Costa Rica's Hotel Belmar Awarded Responsible Tourism Award

Costa Rica’s Hotel Belmar Awarded Responsible Tourism Award

April 8, 2022 ctn_admin

Hotel Belmar, a family-owned and operated boutique hotel located in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica’s cloud forest, has won the Silver award at the Latin America Responsible Tourism Awards. Presented by World Travel Market (WTM) last night in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the Responsible Tourism Awards showcase best practices in responsible tourism to inspire others across the industry, and Hotel Belmar was recognized for Sustaining Employees and Communities Through the Pandemic.

“We are honoured to be recognized by WTM for our efforts to support our staff members and our community during one of the most challenging times since opening our doors,” said Pedro Belmar, CEO of Hotel Belmar. “Resilience, innovation, and community have been key elements to our mission since the hotel opened more than 35 years ago, but it has never been more important to focus on sustaining employees than during the unprecedented challenges brought by the pandemic. We hope that our initiative can inspire others with its hopeful message and positive results.”

As the first eco-focused hotel in the Monteverde region of Costa Rica, Hotel Belmar has been a leader in caring for the environment and the community they live in and love since it opened in 1985. The hotel has been integral to the region’s green development, transforming the remote area into a thriving collective of eco-tourism enterprises and initiatives with an organic garden and farm, a private reserve, wellness programming, nature activities, and more.

At the onset of the pandemic, Hotel Belmar reacted swiftly to find ways to sustain employment and guarantee food security in the Monteverde area. Utilizing resources still active in the hotel during the COVID-19 shutdown, Hotel Belmar decided to leverage their staff’s expertise to expand their vegetable gardens, create a local farmers market selling fresh produce, bread, jam, granola, and all of the Belmar favorites, previously only available at the restaurant. This helped sustain jobs, offer affordable goods to the local community, and most importantly keep people hopeful, during a time of tremendous stress.

“We’re grateful to our employees for embracing their new roles and making this program a continued success,” continued Belmar. “We’re extremely happy to have helped our hotel family provide for their families while also providing for our neighbors during these difficult times.”

WTM Responsible Tourism is the largest program in the world that focuses on responsible tourism efforts within the travel industry, tackling issues, highlighting sustainable practices, and sharing ideas to pave the way for the future of travel. It exists to share practical solutions that make better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit. Information about WTM Latin America can be found at https://www.wtm.com, and details about the awards are available at WTM Responsible Tourism.