The Sustainable Hotel Awards were launched in 2007 to recognize hotels in the Asia Pacific region demonstrating exemplary sustainable practices and to inspire industry-wide commitment to sustainable development and operations.