The World Travel & Tourism Council’s (WTTC) Hotel Sustainability Basics is set to end its first year on a high with more than 1,300 hotels verified across more than 30 countries from around the world.
Hotel Sustainability Basics is an independent global sustainability verification program, overseen by internationally recognized verifiers Green Key and SGS. The aim is for hotels around the world, regardless of their size, to follow a 12-step program to reduce carbon emissions, protect and promote nature, and ensure local communities benefit from the hotel. It is achievable for all hotels to implement as a bare minimum and, crucially, serves as a stepping-stone to more complex sustainability schemes.
In its first year, Hotel Sustainability Basics has been endorsed by destinations around the world such as the Caribbean, Mauritius, Colombia, Abu Dhabi, Azerbaijan, Mexico and Ecuador. The “Basics” have also been adopted by a number of major hotel brands around the world, such as Jin Jiang, Louvre Hotels Group and Radisson Hotel Group. Other major brands which have signed up Hotel Sustainability Basics include adventure travel specialist Intrepid, British Airways Holidays, HBX Group, WebBeds, Biosphere and Abercrombie & Kent.
Together, this underscores a global commitment to sustainable travel and tourism from across the hospitality industry, and the global tourism body expects thousands more hotels from all corners of the globe will adopt Hotel Sustainability Basics next year.
Significantly, the recently announced partnership between WTTC, the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (SHA) and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) has cemented a clear pathway in the hospitality sustainability journey. This collaboration will establish a structured framework from the “Basics” towards advanced global standards for hotel sustainability.
For more information, visit www.wttc.org.
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