Cousteau puts his name behind Eco-hotel complex
Developer Sea Mountain Five and Jean-Michel Cousteau's Ocean Futures Society are planning to develop a new 434-acre eco-hotel in Punaluu on the Big Island.
The current infrastructure and golf course on the site was a project started in the early 70s but never saw completion. The new developement plan proposes to renovate, renew, and update the old infrastructure.
Not only will the new resort be an eco-friendly resort complete with Marine conservation and Hawaiian cultural center, renovated golf course, coastal preservation programs, it will also sport single and mutlifamily residences, and retail/commerical areas.
The resort also is expected to generate at least 517 new jobs for residents of the island and the development team is working with the local community to create programs that would allow for some of the proceeds of the project to go into improving current local facilities and programs.
I hope that eco-friendly hotels and resorts start growing in popularity. We are already walking on thin ice (enviromental pun intended), it would be a shame for our love of travel and exploration from the comfort of closed in resorts to destory what made these places so beautiful in the first place.
