Virginia Beach – The green destination

Virginia Beach has been named the first “Virginia Green Destination” in the Commonwealth. This is as a result of the Virginia Beach tourism and hospitality industry’s commitment to decrease its impact on the environment and provide environmentally-friendly alternatives for visitors.

The Virginia Beach Convention & Visitors Bureau (CVB) has also launched a new website - VirginiaBeachGreen.com featuring a range of Virginia Green activities such as ‘getting up close and personal with harbour seals’, whale and dolphin watching, kayak adventures and birding packages. The web site provides more information on what visitors can do for an eco-friendly holiday and guidelines for meeting planners on how to ‘green’ their meeting.

To earn the title of “Virginia Green Destination,” the Virginia Beach Green Hospitality Team – a grassroots group of local hospitality businesses and organisations – met and surpassed a goal agreed upon by Virginia Green to certify 20 restaurants, 12 hotels, an attraction and the Virginia Beach Convention Centre. Virginia Green is a partnership programme between the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Tourism Corporation and the Virginia Hospitality and Travel Association to promote environmentally-friendly practices in all aspects of Virginia’s tourism and hospitality industry.

Examples of Virginia Beach’s green commitment include the recently launched oceanfront recycling programme, which began in time for the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Recycling containers are now located on boardwalk steps leading to the beach. In addition, Hampton Roads Transit recently unveiled the new VB Wave hybrid-electric buses to replace the Trolleys as the oceanfront’s seasonal shuttle service.

The Virginia Beach CVB’s Resort Management Office also plans to secure the Virginia Green certification for all major 2009 Virginia Beach events. In 2008, 10 major events implemented recycling as part of their event including the Shamrock Sportsfest, the Rock ‘n’ Roll 1/2 Marathon and the Verizon Wireless American Music Festival.

Currently, Virginia Green certified businesses include the Virginia Beach Convention Centre, 20 restaurants, 16 hotels – including the Best Western Oceanfront, the Founders Inn and the Hilton Virginia Beach Oceanfront - four attractions and five events. These hospitality businesses, most locally-owned and operated, voluntarily chose to join Virginia Green through a charge led by the Virginia Beach Green Hospitality Team to establish the City’s tourism industry as an environmental leader and bring awareness to this statewide programme.

The Virginia Beach Green Hospitality Team is working proactively to continue to improve the City’s eco-friendly efforts and add to the list of green restaurants, hotels, events and attractions to maintain a Virginia Green destination and decrease tourism’s impact on the environment.

Virgin Holidays (virginholidays.com ) offer a 5 night holiday, staying at the Hilton Virginia Beach, Virginia USA from £732 per adult / £395 per child inclusive of return Virgin Atlantic flights to Washington, DC and car hire (valid 5 September - 31 October 2008). You can extend the trip by staying an extra night in Washington with prices from £48 per person per night at the Omni Shoreham hotel, which is close to the National Zoo.