Slovakia swept the board in the first World Travel 'Green' Awards held on 15th October, its flagship green water park and spa, AquaCity Resort, Poprad, picking up trophies for `Europe’s Leading Green Resort’ and the `World’s Leading Green Award’.

Slovakia was the only destination in Europe to be cited for Green Awards, with much of the recognition and praise spotlighting the Caribbean, South America, Africa and Asia.

Graham Cooke, Founder and President of World Travel Awards said “This was our first Green Awards and clearly demonstrated that Europe’s mature destinations such as Spain, France and the UK are dragging their feet over the growing consumer demand for sustainable and more socially aware travel products. They have much to learn from the passion and enthusiasm of emerging destinations such as Slovakia.”

Cooke said that he hoped the launch of the first international Green Awards would help to change perceptions and shift a greater emphasis on to the environment.

In his acceptance speech for the two coveted top Green Awards AquaCity’s owner and CEO, Mr. Jan Telensky, emphasised the importance of tourism destinations embracing green issues as part of their business plan.

“At AquaCity we’re saving around 27 tonnes of CO2 from entering the atmosphere each day by using geothermal water and solar energy to heat and power the resort. This saves millions of euros each year, contributing to our profitability and giving us a competitive, business edge while at the same time saving the planet.

Until the tourism industry embraces being green as part of its business plan, instead of simply applying `green wash’ to its marketing, we cannot even begin to achieve sustainable tourism”.

Slovakia is Europe’s fastest growing tourist destination and is currently attracting significant investment in its tourist infrastructure, with an 11m euro investment currently underway in the High Tatras to expand the ski facilities in time for witner 2008/9.