Bucuti Beach Resort recertified ISO14001 & Green Globe Environmental Certification

April 23, 2005-- Eagle Beach, Aruba -- -- Bucuti Beach Resort -- Management and Staff of the Bucuti Beach Resort celebrate the news that they have been re-certified for the ISO 14001 and Green Globe 21 Standards of operation. Bucuti was the first resort hotel in the America’s and the Caribbean to obtain the ISO 14001 certification in 2003 and are awarded recertification for the third year, this year. Bucuti was also the first resort in Aruba to initiate the Green Globe Certification process in the year 2000 and has maintained Green Globe certification for 5 years. Environmental Law Specialist Mr. Ray Kirton and Mr. Peter Hackett of AJA Registrars conducted the certification Audit.

The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies from more than 140 countries.

Perhaps better recognized is the ISO 9000 certification which as been earned by tens of thousands of businesses in their initiative for quality management and quality assurance. The ISO 14000 series provides a similar framework for environmental management.

This 14001 standard is applicable to any organization that wishes to:

• implement, maintain and improve an environmental management system
• assure itself of its conformance with its own stated environmental policy
• demonstrate conformance and make a self-determination of conformance
• ensure compliance with environmental laws and regulations
• seek certification of its environmental management system by an external third party organization

Green Globe 21 is the worldwide benchmarking and certification program which facilitates sustainable travel and tourism for consumers, companies and communicates. It is based on Agenda 21 and principles for Sustainable Development endorsed by 182 governments at the United Nations Rio de Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992. Green Globe

The Bucuti ‘Green Team’ is composed of the hotel’s department heads who maintain certification standards by setting and implementing environmental policy with extensive training programs for the members of their teams, year round. They also meet with each other in monthly ‘Green Team’ meetings to coordinate on a property level. Environmental preservation is a strong aspect of the Bucuti Beach Resort’s company culture and every associate takes part in the company’s initiative. Further, Bucuti frequently hosts colleagues in the industry both in Aruba as well as countries abroad who have heard of the success of the environmental program and wish to learn how to implement environmental initiatives themselves.. Bucuti gives tours of the property and teaches visitors how to achieve their own success and certifications.

Bucuti is the recipient of numerous environmental awards and accolades over the past decade including the most recent 2004 Environmental Award from the International Hotel and Restaurant Association (IHRA) based in Paris, France. IHRA has over 300,000 member hotels and 8 million restaurants which employ 60 million people and contribute 950 billion USD annually to the global economy. http://www.ih-ra.com/env_award/fs_winners.html

Photo depicts Bucuti’s ‘Green Team” with Mr. Ray Kirton and Mr. Peter Hackett of AJA Registrars