Reserch by Booking.com shows that more and more travellers aspire to reduce their environmental impact, while still indulging in comfort on vacation. Over half (52 per cent) of all global travellers report that they are likely to choose a destination based on its social or environmental impact in 2015. Findings from a survey of 32,000 travellers across 16 countries by Booking.com reveal that attitudes towards sustainable travel are evolving, even as we continue to embrace vacation comforts.
While only 10 per cent of respondents took a traditional sustainable trip in 2014 (defined as an eco-tour, a volunteering trip, a farm stay, a camping trip or a trip to learn about new cultures), this year will see the majority of global travellers being influenced by an intention to reduce their environmental impact, or to ensure that their tourism has a positive impact on the local community, when evaluating vacation destinations.
And hoteliers have also increased their sustainability efforts proportionately.
InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) is planning a 170-room Indigo branded property in Dubai’s newly launched sustainable city project. Accor has promised to plant 100,000 Ghaf trees in the UAE over 10 years. Hilton has come up with a clean and green meeting programme. Rotana hotels make their contributions in an increasing number of ways. The list goes on.
IHG
IHG earlier this year announced a Net Zero energy project in Dubai, where 100 per cent energy needs will be met by solar power.
All waste water produced by the hotel will be recycled, and all material waste will be sorted at source and then recycled. A solar powered shuttle bus transportation service will be available to guests of the hotel.
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Faroukh Sunny |
Due to open in the first half of 2017, the 170-room Hotel Indigo Dubai The Sustainable City will be part of Dubai’s first sustainable integrated development.
ACCOR MIDDLE EAST
Christophe Landais, chief operating officer of AccorHotels in the Middle East, tells TTN: “Awareness of sustainability issues in the Middle East region may not have been as advanced as other regions until recently, but plans to ‘go green’ are now moving ahead at a fast pace and have become more widespread across the GCC, and there is a definite trend amongst all our brands and hotels in the region towards environmental responsibility and accountability.
“Building on the successful start of our Plant for the Planet programme in the UAE, where we are planting 100,000 trees over the next decade as part of a global reforestation initiative, we are now looking for partners in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to duplicate the programme, and also outside of the GCC; in Egypt, for example. The objective is to help restore and maintain the natural habitats of our hotel communities, and preserve the ecosystems in which our hotels operate.”
In 2014, Accor Middle East hotels reported a 10 per cent reduction in water consumption. Also, 100 per cent of Accor regional hotels now recycle their own waste.
HILTON WORLDWIDE
Hilton Worldwide has promised to reduce the environmental impact of meetings and events held at more than 90 hotels and resorts in Asia Pacific through an expanded carbon emissions solution, the Clean Air Programme.
When customers choose any of Hilton’s participating hotels as meeting venues, the programme will provide a calculation of the carbon emissions of the event at no cost to the customers. Hilton will then purchase the equivalent carbon credits to finance environmentally friendly projects across Asia Pacific in partnership with carbon offset solutions provider Climate Friendly. The programme is designed to make it easier for meeting professionals to incorporate environmental solutions into events.
ROTANA
As part of Rotana’s extensive sustainability programme, Villa Rotana, Rihab Rotana, and Rimal Rotana in Dubai joined forces recently to clean up the shoreline. Ten professional divers also attempted to clean the ocean on World Ocean Day last month. Kinan Al Ghraoui, general manager, said: “We are tied to the ocean. And when we go back to the sea, whether it is to sail or to clean, we are going back from where we came from.”
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Eleni Tsolakou |
Arjaan by Rotana participated in the Car Free Day, encouraging colleagues to car pool or commute using public transportation on the day.
“We have just finished our recycling exhibition where different department teams had to use recycled material and create art,” Centro Barsha Dubai general manager Eleni Tsolakou informs TTN. “We have also just concluded the ‘organic month’, where we were promoting organic food.
“We are soon launching the ‘empty your plate campaign’ where we encourage guests to save food and decrease wastage. Every year, we aim higher; to increase more our recycling and decrease wet waste.”
SAVOY APARTMENTS
Savoy Park Hotel Apartment in Dubai, member of the Dubai Quality Group was awarded the Best Hotel in Environmental Innovation at the Middle East Hotel Awards 2015 ceremony organised by DMG events. Savoy Crest was the Top Finalist in the same category.
Faroukh Sunny, group general manager of the Savoy Hotel Apartments in Dubai, tells TTN: “Going green can be fun and infectious! We believe that sustainability and exceptional hospitality should mutually coexist in every hotel. Protecting nature and maintaining the natural resources for the next generation is an essential process and very practical to accomplish.”
“Firstly, switch over to 100 per cent LED lighting and use water aerators in a phased manner,” advises the green-passionate general manager. “The return-on-investment period for this is very low and money could be recovered in a very short span of time. This saving could then be ploughed back into the operations by investing in other green capital equipment such as heat pumps for the pool, light timers amongst various other green gadgets suitable for your hotel setup.”
Besides this, he explains, green education to all guests, suppliers and staff should also be very high on every hotel’s agenda to be environmentally friendly. “Purchasing all eco products and ensuring that all items are reused and recycled 100 per cent.”
SUSTAINABLE
Sustainable travel is more than just ‘going green’, it is also about helping to support and retain local cultures, economies and environments while travelling. Equally, hotels need to bring to the forefront their green efforts; often they are more sustainable and eco-conscious than they give themselves credit for.
Todd Dunlap, Booking.com managing director Americas, says: “Guests may not realise that as they sleep on organic cotton sheets, washed with water heated by energy generated from the hotel itself, they are staying sustainably. Or that when eating a meal made from ingredients sourced within 20 miles of their accommodation, they are a sustainable traveller supporting local business.
“Many of the world’s best accommodations already provide these stealthily sustainable amenities to make sure their guests can enjoy all the luxuries of a vacation guilt-free.”
By Rashi Sen