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By Danson Imbwaga Matekwa
“Eco-consciousness is on the rise in the hospitality industry. Guests are looking for sustainable and authentic experiences and luxury hotels are going green as millennials demand sustainable travel options.” – WorldHotels
Among the world’s current pertinent concerns is the issue of sustainability. The hospitality industry has certainly not been left behind in the quest for improved environmental and social impact, while maintaining profit. Sustainability enhances establishments’ operations and development which in turn impacts on environmental, economic and social aspects. For sustainability to be realized, the above named must be harmonized.
The environment is perhaps the single most important tool for the hotel industry by producing majority of resources needed while also acting as a ‘sink’ for waste generated. Energy is needed in hotels for power needs, as a source of fuel, for lighting among other needs. Water is needed in the bathrooms, for cooking, cleaning among others. A few sceptics have equated the idea of green operation as being expensive and hardly noticeable by guests. On the contrary, green operations have been proved to be of great importance to many hotel establishments.
Cost saving is the most spoken benefit of eco-labels. The goal of any hotel is to make profits at the end of the day. The policy of re-use, reduce and recycle has been warmly welcomed and adapted by many hoteliers which, combined with other practices, continue increasing their net profits. Cost reduction can be achieved by investing in different environmentally friendly technologies.
In the recent past, many governments have been enacting a number of regulatory laws which are to be implemented by the hotel industry. Such enactments are to address issues such as waste management, cooperate social responsibility, environmental health and safety among others. However, being a member of an eco-label helps to adhere to such regulatory measures, which helps in smooth running of a hotel’s operations.
Modern and well-informed hoteliers clearly understand that customer satisfaction is essential for their retention and loyalty. Currently, more than ever in the hotel industry, customers are not just looking for hotels, they want a home like environment. Hotels capable of providing green operations have been attracting increasing number of customers, increasing their operations.
Eco-labels help in improving a hotel’s brand image. Constant mentions on different platforms including websites, newspapers etc. helps in not only marketing of the hotel, but also retaining customers, with most millenials preferring to work in environmentally friendly environments. Sustainability and eco-labeling is now a defining issue for the hotel industry. Rising populations and increasingly scarce resources will provide a challenging business environment in which sustainability will need to be embedded within all facets of the industry, rather than regarded as a standalone issue.
By Lorraine Dixon, Green Key Kenya National Coordinator
Sustainable Consumption and Production (SCP) refers to “the use of services and related products, which respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life while minimizing the use of natural resources and toxic materials as well as the emissions of waste and pollutants over the life cycle of the service or product so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations” (UNEP, 2010).
The global Travel & Tourism sector contributed $8.8 trillion and 319 million jobs to the world economy in 2018 (WTTC, 2019). However, the sector accounted for around 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a study by As the competitiveness of the tourism sector relies heavily on natural resources and the sector is forecasted to continue growing, the concept of SCP is highly relevant to ensure the sustainable development of tourism. Constant rethinking and optimization of performance of the tourism sector are of utmost importance to decouple tourism’s growth from the increasing use of natural resources. Moreover, advancing SCP in the tourism sector has the potential to achieve positive multiplier effects at all levels of its transversal value chain and can further position the sector as an agent of change.
Target 12.b of Sustainable Development Goal 12 on ensuring responsible consumption and production, sets out the need to develop and implement tools to monitor sustainable development impacts for sustainable tourism, which creates jobs, promotes local culture and products. The Sustainable Tourism Programme (STP) of the 10-Year Framework of Programmes on Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns (10YFP) aims at developing such SCP practices, including resource efficient initiatives that result in enhanced economic, social and environmental outcomes.
As a transversal economic sector, tourism has an extended and fragmented value chain which requires collaboration among a wide array of stakeholders (from different levels and branches of government, to the private sector and civil society) to deliver the tourism product and implies diverse linkages with other sectors. Furthermore, tourism, like no other sector, involves direct interaction between visitors (consumers) and host communities (producers) and thus can have a profound influence on the individual leading to more sustainable travel behaviour and demand (UNWTO and UNEP, 2019).
Areas of policy focus for improving the contribution of tourism towards SCP and sustainable development as a whole include:
- Enhancing tourism’s environmental governance and institutional synergies
- Raising awareness of the potential of tourism to advance SDG 12
- Enhancing the environmental components of tourism policies
- Improving monitoring and disclosure of the sustainable development impacts of tourism for enhanced accountability
References
UNEP (2010). ABC of SCP Clarifying Concepts on Sustainable Consumption and Production.
WTTC (2019). Travel & Tourism continues strong growth above global GDP.
Lenzen, M. et al. (2018). The carbon footprint of global tourism. Nature Climate Change Volume 8, pages 522–528
UNWTO & UNEP (2019). Baseline Report on the Integration of Sustainable Consumption and Production Patterns into Tourism Policies.
By Lorraine Dixon, Green Key Kenya National Coordinator
Recognising the natural environment as a vital tourism resource, public and private sectors of the tourism industry are increasingly adopting and implementing environmentally compatible development measures in order to curtail the negative environmental impacts associated with tourism development.
According to Agenda 21 for the Travel & Tourism Industry, “Sustainable tourism products are products which operate in harmony with local environment, community, and cultures, so that these become the permanent beneficiaries (WTO, 1997).”
A large, conventional city hotel can be environmentally and socially responsible, and so can a small eco-lodge near a national park. On the other hand, a small lodge can be just as irresponsible and unsustainable as a large hotel, or even more so in some cases. This is one reason why many people see a growing need for internationally recognized, but locally adapted standards for sustainability.
One way of rewarding the establishments that are truly complying with these goals is by giving them credible outside recognition in the form of Certifications or Eco-labels. Eco-labels are increasingly being adopted by various stakeholders in the tourism sector. Eco-labelling is a voluntary method of environmental performance certification and labelling that is practised around the world. An eco-label identifies products or services proven environmentally preferable overall, within a specific product or service category.
The forward thrust towards Eco-labels for tourism enterprises emerged as a result of Agenda 21, approved by 182 countries during the 1992 United Nations Earth Summit (or Rio Summit), which emphasized the need for businesses to comply with environmental regulations and policies to mitigate global environmental problems. A range of eco-labels exists, targeting different aspects of the tourism industry: beaches, hotels, camping sites, marinas, and events.
There are over 200 labels for sustainable tourism globally. An important question for the travellers looking for trustworthy eco-labels is whether the label has been recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). It is the largest independent international interest group for sustainable tourism. Currently, 31 eco labels in tourism have been recognized by GSTC.
Certification sets standards and helps distinguish genuine ecotourism and sustainable tourism businesses from others that make empty claims. This helps to protect the integrity of these concepts. Certification is not an end in itself. It is one of a number of tools for motivating businesses and others to improve their environmental, social, and economic performance, while rewarding them for doing so (CESD). These rewards are sometimes tangible and sometimes not.
Benefits of Eco-labels include:
- Improvement of business operations through learning about the elements of sustainability in operations and focusing on changes needed to increase efficiency
- Reduction of operating costs, particularly the costs of water, electricity, and fossil fuels, without reducing the quality of service
- Potential marketing advantages to certified businesses, as consumers learn to recognize credible certification brands. This has happened in other industries, such as organic foods, wood products, clothing, wine, etc.
- Increasing public awareness of responsible business practices.
- Alerting tourists to the environmental and social issues in an area, allowing them to act more respectfully or contribute to solutions, as well as providing tourists with environmentally and socially responsible choices
- Governments are able to protect their market niches as ecotourism or sustainable tourism destinations
- Raising industry standards in health, safety, environment, and social stability, and subsequently lowering the regulatory costs of environmental protection
- Increased consideration and respect of local culture, as well as provision of real economic and social benefits for it
The potential of eco-labels to maintain and even enhance the physical environment by educating potential tourists regarding the environmental attributes of tourism enterprises and fostering environmentally sensitive business operations among such enterprises make the concept particularly appealing to developing countries. However there is need to ensure the quality of these eco-labels themselves to prevent them from becoming a new tool for greenwashing.
