Echo Resorts, the owning company for Gayana Marine Resort, Bunga Raya Island Resort, and Borneo Eagle Resort, is keeping busy amidst the worldwide pandemic caused by the coronavirus.
Formed in 2007 in Kota Kinabalu, Echo Resorts is a family-owned and run business driven by strong family and community values with interests ranging from hospitality, environmental conservation, and wellness. While its hotel division is not operating due to global travel restrictions and the Movement Control Order imposed by the Malaysian government, it’s business as usual, if not more, for the other divisions.
Organic Food Supply
Its Borneo Eco Fish Farm by Bayu Aquaculture Sdn Bhd and Green-Os organic vegetable farm are seeing rising orders from consumers and restaurants since the pandemic began. Borneo Eco Fish Farm rears an assortment of fish and prawns including the First Backcross Grouper Fish in 2019 and the Echo Grouper, a hybrid produced by back-cross of a male giant grouper with a female hybrid grouper. The farm adopts environmentally friendly practices, including chemical and antibiotic-free organic feed, to ensure product quality and safety.
Green-Os organic vegetables, locally farmed without using any pesticides or chemicals, is popular for its variety of organic vegetables grown in healthy, fertile soil created by quality compost and organic fertilizer.
“As a result of the Movement Control Order and a conscious desire to adopt a healthier lifestyle in the midst of this pandemic, we are seeing increasing delivery orders from the public. Business has more than doubled since February. More than this, we are pleased that the public is recognizing the benefits of consuming natural, wholesome produce,” commented Gillian Tan, Echo Resorts’ Owner Representative.
The supplies are also delivered to Alu Alu Kitchen, the group’s restaurant located in the city, which was opened with a mission to serve fresh, organic seafood and vegetables from the farms. Its talented Head Chef Ah Keong creates nourishing menus inspired by Chinese and Malaysian influences to bring out the fresh tastiness of the produce untainted by chemical fertilizers and obtained from sustainable sources. According to Ms Tan, home orders placed at Alu Alu Kitchen has increased significantly since February with some families placing orders for the whole lockdown period.
Marine Ecology Research Centre – Corals, clams, and seahorses
In the absence of visitors, the group’s environmental conservation arm, the award-winning Marine Ecology Research Centre (MERC) attached to Gayana Marine Resort, is devoting more time to research and development on its reef regeneration and giant clam propagation including caring for the Baby Giant Clam nursery. MERC’s successful efforts in the propagation of seven of the world’s giant clams found in Malaysian waters were recognized by the Malaysia Book of Records. The team has also expanded their R&D to include seahorses which have been overly harvested for supposed medicinal values. The recent births from two male seahorses have provided much excitement and encouragement into the behavior of seahorses with the hope of increasing the seahorse population in the foreseeable future.
Health and Wellness
Reflecting the increasing current global awareness for health, Klinik Gayana and Gayana Pharma from Echo Resorts’ health and wellness division, are registering a higher demand for its supplements and medical services.
Employee Welfare
Concerted attention is drawn to the wellbeing of employees at this time with training programs, educational courses and voluntary work being activated.
Ms Tan remarked, “We understand it may take time for travel to return to a semi-normal state and we have decided that this is the perfect time to go back to basics and reinvest in education and training. Specific training syllabi have been mapped out for all our staff here at Echo Resorts including Cornell Online Education Programs for some of our department heads. It has always been our ethos to give back to the local staff, and this is a wonderful opportunity to take them back to school.”
With the temporary closure of Gayana Marine Resort, Bunga Raya Island Resort and Borneo Eagle Resort, 50 hotel employees are deployed to render support to Green-Os (organic vegetable farm), Borneo Eco Fish Farm by Bayu Aquaculture Sdn and Alu Alu Kitchen. This, in turn, gives them a deeper insight into the group’s holistic approach.
Besides volunteering to man the three resorts during this lockdown period which meant sacrificing time away from their families, employees are also putting their time to good use by making 800 reusable masks for all ECHO staff.
Ms Tan added,” Employee welfare and wellbeing remain the very core of our business. No employee has been made redundant. These may be trying times, but it has also revealed the tenacity of our people and it has been beautiful seeing everyone rally together to weather this storm.”
As part of its community outreach during this time, Echo Resorts has also contributed towards 2,000 food packs to affected families in need on Pulau Gaya.
