Xanterra Parks & Resorts Inc.

• Position: TOURISM/HOSPITALITY

IT ISNT EASY BELNG GREEN XANTERRA PARKS Resorts just makes it look that way.

I he nation's largest park concessioner is committed to ensuring it leaves the softest possible footprint at its 31 hotels and lodges, 55 retail stores, 6B restaurants, three marinas, 10 golf courses, about 1,700 campsites and its latest acquisition, a cruise line.

So the sleam-powered engines of the Grand Canyon Railway now run on clean-burning, 100-percent-recycled vegetable oil. There's a ban on the sale of plastic water bottles at Zion Lodge and Zion National Park, but newly installed hydration stations make it easy for guests to use their own refillable bottles. The largest solar photovoltaic system in the tourism industry at Death Valley National Park in California generates enough electricity to supply the Furnace Creek Resort with 100 percent of its power during the day:

The company installed a wind turbine at Maumee Bay State Park Lodge in Ohio, replaced all those little plastic shampoo and lotion bottles in its hotel rooms with fullv biodegradable cornstarch-based containers and now uses only sustainable Green Seal-certified cleaning products at all Xanterra properties.

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It's no surprise that its aggressive sustainability agenda has earned Xanterra more than 70 national and international environmental awards in the past 11 years. But its environmental goals aren't about tooling the company horn. President and CEO Andrew Todd says.

"It's not just PR or green wash, it's actually established programs at each property;" he says. "All the employees take it to heart. It's a priority; and everyone knows it."

Xanterra, which was acquired by the Denver-based Anschutz Go. three years ago, continues the legendary hospitality established by Fred Harvey, who began developing upscale hotels and restaurants along the Santa Fe Railroad in 1876. Xanterra acquired the Fred Harvey Co. in 1968. and just completed the purchase of Windstar Cruises, whose...