NEW YORK— Turtle Island Resort in the South Pacific has been named a “Best Practices” company by The Conference Boards Business Enterprises for Sustainable Travel (BEST) for its “successful integration of environmental and cultural sustainability in a quality tourist operation.” “To ensure that destinations continue to be attractive to both visitors and residents alike, more businesses must take the lead in assisting others in adopting sustainable practices,” said Michael Seltzer, director of BEST. “Turtle Island Resort has demonstrated how one enterprise can successfully enlist others in adopting progressive sustainable practices that enhance the overall well-being of a region.” Richard Evanson, Turtle Islands managing director, made a commitment to restore the island to its original state after years of neglect. During 20 years of operation, Evanson has undertaken a number of unique and innovative programs reflecting aspects of a sustainable future for tourism and to provide a model for tourism operators in the Pacific and in other developing nations. Evanson has made it a fundamental part of Turtle Islands philosophy to test and measure the impact of operations on its environment, community, marine resources, and overall health, and to seek to improve its operations on this basis. This is done through the commissioning of both environmental and cultural audits. The results of the audits are available “warts and all” for guests to peruse. In order to expand economic opportunities, Turtle Island has financed three villages to enable them to build and run accommodations. The island has also been instrumental in creating an association of these and other Fijian-owned budget and backpacker operators called the Nacula Tikina Tourism Association (NTTA). Members of the NTTA have adopted their own “Code of Conduct for Responsible Tourism” and have agreed to implement and be bound by its principles in their resort operations.