Sonia Village Hotel Celebrates European Distinction

Sonia Village Hotel Hotel Manager Christos Kougionis addressing guests.

The owners of the Sonia Village Hotel in Chalkidiki recently held an event to celebrate the hotel’s first place in the 2013 European RELACS Awards for Green Energy in Tourism.

RELACS (REnewabLe energy for tourist ACcommodation buildingS) is a European project and has the key aims of encouraging tourist accommodation buildings to reduce energy use and integrate renewable energy technologies. Sonia Village Hotel in Chalkidiki was followed by hotels in Austria and Spain.

According to owners Christos and Margaritis Kougionis, improved service quality in tourism is inevitably linked with the preservation and improvement of the natural environment.

During the event, guests underlined the importance of cooperation between Chalkidiki’s tourism professionals and stakeholders so as to strengthen the sector’s competitiveness while promoting energy conservation and the integration of renewable energy technologies in hotels.

The event was attended by many Greek tourism professionals and regional and local governmental figures.

The RELACS project consortium consists of participants from Italy, Portugal, Sweden, England, Spain, Greece, Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria and Germany and has focused on the issue energy efficiency in tourism and developed a network of some 200 tourist accommodations during the last three years.