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What is CST?
Sustainability means to be responsible for the environmental, economic and social dimensions and maintain the bio-diversity, animal species, etc. The Certification of Sustainable Tourism (CST) is a program to balance three factors in the tourism industry. These factors are: the company’s interaction with natural and cultural resources, the improvement of quality of life in local communities and economic contribution to national development. Based on these factors, hotels in Costa Rica can get a ‘CST level’. The program looks for example if the hotel cares about energy saving, water polluting and waste handling policies.
The CST program has 5 levels. If the first level of a category is achieved (level 1), it means that the company has taken the first steps of becoming a sustainable hotel. To get to a higher level, the hotel needs to have some conditions. For example, to achieve a level 3, it is necessary to complete at least with 60% of the established conditions for the factors.
Sustainability in Villas Rio Mar
Villas Rio Mar in Dominical puts much effort in the sustainability of Costa Rica and therefore the hotel has a 4th level in CST. The hotel accomplished this with a lot of different aspects. For example, the hotel has a recycle program and is inviting guests not to use too much energy/water. Furthermore, Villas Rio Mar uses for the maintenance of green areas only natural means without the use of chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides. Also the tour desk of the hotel encourages its customers to visit the country’s protected areas. The hotel also uses a lot of natural light instead of light bulbs that need power. These and many others more are the practices used by Villas Rio Mar every day to grow up in a reasonable and sustainable way.
It is an honor for the whole team of Villas Rio Mar to receive the 4 level of the Sustainable Tourism Certification and prove that we care about our natural environment, our people and culture.
We invite you to visit places that care for the natural you are enjoying. Because it is home for all us, it is also our mission to take care of this planet.
