COMVITA VISITOR CENTRE – GREEN GLOBE 21 BENCHMARKED 

Bay of Plenty, New Zealand – Comvita Visitor Centre has achieved the prestigious GREEN GLOBE 21 Benchmarked Certificate under the new GREEN GLOBE 21 Certification program, which recognises the operation’s commitment to operating at the world’s highest environmental standard.

Comvita Visitor Centre has spent considerable time benchmarking its energy and water consumption, waste production and disposal as well as implementing an integrated environmental and social policy.  In particular it has achieved Best Practice results in Energy Consumption and Resource Conservation. These measures will deliver ongoing reduction of non-renewable resources, extensive cost savings and secure a sustainable commercial and ecological future for the business.

About GREEN GLOBE 21
GREEN GLOBE 21 is the global Benchmarking, Certification and improvement system assisting the international travel and tourism industry to attain sustainability.  GREEN GLOBE 21 provides a certification system that responds directly to the major environmental problems facing the planet, including the greenhouse effect, over-use of freshwater resources, destruction of biodiversity, production of solid and biological waste and social issues.

Cathy Parsons, Global Manager of GREEN GLOBE 21, says “I am delighted that Comvita Visitor Centre has achieved Benchmarked status.  Comvita Visitor Centre is an inspiration to all those people committed to environmentally sustainable tourism.  They have demonstrated through a variety of initiatives, that the business and its employees can make a difference to reducing their environmental impact.  The commitment they have shown in signing up to participate in the GREEN GLOBE 21 program and their achievements set an example for other businesses to follow.”

About Comvita Visitor Centre
Comvita Visitor Centre is located at Paengaroa in the heart of the Bay of Plenty.   Comvita is dedicated to sustainable business and environmental issues,  having recently also won the Regional Sustainable Business Awards for Large Business.  Management and staff are dedicated to ensuring that this achievement is improved upon and are now firmly focussed on taking the Visitor Centre to the next level of best practise.
 
Contact:
Emmy Forlong
Energy Manager
Comvita Visitor Centre
Email: 

News Release
December 21, 2004

Comvita Opens First Store In China

Natural health products company Comvita is rubbing shoulders with big international brands of the likes of Boss, Calvin Klein, Valentino and Escada in one of China’s largest shopping malls.
A new Comvita store has just opened in the MIXc shopping mall in Shenzhen in the heart of China’s Guangdong region – just across the border from Hong Kong.
The 188,000 square metre mall features around 300 international and domestic brands on six floors.
Comvita Asia’s regional manager Sam Tsoi says many famous brands have opened stores in the mall due to its close vicinity to the Hong Kong border.

“Shenzhen is an important foreign trade and international exchange port in China,” he says.

The MIXc offers a unique mid to high-end shopping and recreation centre for both the seven million surrounding residents and the fast-growing Chinese tourism market.

Comvita Consumer Division Manager, Scott Coulter says the opening of the store in China is the continuation of a long term strategy to position Comvita’s products at the high end of China’s rapidly expanding consumer brand markets.

Coulter says this dovetails nicely with the positioning Comvita has already established with the China Duty Free Group. He says Comvita has also built up reasonable experience of the duty free market with its existing outlets at Hong Kong’s international airport.

He says Comvita products are now retailed in airport and duty free stores in selected airports across China. And there are expected to be a number of airports of the size of Hong Kong’s operating in China over the next decade, further boosting the duty free market.

Coulter says tremendous numbers of Chinese are now travelling abroad – 11 million in the first five months of 2004.

“China has the highest growth in outbound tourists in the world,” he says. “That means there are now more international tourists from China than from Japan.”

“Air passenger traffic in China is expected to tip 104 million passengers this year. When you consider that has risen from 87 million passengers in 2003, our decision to target the travel and tourism market is proving to have promise.”

Coulter says it has taken a lot of hard work and persistence over many years to establish markets in Japan, Hong Kong and Taiwan. However Comvita’s 35% growth in Asian markets in 2004 says they are on track.

“We have a good plan, we are following that plan and now we just have to remain focused and build on the solid base we have.”

For more information contact:
Scott Coulter 07 533 1426

For media information contact:
Darrell Carlin 07 571 4203 or 021 709 907

Comvita Visitor Centre wins Tourism Awards

Comvita was lauded at the recent Bartercard Bay of Plenty Tourism Awards 2004. The Comvita Visitor Centre won the Away Laughing Retail and Hospitality Award as well as the Merit Award, sponsored by Western Bay Finance.

Diane Riley, Manager of the Qualmark accredited Comvita Visitor Centre, said her team was really fired up after winning the Retail and Hospitality and the Merit Award: She said: “It’s been a fantastic boost for the staff and the company and it’s great to know that we’re on the right track. Tourism is a very important part of what we do and we are obviously keen to help grow the tourism pie. The sum of the parts is so much greater than the whole. I am really impressed with the caliber of the winning entries and I’m convinced tourism has a bright future in the Bay of Plenty.”