Energy is a key cost and emissions factor for hotels, resorts, and timeshares, as they are high
energy intensive buildings which operate 24/7. Even though cleaner and more efficient
equipment has made vast improvements, rising temperatures and energy costs require…
World Travel Market 2022 proved that sustainability in tourism really does matter to consumers and employees. In fact, it clearly matters to all stakeholders and continues to be a priority for business owners regardless of size or location.
It’s easy to get swept up in the promise of technology. It gives us something to fall back on. However much of a mess humanity makes, we can rest easy. Surely efficiency and innovation will save the day in the end, right? On their own, no. I believe in technology, but it is only as a force for good insofar as we choose to make it so.
We in the tourism sector have a responsibility to lead the way on nature restoration. Beautiful places surrounded by glorious forests, beaches, flowers, birdlife, and mountain views understandably draw visitors, yet the consumption of fossil fuels and wasteful use of food and resources by hospitality adds to pollution and depletion of those same natural assets.
There is a great deal of expectation that data can help deliver more sustainable hospitality, but is it relevant, is it fully used? Firms can be awash with data as they monitor food waste, reservations, energy, revenue and comfort levels, to name a few, but do managers and staff have time to study its implications?
Guest Participation offers you exciting opportunities to design innovative new more sustainable hospitality experiences which are low or zero carbon. I hope you…
Guest use of resources represents a very important opportunity for reducing resource use and emissions as they can consume 40-50% of a hotel’s water and use high levels of energy (a/c, lights) 1/2, in self-contained accommodation they would account for almost all the resource use. In other words guest behaviour has a significant impact on energy and water consumption and may actually represent a key channel for tourism to reduce its footprint.