STEP is dedicated to providing the tourism industry with the tools needed to educate employees and management about environmental practices and to help raise awareness for sustainable tourism. Myett's Garden Inn and the BVI Tourism Board have come together to create STEP in hopes of changing policies in more hotels throughout the BVI's. Along those lines, The Green Globe Certification (based out of California) has a long list of requirements with high standards in Sustainable Management, Social/Economy, Environment and Cultural Heritage.
Myett's Garden Inn has reached many of these requirements through Fair Trade and local purchases, Local Employment, Community Involvement, Employee training, Customer Satisfaction and Sustainable Design to name a few.
They have definitely done what they can to help the local community. First the majority of employees that they hire are locals. The also focus on trying to buy local products and materials first before importing which not only helps the local economy but also lowers costs as it cuts out the middle man or distributor. This allows for better distribution of money within the corporation, better pay for employees and lower costs for guests. Through the STEP program, the employees are also given education about being environmentally aware and improvements that can be made in their specific positions. Lastly, Myett's does what it can to give back to the community by always donating unused amenities to local charities.
The resort also incorporates other areas of tourism by getting guests and customers involved in "local environmental and community-related activities". They try to give the guests a true 'Island experience' by having nightly local live music and allowing and encouraging locals to come to the resorts bars and restaurants as well.
Last but not nearly least, Myett's puts a large effort into making their resort sustainable in more than one way. They have purchased as much eco-friendly product as possible - from as many local distributors as possible. They have created a waste system which allows them to do their own composting within the resort and they use it on their own green garden. Most importantly, they have taken it upon themselves to educate not only their employees on being environmentally aware but their guests as well. The management itself can never make all of the changes on their own but if all parties involved are aware and the majority make the effort, there can be a big change for the better.
Find out more about the Myett's Garden Inn at http://myetts.com/myetts-receives-green-globe-certification/.
And go explore the British Virgin Islands! They are beautiful!