The Golf Environment Organization or GEO has recently certified two Palace Resorts golf courses in Cancun, Mexico as sustainable, "eco-friendly" travel destinations.
The two Mexican Caribbean golf courses, Riviera Cancun Golf and Resorts and Moon Palace Golf and Spa Resort, have received this distinction partly due to their enhanced conservation efforts and connecting people with the planet.
As owner Jose Chapur explains, environmental leadership goes to the heart of Palace
Resorts’ business:
“In developing golf around Cancun and the Riviera Maya we have embraced the environmental richness of our jungle landscape and taken every possible opportunity to conserve and enhance Mexico’s natural and cultural assets. The experience offered to our guests is both luxurious and also sensitive to the immeasurable value of the ecosystems that host it.
“Golfers that enjoy our resorts are particularly privileged as the courses here enable them to spend time enjoying our jungle and wildlife first-hand with their friends and families.
“GEO Certification is becoming established as a global seal of approval for environmentally sensitive golf. That we are among the first golf resorts to achieve this award is a source of great pride and a mark of distinction for our committed team of superintendents, groundsmen and ecologists."
According to the international non-profit GEO website, golf is uniquely a sport, land-use, lifestyle and $300 billion global business. It stands to reason that there should be a genuine regard and responsibility taken for the land and eco-systems within each facility and in the surrounding areas.
It is comforting to know that GEO, with support from associations such as the R&A, European Tour and the PGA of Europe are working on ways to minimize golf course consumption of precious commodities such as water while managing turfgrass and improving soil and air quality.
"Spending recreational time in a natural environment is something all golfers value at a very deep level, whether they had a good day on the links or not."
To quote Peter Thomson, 5-time winner of The Open Championship, it's "the balance between foul and fair ground that sets the greatest golf courses apart".
Read more about the Golf Environment Organization, sustainable golf and the recent United Nations COP16 Conference.
Read Golf for Beginners blogs to find out which other travel destinations are incorporating eco-friendly measures into their golf courses!
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