Fla. Hotel Offers Eco Incentives

While kayak paddling and dolphin spotting isn't far removed from the type of team-building activities offered at virtually every major meeting resort in the United States, the incentive programs at the Grand View at Lovers Key, Fla., are tied into a different pursuit: eco-tourism.

The property offers a three-day, two-night meetings package that features an informational hike around Mount Key, originally explored almost 500 years ago by Ponce de Leon. The later-day expeditions for meeting groups are led by Arden Arrington, a Fort Myers native and president of the Estero Island Historical Society.

The Grand View package is one of dozens of environmental tours offered across the state, frequently in conjunction with hotels, but often provided by destination management companies specializing in environmental tours.

"Florida has such a unique environment that it only makes sense that these environmentally oriented tours would come into the marketplace," said Charlotte Luer, a spokeswoman for the Grand View.

Information about environmental tours, ranging from hikes through the pine forests of northern Florida to an aquatic exploration of the coral barrier reefs of the Florida Keys, can be obtained through all the convention and visitors bureaus in Florida cities. A new Website that offers information about environmental travel providers in the Miami area can be reached at http://www.txinfinet.com/mader/ecotravel/Florida/ecoflorida.html.