Ljubljana's Celica Hostel becomes the world's first eco-certified hostel

In the process of obtaining the Travelife Gold award, Celica Hostel, which also celebrates its 13th anniversary, needed to implement a wide range of sustainable measures and meet more than 150 criteria. Beside the environmental aspects the criteria also included relationships with local suppliers, dealing with employees and integration into the local community.

Celica Hostel supply their food from the local Jarina Cooperative which has been the provider of local farm produced food for Ljubljana's schools and kindergartens for 12 years. Jarina is also a part of the green supply chains pilot project for accommodation establishments, which is currently in the testing stage of implementation by Ljubljana Tourism.

The end goals of the Travelife certification are the improvement of accommodation providers' services in a way that is friendly to the environment and the local communities, a reduction in costs, and international comparability, which leads to increased demand. By the end of 2016, the year of Ljubljana's tenure as the European Green Capital, the range of the city's sustainable tourism offerings will include eight internationally certified accommodation establishments.