To us, eco tourism consists of 3 components:

1. Environment / Conservation
2. Community
3. Education

The ecolodges in our network are actively and continuously working to improve in all three of these areas.

Many people have asked us how we came up with our Eco-Assessment. What did we base our categories on?

The simple truth is we based it on our common sense!

When we sat down to discuss what we felt was important it just seemed so obvious to us what lodges could be doing to support the environment and their communities. We put together a document which asks these pertinent questions. Our rating system is subjective — based on what each lodge is doing in its own unique circumstance to be environmentally low impact and socially responsible. This means that we realize that each environment is different. We certainly don't expect a lodge in the middle of the rainforest to be entirely solar powered. But we may expect a lodge on a Caribbean beach to use solar power. We may not expect a small family run and operated lodge to employ many local people, but we do expect a large resort to employ community members. Basically, we look at each lodge individually and assess what they are doing that is creative and innovative in their own unique circumstances.

We rate the lodges by giving each a score (1 - 5 leaves) in each category above. We then add up all 8 categories, but divide by 7 as 1 category is bonus points. When a company meets our standards, we ask them to sign the Responsible Tourism Pledge.

go to eco assessment rating.