Top Honours for The Falls Resort
on April 16, 2010The Falls Resort and Convention Centre not only hosted the first ever Best of Zambia Tourism Awards in 2009, they also walked away with 3 top awards: Best Hotel (The Royal Livingstone), Best Clean and Green Award and Best Community Service Award.
These awards, initiated by the public sector through the SEED project under Ministry of Tourism Environment and Natural Resources, and co-organised with the Tourism Council of Zambia, promote and reward excellence in local tourism operations.
Sun International Zambia considers itself a leader in corporate social responsibility, specifically focusing on addressing issues related to social, economic and environmental sustainability. Some of these include:
• Katombora Fish Farming Project
• Lubasi Orphanage for Boys/Girls Project
• Zambezi Basic School Project
• St Joseph’s Hospice Project
• Women’s Tie & Dye Project
Tourism Awards – Proudly Green
In 2009, the winners of the Imvelo Awards were announced. The Falls Resort was thrilled to be the overall winners of the award for Responsible Tourism as well as the awards of Best Practice Economic Impact and Best Social Involvement Programme.
The Falls Resort has also achieved Platinum Heritage Status for responsible tourism, which give the resort prestige and enhances their reputation as the eco-destination choice in Zambia.
Commitment to Sustainable Development
Together with support of their guests, Sun International Zambia is able to reach out to the most socially vulnerable in the surrounding communities, making measurable changes in their lives.
• The above-mentioned Clean and Green Award is well deserved as Sun International Zambia has developed a sophisticated water recycling system. A sewage plant treats and filters water that is then reticulated and where necessary is used to irrigate the resort gardens.
• The Royal Livingstone Hotel has received numerous international awards and has had a profoundly beneficial effect on the economy of the region – the hotel has also been responsible for infrastructural improvements including road resurfacing and the upgrading of the airport.
• The Falls Resort is involved in several Hydroponic and open-field farming schemes, including an onsite hydroponic greenhouse and propagation house.
• The Resort has also proudly embarked on a novel way of disposing its waste by establishing an on-site worm farm (vermiculture) to process leftover food and other organic matter. They also have a landfill site where waste is disposed of and recycled.
• Assisted by Sun International Zambia (who bought a water pump as well as greenhouse building materials and flat laying pipe for this project), the local Linda and Mapenzi communities have planted 1.2 hectares of vegetables. Sun International also provides fuel to ensure the continuous running of the pump itself and buys the crops yielded which in turn supports this disadvantaged community.
• Another project initiated by Sun International is the mushroom growing project in the Maramba Village, for disadvantaged women. This not only helps to establish the Maramba Village’s lively market (where the crops are sold) as a lively tourist destination, it also benefits the community who flock to the market to do their own shopping.
Community Initiatives at the Falls Resort
Sun International Zambia takes its role as a stakeholder in the community to heart and was delighted to receive the Best Community Service Award. The resort has initiated numerous developmental projects and partnerships with local communities to create and enhance sustainable sources of revenue in the Region. This community-based programme focuses on the disadvantaged in local communities, specifically concentrating on job and wealth creation and the empowerment of the disabled and socially vulnerable.
Together with Dragonfly Africa (one of Sun International’s most valued travel partners), the Royal Livingstone identified a local orphanage and school, the Ebenezer Child Care Trust, as the ideal beneficiary. They crafted a motivational experience that allowed the participants to enrich the lives of the children at the orphanage, as well as their own. The company achieved its goal of contributing to the African community with a programme that’s impact will be felt long after the participants have returned home.
Sun International has also become involved in the enrichment of children’s lives at the nearby Botoko Hospital, focusing on the children’s wards – which was in a very poor state prior to their intervention. The success of the children’s ward campaign had a dramatic effect of the recovery rate. Due to the improved conditions and donations, many of the children being treated for malaria, severe malnutrition and diarrhoea are rapidly improving.
Education is instrumental in nurturing our leaders for tomorrow and Sun International Zambia regards schooling as a priority. In partnership with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), they took on the challenge of refurbishing the Syanalumba Basic School in Livingstone. Sun International and IFC staff members laid bricks, painted classrooms, cleaned and restored lavatories, assembled bookshelves for a library and rebuilt a football pitch. Sun International Zambia adopted the school a few years ago because it found it in a dilapidated condition and in need of refurbishing that it could contribute to on an ongoing basis.
Another Sun International Zambia initiative is the partnership formed with USAID. Sun International Zambia is engaged in a Public Private Partnership aimed at reducing HIV/AIDS transmission in Livingstone.
