The industry should call on destinations “to clean up their act”, reward suppliers for acting more sustainably and advise customers on ‘sustainable behaviour’ on holiday.
That is according to Carolyn Wincer, commercial director of Travelife, the Abta-owned sustainability accreditation programme for hotels.
She noted: “It takes a lot of energy and water to run a hotel, and waste has a big impact. There are a lot of impacts, but also ways to reduce these, many very low-cost – like restricting waterflow, putting up signs to ‘Save water’, irrigating grounds at night so there is less evaporation. Simple changes can be most effective.”
Yet Wincer told the Abta Delivering Sustainable Travel conference: “Some things need guest support and some need government support.
“Some popular destinations outside Europe have nowhere to dispose of hazardous waste. There is no renewable energy supplier or no plastic waste recycling. It’s on governments and destinations to do better. The travel industry can say to destinations ‘You need to clean up your act’.”
She added: “Hotels find it difficult to deal with the attitudes of guests, who when they go on holiday want a long shower and have expectations.”
Wincer suggested: “Talk to customers before they travel – advise them to shop local, to close doors when the air conditioning is on and not take 20-minute showers.”
She also asked: “What are operators and agents or OTAs doing to reward suppliers doing something on sustainability? What are you doing to incentivise them? Could you have properties with sustainability certification come up first on search or give better rates or incentivise agents to sell them? Operating sustainably has to make sense to the bottom line.”
Wincer noted Travelife is a certification label “developed by the industry for the industry” which sees independent auditors check hotels’ operations against 163 sustainability requirements every two years.
She said: “We require 100% compliance because you can’t be 80% sustainable and do an onsite audit every two years. But we make allowances for small businesses and for destinations if, for example, they have no waste-disposal facilities.”
A list of Travelife certified properties can be found at travelifestaybetter.com.