Adamello Brenta Park is the largest protected area in Trentino. The CETS – Park Quality Brand selects the best eco-sustainable hotels in this area full of natural wonders.
The Adamello Brenta Park is an area rich in unparalleled natural beauty, from the Brenta Dolomites, declared World Heritage Site, to the crystal clear lakes set in the mountains sides.
This protected area is crossed by the Val Rendena and surrounded by the valleys of Non, Sole, and Giudicarie. Moreover, it contains some of the most suggestive natural wonders of Trentino. The safeguard of lakes, glaciers, waterfalls, woods, and landscapes is a very important aspect here. Forests, mainly coniferous, occupy one third of the Park’s surface. Above 1800 meters, the woods give way to alpine meadows and suggestive Dolomite peaks.
These uncontaminated environments represent a fertile ground to promote and support sustainable tourism.
Park Quality Brand: What it is
The Park Quality Brand/CETS is a sustainability project that rewards eco-friendly structures and companies in the Adamello Brenta Natural Park. The environmental certification project identifies and certifies tourist companies (hotels, farmhouses, Bed & Breakfasts, campsites) that meet certain environmental protection requirements and link with the territory.
Born in 2003, the Park Quality Brand is one of the most important initiatives dedicated to sustainability and tourism promotion in Italy. The project promotes the environmental awareness of the accommodation facilities and agro-food producers in the Natural Park. Since 2020, the Park Quality Brand has been recognized by the Europarc / Federparchi European Charter of Sustainable Tourism (CETS) certification.
On the national level, this is one of the first initiatives of a protected area aimed at combining the safeguarding and protection of the environment with promotional and territorial marketing activities. The goal is to spread the philosophy of sustainability, directly involving economic operators and the inhabitants of the park, thus reducing the environmental impacts of tourism and enhancing the territory.
By assigning a badge to the most eco-sustainable hotels in the area, the project has made it possible to innovate tourist hospitality, to connect them more strongly with the territory and to make them aware of their ecological footprint. At the same time, the project allowed operators to network, strengthen the dialogue between accommodation facilities and agricultural businesses, and offer an increasingly sustainable tourism experience to their guests.
Green requirements of Park Quality facilities
Adherence to the certification project is voluntary and it requires a lot of conviction from the accommodation facilities in wanting to reduce their environmental impacts.
The main environmental requirements include:
- separate collection,
- the use of natural detergents,
- the purchase of 0 km products.
In addition to these basic requirements, somes structures have decided to make important interventions to adapt to the brand specification, including:
- the use of 100% renewable energy;
- the adoption of cisterns for the recovery of rainwater for secondary uses, such as irrigation;
- the installation of charging stations for electric cars.
Another fundamental aspect to obtain the certification is the relationship with the territory. Thus, also the actions that favor the local economy and the enhancement of the territory are relevant to obtain the brand:
- the promotion of events organized within the park
- the willingness to host events at your facility
- collaboration with tourism companies or local associations.
The advantages of the Park Quality Brand
Being part of the CETS Park Quality Brand represents a challenge for hotels and a constant commitment to the territory and sustainability. On the other hand, this certification has numerous important advantages:
- The accommodation facilities that manage to achieve sustainability goals can reduce the consumption and waste of water, energy, and limit their CO2 emissions.
- Being more eco-sustainable also represents a possibility to differentiate oneself on the market, to be more competitive and attractive in the eyes of travelers, who increasingly prefer ecological hotels.
- Green hotels with the CETS Park Quality certification can give their guests the Key Park, an electronic card that allows free access to all the park’s activities and mobility services.
- Park Quality facilities can obtain free training to increase their online visibility.
- Park Quality hotels can have ecotourism and entertainment services for their guests.
- Finally, the hotels have a line of green gadgets dedicated to the brand and eco-sustainable gifts to leave to guests together with the messages of sustainability.
The partnership with Ecobnb
Ecobnb is the main European platform for sustainable tourism and ecological hotels. For this reason, the partnership with the Adamello Brenta Park and with the Park Quality project was born almost naturally.
Ecobnb was chosen by the park to collaborate in the dissemination and promotion of the project. Among the objectives:
- promote online eco-friendly accommodations that have the Park Quality Brand;
- increasingly improve the environmental awareness of hotels and their capacity for green innovation;
- promote the destination Adamello Brenta Natural Park to the over 2 million travelers interested in sustainable tourism who follow Ecobnb.
The 10 eco-requirements of Ecobnb
Park Quality accommodations mapped on the Ecobnb platform possess at least 5 of these 10 sustainability requirements:
- Organic or zero-km food: in the menus and breakfasts the hotel mainly uses organic or local food.
- Bioarchitecture: the building’s energy efficiency level is very high, and its annual energy consumption is less than 60 Kwh / m2.
- 100% renewable electricity: the hotel buys clean energy or produces it thanks to photovoltaic or micro-wind panels.
- Solar panels for hot water: the hotel uses the heat of the sun for the production of hot water or for floor heating of the rooms.
- Ecological cleaning products: detergents, as well as cleansers, soaps, and cosmetics in the hotel are eco-organic.
- More than 80% separate waste collection: the hotel correctly differentiates waste (paper, plastic, metal / aluminum, organic waste), also involving guests.
- Accessibility without car: the hotel can be reached by public transport (bus or train) and it offers a transfer service for guests.
- Low consumption light bulbs: more than 80% of the bulbs installed in the hotel have class A energy efficiency.
- Water flow reducers: the hotel reduces water consumption thanks to the installation of aerator mixers capable of limiting the flow of water to less than 6 liters per minute.
- Rainwater recovery and reuse: always in order to reduce the waste of water, the hotel collects rainwater to use it for secondary uses.
The meetings and workshops with the Park Quality accommodation facilities offered ideas and moments of discussion on sustainable tourism, ecological hospitality, and green marketing.
Among the events organized in 2019:
- green marketing, 22 October
- green hotels, 7 May
- partnership presentation
Other meetings and workshops are planned in the future.
Park Quality Eco-Hotels
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- Casa per Ferie Pra De La Casa
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- B&B La Lanterna
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- Hotel Miravalle
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- Camping La Spiaggia
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- Tevini Dolomites Charming Hotel
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- Albergo Palazzo Lodron Bertelli
From eco-chalet surrounded by nature, to organic farms that produce bio specialties. From eco-sustainable hotels to nature-friendly campsites. And again, from ecological holiday homes to five-star hotels that have staked everything on sustainability. The Green Park Quality structures mapped on Ecobnb are numerous and respond to every holiday need. In this article we have recommended the hotels not to be missed in the Adamello Brenta Park.
This year 26 Park Quality accommodations have been awarded for their great commitment to the environment. “You are the demonstration – said the Park President, Joseph Masè – that everyone can and must make their own contribution in favor of the environment, even with small tricks and simple daily gestures. The real challenge of protected areas today is to contribute to the spread of an environmental awareness and to transmit a culture of respect for the environment to as many people as possible. In this perspective, the involvement of companies has a fundamental value. Protected areas go a short distance by themselves, but by establishing synergies with the business world, the conditions are created to achieve ambitious goals.” Beautiful wooden plates made by the Social Laboratory of Trento and Anffas Tione were delivered to the awarded accommodations.
Ecotourism in Adamello Brenta Natural Park
The Adamello Brenta Natural Park is the perfect destination for a green holiday.
Here slow and sustainable tourism is put in the foreground to preserve the wonders that this vast area full of breathtaking landscapes offers.
The protection of nature and the enhancement of the territory have numerous advantages. Everyone can benefit, from local operators to green tourists. Among the main advantages of ecotourism:
- reduce CO2 emissions;
- slow down the melting of glaciers;
- enrich farmers and local producers;
- make tourists feel that they are actors of the defense of nature;
- defend local traditions and the authenticity of the territory;
- offer tourists a more truthful view of the local reality;
- avoid gentrification processes;
- make optimal use of environmental resources.
Book your Park Quality facility with Ecobnb and set off to discover a territory where emotions and surprises never end!
Cover Image: photo of Umberto Salvagnin via flickr
Agriturismo Dalla Natura La Salute – Green Farm house in Giustino, Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige, IT 
Hotel Denny – Green Hotel in Pinzolo, Trento, Trentino-South Tyrol, IT 
Garnì Lilly – Green Bed & Breakfast in San Lorenzo Dorsino, Trento, Trentino-South Tyrol, IT 
Hotel Caminetto – Green Hotel in Folgarida, Trento, Trentino-Alto Adige, IT 
Europeo Alpine Charme & Wellness – Green Hotel in Pinzolo, Trento, Trentino-South Tyrol, IT 
