July 21, 2009
City of Williamsburg Promotes Going Green to Tourism Businesses:
Combining good environmental practice with a unique marketing
opportunity
The city of Williamsburg has joined forces with
MBA students from the Mason School of Business at the College of William
& Mary to encourage local businesses in the hospitality industry to be
certified Virginia Green by the Virginia Tourism Corporation (VTC) and
the state’s Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). Beginning this
week, the students are mailing letters and contacting businesses
individually to help them understand the value of going green and
provide assistance in the application process.
“With the current economy, we want to do everything we can to assist
our local businesses to be as successful as possible,” said Michele
Mixner DeWitt, economic development director for the city of
Williamsburg. “More and more travelers are choosing environmentally
friendly businesses when they plan their trips, and we want our
businesses to be the ones they choose. We’re very excited to be able
to partner with interns from the Mason School of Business, who are
bringing their expertise, time and enthusiasm to this project.”
Virginia Green is a statewide program to reduce the environmental
impacts of Virginia’s tourism industry. The program awards Virginia
Green Certification to tourism-related business such as hotels,
restaurants and attractions taking voluntary actions to reduce harmful
impacts on the environment.
(http://www.deq.virginia.gov/p2/virginiagreen/homepage.html)
Once a business is registered green, it is promoted as a green business
on the VTC website, which five million people visit annually
(http://www.virginia.org/green/)
The first certified restaurant in the city to be Virginia Green was
Aberdeen Barn. The first certified hotel was Williamsburg Hospitality
House.
The current outreach includes contact information for recycling and
other services to assist businesses wanting to go green.
For more information: Michele Mixner DeWitt, 757.220.6120,
mdewitt@williamsburgva.gov
Kate Hoving
Communications Specialist
City of Williamsburg
401 Lafayette St.
Williamsburg, VA 23185
Office: 757.220.6197
Fax 757.259.8042
email: khoving@williamsburgva.gov
