AMResorts, an Apple Leisure Group (ALG) company, has announced that it is completely eliminating the use of plastic straws across its seven resort brands. Effective immediately, staff at all 55 AMResorts properties are no longer serving drinks with plastic straws and will provide alternative, biodegradable options for guests upon request.
In addition to AMResorts’ efforts, a number of other travel industry brands have taken the initiative to stop the use of plastic. In July, it was announced that Marriott International and the Oetker Collection were joining the movement to ban plastic straws. Marriott International announced a plan to remove disposable plastic stirrers from all its properties by July 2019. Marriott said that the plan could eliminate the use of more than 1 billion plastic straws per year and approximately 250 million stirrers.
Meanwhile, the luxury Oetker Collection announced that same week that it was banning a number of plastic items, effective immediately, in all 10 of its hotels, including plastic straws, plastic spoons, plastic cups, plastic glass cover in rooms, plastic wrappings of individual sugar cubes, and plastic Q-tips and cotton swabs.
Additionally, Hurtigruten banned all single-use plastics fleetwide on July 2. Also in July, Alaska Airlines replaced its single-use, non-recyclable plastic stir straws and citrus picks with sustainable alternatives in its airport lounges and on all of its domestic and international flights. Around the same time, Hilton announced plans to eliminate plastic straws across its managed hotels in the Asia Pacific region by the end of 2018, as well as transition away from plastic bottles in its conference and event spaces.
In June, Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd. announced the decision to eliminate single-use plastics. The company reported that all 50 ships across its fleet – including the Royal Caribbean International, Celebrity Cruises, Azamara Club Cruises, TUI Cruises and Pullmantur Cruceros brands – are eliminating plastic straws by the end of 2018.
Also in June, Meliá Hotels International pledged to eliminate single-use plastics across its entire portfolio by the end of this year. The move includes plastic bottles, cups, bags, straws and coasters immediately replaced with reusable items in more than 370 hotels across 40 countries.
Earlier that month, The Travel Corporation (TTC) and Bahia Principe announced plans to reduce or eliminate single-use plastics. The Travel Corporation committed to eliminating single-use plastics across its worldwide portfolio of 29 travel and tourism brands by 2022, including its Uniworld Boutique River Cruises, U by Uniworld and Red Carnation Hotels brands.
Hotel and resort brand, Bahia Principe, announced plans to ban single-use plastics at all its all-inclusive hotels in the Caribbean and Spain by 2020. The brand will replace single-use plastic cups and straws with reusable or biodegradable alternatives. These changes are now in effect at Bahia Principe’s four properties in Riviera Maya, Mexico.
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