A Means to Promote Cross Cultural Understanding

Hotel Mockingbird Hill in Port Antonio, Jamaica is a very special, luxury, eco-chic, boutique hotel that has been created by innkeepers Jamaican Barbara Walker and Indian Shireen Aga who have been friends for many years.

Both have travelled extensively and had experienced the negative effects of tourism  that has not taken environmental and social responsibilities into consideration.  They see their hotel not solely as a pure business venture but as a means to promote inter-cultural understanding. The ethical responsibilities of integrating economic aspects in a socially responsible and ecologically oriented form are of utmost importance.

The minimisation of social and cultural damage is also of great importance in order to retain the unique attraction of the destination. This form of tourism is of vital importance to a country which is very dependent on it as it's major source of income and gains added urgency in a situation where resources are very limited.

Together they have demonstrated that a small property can achieve international recognition and provide a leadership role in the community. A business does not necessarily need to be large in order to have a positive impact. Under their management the hotel is one of the first four hotels worldwide to be certified by Green Globe as an environmentally and socially friendly property. It was the second property worldwide to be Green Globe Certified for the second time and is now the first hotel in Jamaica to have a carbon offsetting programme which looks not only at the carbon emissions genserated by their guests' travel to Jamica, put also pays for the hotel's own carbon emissions while simultaneously working to reduce these

Co-owner Barbara Walker is a widely exhibited artist. It is her goal to bring visitors into contact with the Jamaican arts, which she insists amount to much more than the popular reggae culture. Gallery Carriacou was built adjacent to the hotel to provide an inspiring insight into Jamaican art, exhibiting her own sculpturesand paintings alongside works by other noted

Co-owner Shireen Aga studied environmentally friendly tourism and hotel management in Bonn, Germany. She is also a qualified trainer. The hotel conducts seminars with its own staff and the staff of other hotels in the area, explaining not only the value of sound environmental policies in hotels but also of implementing what they learn in their own homes, expounding the long-term rewards, including financial savings.