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to highlight sustainable environmental practice and engage the local
citizens in capacity-building activities addressing sustainability.
What used to be a rock garden is now home to the lush Shangri-La
Mactan Resort and Spa in Cebu, Philippines. As the island’s strongest
environmental steward, it ensures that neighbouring communities
(
baranggays
) train their children to be stewards of the environ-
ment. Baranggay Tingo is a community of almost 1,000 families
situated across the resort itself, often playing host to guests who
enjoy water sports or island hopping. In addition to working in
dilapidated classrooms, the 537 children have no steady source
of water and no access to decent toilets. It is a challenge to teach
them about composting and waste segregation, if they do not have
access to these basic facilities. The hotel began engagement with
the community in 2009, mapping out yearly improvement targets,
ranging from the installation of toilets to health centre improve-
ments, alongside health record maintenance, medical missions and
support for women during pregnancy. Ultimately, the hotel envi-
sions engaging the graduates in hotel skills training and they will
also have the chance to be employed as co-stewards of the hotel’s
marine sanctuary and other environmental projects.
Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort and Spa was designated a ‘model site for
coral reef restoration’ by the United Nations Environment Programme
in 2002, and remains a catalyst for environmental protection and
capacity-building activities addressing sustainability. In its Embrace
project, it aims to teach local children about marine conservation
awareness while promoting a renewed sense of youth empowerment.
Building a marine sanctuary means changing the way locals source
food – with income generated not from fishing but from protecting
the environment. In order to ensure that the next generation contin-
ues to see the sea as a habitat and not as a kitchen, the resort invests
in long-term programmes to provide outreach to schools and youth
groups in marine conservation and natural resource management. It
has also set up the Yanuca Island Marine Centre with an environment
programme to create awareness for guests, staff and the
local community on the importance of coral reef conser-
vation. Almost 200 people visit the centre per month,
making the resort an extension of the classrooms and a
learning hub for guests.
Replicability, impact and sustainability
Especially in developing countries, creating sustainable,
developed societies depends on models that work and
prove to be highly replicable. Embrace aims to generate
best practices in public-private partnership and syner-
gies in the places in which Shangri-La operates, by:
• Building commitment from hotels, beyond the term
of a general manager or the executive committee
• Developing ownership among the employees and a
genuine relationship with the locals
• Promoting system-wide solutions instead of one-off,
stopgap measures.
The cases cited above, along with other examples, have
led to templates that other hotels, especially new projects,
can customize and take inspiration from, based on local
needs. There are currently six hotels in Beijing owned
and managed by the Shangri-La group that have come
together to support the rehabilitation and development
of two schools. This model leverages both the human and
financial resources of hotels within the same location. In
Penang, there are three properties that work together in
sustaining the Lighthouse Community, a small village
with various requirements for health and elderly support,
consistent adult income and education for the children.
The hotels have divided the tasks of fundraising through
hotel events, educational support through library estab-
lishment and sports activities, and health programmes
through the creation of health records, to best address
the village’s issues. Whether big or small, these projects
all aim to have an impact on the way local communi-
ties are supported, gradually teaching them how to stand
on their own. The 10 to 15-year timeframes makes it
very clear that there is a point of graduation when they
become real models for the communities they live in and
can inspire change.
Moving forward
The first year of project implementation has proven to
be a challenge to the hotels, most of which are managing
long-term projects with local partners for the first time.
Despite this, progress has been altogether consistent
and on an upward curve for the majority. The remain-
ing hotels face particular issues regarding beneficiaries’
capacity to create or accommodate distinct hotel activi-
ties, hotel funds and staff volunteer availability, especially
during peak seasons of hotel occupancy. Nevertheless,
as the hotel owners continue to strongly push for the
success of Embrace, and with the hotel management’s
support and staff commitment, Shangri-La hopes to
contribute to a world with more educated and responsi-
ble citizens who will one day be able to care not only for
themselves and their families, but others as well.
Cuvu District children participate in mangrove tree planting
Image: Shangri-La’s Fijian Resort & Spa