the wave of ecotourism in the United States as the top executive of a guest property which has introduced environmental vacations.

Mr. Charles Popper, who headed Sonesta Beach Resort in Southampton for some 20 years, and the Registry Resort in Naples, Florida, were recently featured in a Southern Living Magazine article.

Like many other hotels around the world, Registry Resort now offers guests package plans which focus on the surrounding environs' natural wonders.

Guided tours of five pristine Florida areas, such as the National Audubon Society's Corkscrew Swamp Sanctuary, are included in the four-day, three-night deals.

Guests can also walk to the beach using boardwalks built through mangroves or paddle canoe trails in the Clam Pass Sanctuary.

"We wanted to take advantage of this wonderful nature preserve that needs to be viewed and appreciated,'' Mr. Popper said in the article, which is titled "For the Love of the Land''.

"Ecotourism is the watchword of the nineties and it's all right here in our own backyard.'' Mr. Popper designed the tours together with the director of a local non-profit environmental organisation.

On-site programmes were created to highlight the 800-acres of mangrove forest which sits "literally in the resort's backyard''.