ORANJESTAD, ST. EUSTATIUS—The head of the Caribbean region’s tourism development agency has called for legislation to regulate the disposal of waste in Caribbean waters. Delivering the keynote address at the opening of the 2nd Sustainable Conference in St. Eustatius last month, Hugh Riley, the secretary general of the Caribbean Tourism Organization (CTO), said the Caribbean had a responsibility to protect and preserve its water resources.The two day conference, organized by the St. Eustatius Tourism Development Foundation with support from the CTO, had as its theme, “Tourism and Water: Protecting Our Common Future.”Reflecting on the theme, Riley reminded delegates, including...

SYRACUSE, N.Y.—At Destiny USA there’s always a lot of buzz generated around our LEED certification. When we began the expansion, we wanted to continue the commitment to the environment we began when first building Carousel Center in 1990. Now, having just celebrated our one-year anniversary as Destiny USA, we are proud to be recognized not only as a premier shopping center, but as the largest LEED Gold commercial retail building in the world. Yet with all the talk around LEED, many are left wondering what it really means and whether it’s actually beneficial.LEED stands for “Leadership in Energy &...

NEW YORK—A new study presented at the inaugural Global Wellness Tourism Congress (GWTC) found wellness tourism is a near half-trillion dollar market, representing 14 percent of total global tourism revenues ($3.2 trillion) overall. According to The Global Wellness Tourism Economy report, the category is projected to grow on average 9.9 percent annually over the next five years, nearly twice the rate of global tourism overall, reaching $678.5 billion by 2017, or 16 percent of total tourism revenues.The study also noted more than one-half of growth in wellness tourism through 2017 will come from the Asian, Latin American and Middle...

NEW YORK—Hilton Hotels & Resorts, the flagship brand of Hilton Worldwide, announced the launch of Herb N’ Kitchen, its new dining concept that infuses fresh, local gourmet food into an upscale restaurant and convenient culinary market. Now open inside New York Hilton Midtown, the largest hotel in Manhattan, the first Herb N’ Kitchen offers locals and travelers healthy fare for breakfast, lunch and dinner; and the choice of restaurant dining at their leisure, meals packaged to take away or in-room delivery for hotel guests.With a shift in the way today’s travelers dine, the quick service segment is moving to...

PANAMA CITY—The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, L.L.C. is expanding its collection of Reserve hotels with plans to open a luxury sanctuary on Pearl Island, a private island situated 45 miles south of Panama City. The resort is the sixth planned Reserve property, joining current locations in Phulay Bay in Thailand and Dorado Beach in Puerto Rico, and upcoming locations including Molasses Reef in Turks and Caicos, Tamuda Bay, Morocco and Cabos San Lucas, Mexico, among several projects slated for the near future.Surrounded by pristine beaches, one of the most bio-diverse marine environments on the planet, azure waters and virgin tropical...

PHOENIX—Food has always had a powerful way of bringing families together, and now families visiting Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort in Phoenix can enjoy a memorable private dining experience with the resort’s executive chef at his urban garden.The urban garden at Pointe Hilton Squaw Peak Resort has been a labor of love for the resort’s Executive Chef Kenneth Arneson for more than two years. Today, the garden is ripe with a diverse array of vegetables like carrots, bell peppers, mung beans and Swiss chard and a robust mix of herbs from dill to lavender. With a personal passion for...

NATIONAL REPORT—For architects and engineers, determining the right HVAC system for their commercial and industrial building projects is critically important. An air curtain may be a small part of a building’s HVAC package, but it can help turn a good building design into a great building design. Many commercial HVAC systems require additional products to ensure that they provide the intended results, and even enhance the environment, such as maintaining the temperature-controlled air within the building’s footprint and reducing the building’s total energy consumption. One of those key products is an air curtain. An air curtain produces an invisible...

LONDON—Marriott International has launched a limited edition tote bag with an exclusive print by British luxury accessories brand, Lily and Lionel. The print is featured on a SleepingBags tote bag made in England from 100 percent recycled bed linen provided by U.K. Marriott hotels. This first of its kind bag is available to purchase with Marriott donating a portion from the sale of every bag to The Prince’s Trust.Marriott is the first major hotel company to partner with pioneering British social enterprise, SleepingBags, to transform retired hotel bed linen into items that can be put back into hotels as...

PARSIPPANY, N.J.—Wyndham Worldwide, one of the world’s largest hospitality companies, announced it has been named to the Dow Jones Sustainability North America Index for the first time. The company is one of three hospitality companies, and the only one in North America, recognized in the hotels, resorts and cruise line segment.The S&P Dow Jones Indices are one of the most recognized sustainability performance rating tools, with the Sustainability Index identifying leaders in the areas of sustainable economic, environmental and social performance. Companies listed to the annual Index demonstrate best-in-class performance against numerous metrics. Wyndham Worldwide was recognized in particular...

BETHESDA, MD.—This fall, more than 350 Fairfield Inn & Suites hotels across North America are preparing to extend their hospitality and “Spirit To Serve” to families in need of affordable housing through Habitat for Humanity. To celebrate the brand’s 18-year relationship with the nonprofit organization, Fairfield Inn & Suites has also launched its Design for Habitat Facebook application, which will culminate in a brand donation of up to $50,000.“For nearly two decades, we have worked with Habitat for Humanity affiliates to give back to the hundreds of communities that have supported the Fairfield brand over the years,” said Shruti...