Virginia Green Travel Alliance to Announce Winners of the 2024 Virginia Green Travel Star Awards At the 11 th Annual Virginia Green Travel Conference on April 17th
April 17, 2024
Richmond, VA - The Virginia Green Travel Alliance is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Virginia Green Travel Star & Leader Awards. These awards are presented annually to Virginia’s greenest tourism operators and partners for their outstanding commitments to sustainability and contributions to green tourism in Virginia. The awards were presented in conjunction with the 11th Annual Virginia Green Travel Conference that was held on April 17, 2024 at Pocahontas State Park in Chesterfield County, Virginia.
This year, nine (9) Virginia tourism operators were chosen to receive the Virginia Green Travel program’s highest award, the Virginia Green Travel Star Award. Nine (9) additional tourism businesses were recognized with the Virginia Green Travel Leader Award for their continued commitments to environmental stewardship, and two individuals received the Green Team All-Star Award for their efforts to lead their organizations’ green programs. Four organizations also received honorable mention recognition for their continued efforts as committed Virginia Green Travel Partners.
One other individual received an award for their Lifetime Achievement & Support of the Virginia Green Travel program. Finally, two of these award winners were chosen in a social media contest to receive the 2 nd annual Virginia Green Travel People’s Choice Award. The awards were all presented on April 17th during a reception and awards celebration. Please see the list below of all the award winners.
“The Virginia Green Travel Certification program works to support and recognize tourism businesses and organizations that are committed to reducing the environmental impacts of their operations,” says Tom Griffin, the Executive Director of the Virginia Green Travel Alliance. “Through the Travel Star Awards, we get to recognize the ‘greenest’ businesses and individuals that have demonstrated outstanding effort and achievements in the past year. We are proud to recognize these businesses as they are true partners in our efforts to promote sustainable tourism in Virginia!” The Virginia Green Travel program is run through a partnership between the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Virginia Tourism Corporation, Virginia State Parks, the Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association, and the Virginia Green Travel Alliance. The program encourages green practices in all sectors of Virginia’s tourism industry. More than 1,200 businesses and partner organizations have voluntarily certified their green commitments through the Virginia Green Travel program.
The 2024 Virginia Green Travel Star Award winners are:
Green Attraction of the Year - Nauticus, Norfolk
Green Brewery of the Year Old Bust Head Brewery, Flint Hill
Green Restaurant of the Year Rocklands Barbeque & Grilling Company, Arlington
Green Event of the Year Jam Packed Craft Beer & Music Festival / Keep Virginia Beautiful, Richmond
Green Park of the Year Natural Bridge State Park
Most Innovative Green Projects John Paul Jones Arena - Zero Waste Events
Most Innovative Green Projects Virginia Living Museum - Environmentally Friendly Enrichment
Most Innovative Green Projects Bear Creek Lake State Park - Replacing Gasoline-Powered Equipment
The 2024 Virginia Green Travel Leader Award winners are:
Birdsong Pleasure Garden, Luray
Busch Gardens Williamsburg & Water Country USA, Williamsburg
Greater Richmond Convention Center, Richmond
JMU Dining, Harrisonburg
Oak Grove B&B, South Boston
COVA Brewing Company, Norfolk
Elation Brewing, Norfolk
Fairfield Kingsgate, Williamsburg
The 2024 Green Team All-Star Award winners are:
Bruce Vlk, Virginia Clean Cities
Jim Jones, Natural Bridge State Park
Life-Time Achievement & Support:
Industry Game Changer Award: Jack Berry, Richmond Region Tourism
Links & Resources
More about the conference can be found at https://www.virginiagreen.net/resources/the-11th-annual-virginia-green-travel-conference-is-april-17-2024/.
The Virginia Tourism Corporation promotes the certified Virginia Green program partners at www.virginia.org/greentravel and encourages visitors to plan their green vacations in Virginia.
The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality provides technical resources and oversight of the certification process -- https://www.deq.virginia.gov/our-programs/pollution-prevention/virginia-green
The Virginia Green Travel Alliance is the non-profit organization that administers the Virginia Green certification program and supports partner outreach and educational opportunities – www.VirginiaGreen.net.
All 43 Virginia State Parks are certified in the Virginia Green Travel program, and VSP and Virginia Green Travel are working to “co-brand” and promote sustainable tourism opportunities in all regions of the Commonwealth.
Virginia Restaurant, Lodging & Travel Association assists in promotion and development of educational opportunities for the tourism industry.
The Virginia Green Travel Alliance is the 501c3 non-profit organization created to administer the Virginia Green Travel Certification program and promote certified partner businesses.
11th Annual Virginia Green Travel Conference & Travel Star Awards.