Our commitments to responsible tourism
At Club Med, we know that our planet’s resources are not infinite. We are aware of the growing impact of tourism on the environment. We think that local communities ought to be able to benefit from our business and we see how our employees (G.Os & G.Es) are looking for meaning in their work.
Our history has been built around an ideal: to live together in harmony and recharge our batteries in unspoilt nature. For more than 70 years, we have sought to respect our host countries, their people, their landscapes, their resources, and to contribute to their development. This is the state of mind that continues to drive our commitment and that we place at the heart of our all-inclusive formula.
Our CSR program, called “Happy to Care”, is based on three pillars: preserving our natural heritage, sharing the value locally, and offering more than a job: an experience to be lived.
Expert in dream locations, conscious of their fragility
Sustainable construction
Club Med committed in 2017 to eco-certify the construction of all its new resorts and major renovations with BREEAM (or an equivalent certification depending on the region of the world), an international and independent eco-construction certification among the most recognized in the world, which values the design and construction of different types of buildings. Since 2018, 65% of new resorts and major renovations have been certified or are in the process of being certified by BREEAM or equivalent.
In addition, in 2017, we worked with the BREEAM teams to create the first Club Med – BREEAM “Resort” eco-construction standard, the first standard specifically adapted to resorts whose specificity is to be composed of several buildings spread over large spaces.
Green Globe Certification
The Green Globe certification is one of the most demanding
international and independent sustainable tourism certification, which rewards establishments in the tourism sector that are committed to improving the environmental and social management of their activity. The certification is based on more than 350 criteria and on a progress process necessary to qualify for its renewal each year.
In 2022, 97% of eligible Club Med Resorts are Green Globe certified.
Concrete and proactive eco-commitments
Bye-Bye Plastics
In 2018, the Group launched this program, which aims to eliminate single-use plastic products in bars, restaurants and rooms by 2023, and to reduce the consumption of plastic bottles by 50% compared to 2019 by 2024.
Reducing food waste
Club Med has always sought to limit the amount of food thrown away. Today, studies show an average of 140g of food waste per person per meal thanks to more than 60 years of buffet experience
Preserving animal welfare
Since 2021, Club Med has only offered elephant watching activities and has committed to banning circus, walking and swimming activities. Similarly, Club Med now only offers cetacean watching activities in the open sea. Finally, we help our providers implement best practices in their field with the WCA (World Cetacean Alliance).
Global pioneer, local development accelerator
Our Resorts, which vocation is to promote wellbeing, could never have established itself so harmoniously in so many diversified countries without developing a profound sense of responsibility and respect to host countries. The mere presence of a Club Med Resort systematically generates local economic and social benefits through local employment, transfer of know how, local sourcing,… but we aim to go further and strives to maximize and extend these benefits:
Solidarity at the heart with Club Med Foundation’s since 1978
Now more than 40 years old, it is one of the oldest foundations created by a company. Today, the Club Med Foundation continues to move forward by designing new forms of solidarity that make use not only of the time and skills of the teams but also of the entire Club Med value chain, for the benefit of local associations: from the financial contribution to the involvement of suppliers, from the donation of equipment or stays to the loan of infrastructure, from employee engagement to customer engagement.
Local agriculture and healthy food on the menu
Since 2008, Club Med, in partnership with AGRISUD, has been promoting local peasant agriculture and agro-ecology near some of its resorts. Hundreds of producers are thus trained in the principles of environmentally friendly agriculture and supported and trained in the management of their production; and these are tasty, fresh, local products, which are found daily on the buffets of the Resorts.
Supporting local communities
Nearly 94% of the jobs created by Club Med are filled locally. Due to the variety of activities offered in a Club Med resort, the number of jobs created is higher than that of the traditional hotel industry.
On average, 86% of the purchases (goods and equipment) made by a Resort are from suppliers in the country where it is located.
Convinced that happy GO and GE make happy GM
As a real social elevator, Club Med enables many G.Os and G.Es to meet the world, to progress in the company, and offers them a real life changing experience.
To offer more than a job, an experience to be lived
More than just a job, G.O. and G.E. live enriching experiences at Club Med that transform them. They thrive, in a unique atmosphere and exceptional workplaces. For a project or for a show, our G.O’s and G.E’s have the opportunity to be in the spotlight thanks to their personality and character, while developing their leadership and communication skills. They are encouraged to push themselves to gain confidence and self-confidence, to become bolder and to try new experiences.
Diversity, inclusion and equal opportunities
The international success of Club Med and the nomadism of its teams have allowed it to bring together people of very different origins, nationalities, religions and cultures. 138 nationalities are represented in our teams, 50% of the Resorts host G.O-G. E from 8 or more nationalities, 41% from 10 or more nationalities. The Group offers development paths offering the opportunity for GO-GEs® to evolve towards managerial responsibilities: 100% of Village Managers and approximately 81% of Resort Service Managers are internally promoted.