When you are looking for holiday accommodation do you look for the top eco-friendly cottages in Scotland? We do – and to find them we look first at the Green Tourism Business Scheme website.
Green Tourism Business Scheme (GTBS)
We are really proud to have been members of the GTBS since 1999, and to have held a Gold Award since 2001. We, along with all GTBS members, are rigorously audited every other year. This provides us with a useful benchmark for how we are performing. It is also a chance to get expert advice from the GTBS inspector. At our last visit we had advice about possible solutions for an alternative heat source for Toechtamhor.
When the GTBS first ran their Green Tourism Awards in 2011 we were delighted and very proud to win 2 Awards: A GoldStar and the Carbon Footprint Award. Andrea Nicholas from GTBS said that made us one of the top 10 green tourism businesses in the UK. The GTBS have over 600 members in Scotland so even a trip to Edinburgh yields a good number of choices. Mull and Iona have a high number of GTBS members too.
Other places to look for eco-friendly cottages
We also use the Organic Places to Stay website run by Linda Moss, who started out almost at the same time as we did, and has a great selection of green places to stay around the world. We are still advertising with her, and love being part of her eco-friendly community of accommodation providers.
What does eco-friendly mean?
According to Wikipedia the use of terms ‘eco-friendly’ and ‘environmentally-friendly’ refer to goods and services that claim a reduced, minimal impact – or no harm – to the environment. I would add that for us, being eco-friendly means that we take care not to green-wash or make false claims. It is too easy to claim to be greener than you are, so for me, being part of the GTBS means that holidaymakers choosing somewhere to stay have the strongest assurance that claims of eco-friendly, green credentials are true.
