There has been a noticeable rise in responsible eco-tourism over the past few years; travellers are more conscious of choosing hotels that are environmentally friendly and that are practising a more sustainable kind of tourism that helps preserve the ecosystem. El Gouna has been rewarded on more than one occasion across the years for its environmental consciousness, and now all 16 El Gouna hotels are holders of the Green Star Certification.

With the magical red sea as a backdrop and beautiful weather all-year-round, El Gouna hotels are constantly aware of the need to remain green in their practices and to support the community’s initiatives in line with sustainability beyond what would affect each hotel directly. It has become more and more evident that we can no longer take our resources for granted and that every effort no matter how small it may appear, has a big impact on preserving our environment for our generation and those to come.

With this in mind, we will take you through some of those green practices El Gouna hotels are working on as they continue to offer their guests exceptional holiday experiences.

Earth Week

Every year, El Gouna’s community plans a week-long event in line with the global Earth Week, which becomes a much anticipated celebration by the town’s residents as they go around engaging in, planning for, and sharing a communal experience awakening everyone’s mind about how crucial our roles are in preserving our environment. During that week, every single hotel in El Gouna takes part and is responsible for different activities following the theme. Fanadir and Mosaique Hotels invite their guests to plant trees in the hotels’ gardens. The newly opened Cooks Club is looking forward to taking part in the beach cleanup in collaboration with El Gouna schools. All hotels’ staff would be hosting and attending workshops about environmental sustainability with a different theme for every earth week.

Beach Cleanups

Hotels partner up with Hurghada Environmental Protection and Conservation Association (HEPCA) throughout the year to keep all beaches clean and to minimize waste from going back into the sea and harming marine life. In efforts to reduce usage of plastic and unrecyclable material, plastic packaging and straws are replaced by eco-friendly alternatives across town, with signs on walls to always remind people to be conscious about their environment.

Energy Saving

Almost all hotels in El Gouna have solar power use in at least one or two aspects on location; it varies from something as simple but major as solar lamps to water heaters across all rooms and food and beverage venues.

Green transportation via electric tuktuks and shuttle boats using solar energy are also offered and encouraged across all hotels on Abu Tig Marina and Cook’s Club. Bellevue and Steigenberger Hotels also offer their guests transportation via their electric golf cars.

When it comes to conserving and saving water, the practices include ensuring zero leakage through regular checkups and maintenance, faucet aerators regulating water use in guest rooms and restaurants, and laundry loads of linens and towels being controlled through the reuse of linens policy brought to all guests’ attention. Plant irrigation is also done in controlled intervals at specific hours during the day with the use of recycled water using the drip irrigation system.

Steigenberger Golf Resort received the Travelife Gold Award, all Sustainable reports and environmental policy of the hotel are available here

Mövenpick Resort & Spa el Gouna sustainability management program can be viewed here

Homegrown Produce

Homegrown crops and ingredients are also used across different hotels; if you walk around and explore their little gardens, you would find organic herb corners with thyme, basil, mint, and coriander. You would also be stunned with beautiful trees with fresh produce like pomegranate, mangoes, and figs.  A couple of hotels also grow their own spring onions and garlic. You can’t possibly miss all the date palms across town that are enjoyed as part of the offerings in all hotels.

As part of supporting and promoting local products and staying conscious of environmentally friendly ingredients, most of the hotels use organic homegrown brands of toiletries that are paraben and chemical-free.

Waste Management and Recycling

Wasted food is practically unheard of in El Gouna hotels, given that all buffet food is also shared in staff cafeterias; leftover food is usually donated to feeding stations dedicated to El Gouna Stars TNR (tap, neuter, and release) initiative to be distributed at the dedicated feeding stations for dogs and cats.

Waste and garbage collection is handled with meticulous care as the pre-segregation process plays a big part before the divided load is sent to the recycling plant; all around El Gouna, color coded bins are placed in guest and staff back areas and there is a separate collection process for paper, glass, tins, batteries, plastic, oil, and used light bulbs.

If you’re interested to visit the recycling plant, the hotel’s reception or concierge can help in contacting the people responsible for the unit to assist with the planning logistics.

El Gouna hotels are constantly investing in their employees to ensure they are well-aware of the environmental impact of their day-to-day operations, guests are encouraged to take part in green initiatives across town, and on several occasions, kids activities are planned to spread awareness amongst them as they learn about their ecosystem through play.

If you have any suggestions or ideas about keeping green in El Gouna, the hotels would love to hear from you; drop them an email on [email protected]