Posted in News on Thursday, May 26, 2022 by Beachcomber Tours Correspondent

Beachcomber Resorts & Hotels has marked World Bee Day on Friday, 20 May 2022 with the launch of its Bee Tour. This fun environmental learning experience is a guided tour of the beehives placed in all Beachcomber hotels, with the aim of raising awareness of the vital role of bees in biodiversity among guests and Artisans. In line with the Group’s Bee Sustainable programme, this Bee Tour was officially launched at Shandrani Beachcomber Resort & Spa.

Beachcomber Resorts & Hotels’ Bee Tour is a safe way to discover the beehives placed in the hotels, see first-hand how the bees live together in a colony and understand, through explanatory panels, how a hive works, the essential role of these pollinating insects as well as the threats facing them.

“Biodiversity conservation is one of the eight pillars of the Beachcomber Group’s 52 Environmental and Social Commitments. As part of these commitments, we started the Bee Sustainable programme in 2019. The first step was the installation of hives to provide habitats for bees and thus enable the harvesting of honey from our gardens. Today, the launch of the Bee Tour is designed to strengthen our commitment and further develop our awareness-raising approach to give our guests and teams the opportunity to learn more about the daily life of bees,” says Geraldine Koenig, Chief Risk & Compliance Officer.

A total of 45 beehives have been placed at the Beachcomber hotels and Head Office over the past three years. The healthy bee colonies reflect the quality of their habitats. This year’s honey harvest is expected to be around 450kg, compared to 200kg in 2021. In addition to protecting biodiversity, this initiative also allows the Beachcomber Group’s Chefs to delight guests with a variety of pastries and desserts using the honey from our gardens. Soon, a Beachcomber Honey Signature Cake will  be added to the buffets of all hotels, alongside the honey already available.

The Bee Sustainable project is carried out in partnership with Etienne de Senneville. An avid beekeeper and Director of Bee Works Ltd, he has passed on his passion and knowledge of bees to the Beachcomber Resorts & Hotels Artisans who will be hosting the Bee Tours. “I am pleased to have been supporting the Beachcomber Group for almost 3 years in this bee protection project. Congratulations to the teams for their commitment to do a little more for the environment every day,” he says.

The Bee Tour has initially been launched at Shandrani Beachcomber. It will soon be available at Dinarobin Beachcomber Golf Resort & Spa and Paradis Beachcomber Golf Resort & Spa, and in all hotels of the Group in the coming months. The tour will begin with an illustrated presentation of the life of bees to become familiar with them before an encounter with these insects. This will be followed by an interactive bee-watching session with the Bee Tour host to learn about how they live and the tour will end with a taste of the honey from our gardens.