CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY IS AT THE HEART OF OUR 25 YEAR CELEBRATIONS ‘HOLIDAY SMARTER, HOLIDAY FITTER’, ‘COMMUNITY’ AND ‘ABSOLUTE ECO-FRIENDLIER’ : THREE CORE VALUES OF OUR NEW CSR STRATEGY
Sustainability as a concept was popularised at the ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio in 1992 and has since been used and abused, becoming a buzz word often backed with little substance. It is this that we wanted to avoid when consolidating our past and present CSR activities.
The past 25 years of Absolute World Group’s CSR activities have provided a foundation on which to build, and moving into this 25th anniversary year and beyond we have developed three core values: Holiday Smarter, Holiday Fitter, which groups programmes assisting in the development of a healthier attitude to holidays for the benefits of our members and their guests; CommUNITY, which groups those for the benefit of the local Community; and Absolute Eco-Friendlier, which groups initiatives with a more environmentally conscious approach.
CSR is something that has been a part of Absolute World Group since our beginning. We are aware of our social responsibility as a business and over the last 25 years have developed and implemented a number of CSR programmes within the local and wider community. Developing on our past initiatives, we felt it important to create a more strategic approach to our CSR programmes and new initiatives, and have created three core values under which all our CSR activities are grouped, implemented and evaluated.
To take things to the next level, we have brought in a dedicated CSR Co-ordinator, who helps to coordinate our ongoing CSR programmes, develop and implement new initiatives, and helps to ensure we continue to develop our CSR strategy for the next 25 years and beyond.
In the 24/7 connected world in which we live, health is often sacrificed for convenience and perceived ‘needs’. Holiday Smarter, Holiday Fitter groups health-related activities and builds on our past success such as our hugely popular Staff Boot Camps, which are being expanded in size and frequency to encourage guest participation, and more recently the launch of a series of exercise in your room videos available on the in-room entertainment system for guests and members.
Our involvement with an array of local and national sporting events and activities, the impending launch of a dedicated Holiday Smarter, Holiday Fitter blogsite, the introduction of nutrition classes for our resort guests and members and donating sports equipment to local schools this year makes for a targeted CSR programme under the Holiday Smarter, Holiday Fitter banner.
With our strategic centre in Phuket, Thailand, we are of course aware of our home, our local responsibilities and the positive impact we can have on people’s lives locally through our operations, and internationally through delivering memorable vacation experiences for members and guests. To this end, activities with the core value of CommUNITY have in the past included supporting a number of local charities including the Phuket Has Been Good To Us Foundation, as well as raising money for local charities through our own business initiatives, such as the Alternative Ownership Conference for Hotels in Asia Pacific. We have also established an in-house ‘CommUNITY Committee’ to develop a staff volunteer service for local community and charity events, as well as developing a structured work experience programme throughout our business sectors to provide invaluable on-the-job training.
