newSRILANKA Team External Links 17 August 2009 72 views No Comment  Print This Post  Email This Post

An initiative to ‘Green’ Sri Lankan hotels was launched on August 3 under the aegis   of the Responsible Tourism Partnership (RTP) a five year project funded by the Travel Foundation, UK along with the cooperation of the Ministry of Tourism, the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka, and the Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLEA). According to the press release, 34 hotels around the country are due to go ‘Green’ and amongst them are those of the Aitken Spence, John Keells, Jetwing and Confifi group of hotels as well as The Siddhalepha Ayurveda Resort & Spa, Saman Villas and Mermard Hotel & Club.

Accusations of disproportionate energy consumption and environmentally damaging general practices have been dodging the hotel industry for years. As a result of trying to offer their customers the best possible experience while maximising profitability, the trend was to forget that they have a responsibility towards the protection of the environment. Instances such as the marine pollution that occurred when certain hotels along the coast were found to be dumping sewage and waste water  to the seas, of overfilling cesspits and mismanagement of waste were  common accusations levelled at the hotel industry. However some hotels have adjusted their practices since  then to reflect a rising awareness on environmental issues.

Minister for the Environment and Natural Resources, Hon. Champika Ranawaka told the DM that energy conservation and creating harmony between the built environment and the natural environment are a main concern at the moment. The minister said steps like including more green architecture in the building of hotels and resorts should be prioritised because currently most hotels are large chunks of concrete that are at odds with their environment.

He also stated that hotels have been using more than their fair share of energy as a result of things like 24/7 air conditioning. Minister Ranawaka emphasised that “several large scale establishments in Colombo use the electricity equivalent of the usage of 30,000 households in the Moratuwa/Mt Lavinia area”  The hotel industry has the ability and capacity to instigate positive changes necessary to make themselves more environmentally conscious and it is a positive step that they have made with this greening initiative. He said that the future constructions made to accommodate the tourism sector would benefit from having these concerns in  their minds as “going green” is a fast growing global trend.

Countries that market themselves on the beauty of their natural environment such as Costa Rica have been initiating certification programmes that give hotels a rating percentage that helps travellers identify each hotel by their specific sustainability levels. Not only is this certification programme a tool for travellers, it is also a method to benchmark changes and make them a standard for the industry.

The CST (Certification for Sustainable Tourism) programme rates the hotels on several different sets of descriptors which include the relationship between the physical and biological environment, the facilities provided by the hotel, such as the policies with regard to water and energy consumption and waste management (what happens to the organic waste as well as where the inorganic waste ends up) and the socio – economic environment cultivated by the institution. Then based upon the score they are placed on a level between 0 and 5, with 5 being the optimum level for sustainability. Countries such as the UAE as well, and the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce in particular have launched national initiatives to reduce carbon emissions drastically from their hospitality industry by 20% by 2011.

In addition, the UNEP (United Nations Environment Project) have several awareness projects running that help the industry as well as the consumer to become more aware and responsive to the changes that are taking place all over the world as a result of poor environmental practices. The UNEP have put together an international task force to deal with the development of sustainable tourism as a concept called the Marrakech Process. According to the information found on the UNEP website, the tourism industry as one, compared with all the countries in the world, would rank as the 5th largest polluter worldwide.

The UNEP is developing communication tools and training programmes to help counter the damage. Although the effects of these programmes may take years to show, it is most definitely a step in the right direction. There are websites offering the industry benchmarking tools, to help compare themselves to their peers worldwide such as the one offered in the Sustainable Hotel website (www.sustainablehotel.co.uk), but so far nothing specifically has been created for the local hotelier. However this may all change with the present RTP initiative.

Read more at Dailymirror

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