Home News & Features Virginia Green Travel Star Award Winners Named

Virginia Green Travel Star Award Winners Named

731
0
SHARE

RICHMOND, VA.—The Virginia Green Travel Alliance recently announced the winners of the 2021 Virginia Green Travel Star & Leader Awards. These awards are presented annually to Virginia’s greenest tourism operators and partners for their outstanding commitments to sustainability and contributions to green tourism in Virginia. The awards were “presented virtually” in conjunction with the Virginia Green Travel Conference & Awards.

This year, fifteen Virginia tourism operations were chosen to receive the Virginia Green program’s highest award, the Virginia Green Travel Star Award. Eleven additional tourism businesses were recognized with the Virginia Green Travel Leader Award for their continued commitments to environmental stewardship, and six individuals received the Green Team All-Star Award for their efforts to lead their organization’s green program efforts.

Each of the award winners is listed below, and summary slides about their individual efforts can be found on the 2021 Virginia Green Travel Awards website.

“2020 was an incredibly challenging year for us all in the tourism industry,” said Jack Berry, the CEO of Richmond Region Tourism and the Board Chairman of the Virginia Green Travel Alliance. “It is exciting to have the chance to recognize these Virginia Green Travel Partners for their continued commitments to excellence and to sustainable tourism practices. Moving forward, sustainable tourism will be an integral part of our industry’s recovery.”

Partnership Between a Number of Organizations

The Virginia Green program is supported through a partnership between the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Tourism Corp., the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Assn., and the Virginia Green Travel Alliance. The program encourages green practices in all sectors of Virginia’s tourism industry. More than 1,200 businesses and partner organizations have voluntarily certified their green business practices through the Virginia Green program.

Hilton Downtown Richmond

The 2021 Virginia Green Travel Star Award winners are: Green Hotel of the Year, Hilton Downtown Richmond; Green Attraction of the Year, Birdsong Pleasure Garden, Luray; Green Conference Center of the Year, Chesapeake Conference Center; Green Event of the Year, The Virginia Living Museum Oyster Roast; Green Dining Service of the Year, JMU’s East Campus Dining Hall; Green Tours of the Year, Shored Up LLC, Hampton; Green Supplier of the Year, Babylon Micro-Farms, Inc., Richmond, Green Transportation Facility of the Year, RVATukTuk, Richmond; Green Inn of the Year, The Red Lantern Inn, Clifton Forge; Most Innovative Green Projects, Croc’s 19th Street Bistro Native Plants Garden, Virginia Beach; Most Innovative Green Projects, DuCard Vineyards, Sipping for Saplings, Etlan; Most Innovative Green Projects, Powhatan State Park, Paper Waste Reduction; Most Innovative Green Projects, Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center E-ticketing, education and waste reductionVirginia Beach; Most Innovative Green Projects, Awesome Oysters LLC, Plastic waste reduction and solar battery charging, Village; Most Innovative Green Projects, Virginia Living Museum, Green Teens.

2021 Virginia Green Travel Leader Award Winners

The 2021 Virginia Green Travel Leader Award Winners include: RVA Environmental Film Festival; Hampton Inn Virginia Beach Oceanfront North; Back INN Time B&B, Kilmarnock; Shady Acres Bed and Breakfast LLC, Hanover; Pathosans, Sanitizing installation with the Virginia Railway Express, Alexandria; Westmoreland State Park, Pollinator Garden; Nauticus, Plastic or Planet? ExhibitNorfolk; Oak Grove Plantation B&B, Sustainable Renovation of the Little House, South Boston; The Mariners’ Museum and Park, Bumble Bee Garden, Newport News; Hampton Inn Manassas, Pollinator Garden; and Natural Bridge State Park, Environmental Education Area.

2021 Green Team All-Star Award Winners

The 2021 Green Team All-Star Award Winners include: Travis Land, Virginia Living Museum; Suzanne Moss, The Nature Bus, Virginia Beach; Karen Riddle, Shadow Mountain Escape, Luray; Jenny Elmes, full circle catering, Lexington; Deck Hankins, Go Green Distributors; and Phil Irwin, Caledonia Farm 1812.

LEAVE A REPLY