Sol Meliá, the world’s 14th-largest hotel chain, can claim some solid environmental marks. It initiated a “Going Green” campaign in 1996, providing an ecology manual for its 245 establishments in 25 countries, and won the Dominican Republic’s “Ecological Hotel of the Year” award in 1997. But even before the Spanish company could begin building its latest development in Mexico—a 450-room luxury resort at Xcacel, about 75 miles (125 kms) south of Cancún in the state of Quintana Roo—it became the target of environmental protests. Environmental groups here and abroad say the proposed resort would threaten the most important nesting grounds of two of the seven species of protected sea turtles found in Mexico—loggerheads and Atlantic greens. “Get out, Sol Meliá... [Log in to read more]
