"Tourists don’t know where they’ve been, travelers don’t know where they’re going."
- Paul Theroux

WORLD OF TRAVEL

Views and Interviews

April 2023

Industry-awareness feature:

Towards environment-friendly tourism


The hospitality industry is in a unique position to lead the way in environmental sustainability. As tourists and vacation seekers become more conscious of the environment, they would be comfortable staying at hotels and resorts that align with eco-friendly initiatives and practices.

This feature outlines the benefits of implementing eco-friendly measures in the hospitality industry. It’s about making environmentally responsible decisions in areas such as energy and water use, waste management, and sustainable sourcing.



With the right practices and investments, hospitality businesses can work together for a larger industry cause that aligns with global concerns.

Joining hands and moving in one direction is fast becoming the need of the hour.


A brief checklist on what hotels and resorts can do . . .

  • Educating Staff: Educating staff on reducing waste, recycling, and ensuring that everyone is aware of a waste management program. This includes conducting regular training sessions and providing resources and opportunities to meet desired objectives.



  • Waste Management: Developing a comprehensive waste management program that outlines how waste should be managed, recycled, and disposed of. The program can include guidelines for senior staff, housekeeping, food & beverage, and other departments.
  • Waste Reduction: Implementing a “reduce, reuse, recycle” policy throughout the hotel, including the purchasing of reusable products. Waste reduction effort also includes reducing food waste through composting, reducing energy and water consumption. It is also useful to encourage guests to participate in this process by providing guidelines and information.



  • Waste Composting: Implementing a composting program to reduce the amount of food waste sent to landfills. This may include educating staff and guests on composting, providing compost storage areas, and setting up a compost pick-up service. In addition to handling organic waste from the hotel’s kitchen and gardens, it is useful to use the compost in the hotel’s landscaping areas or donate it to local farmers and gardens.
  • Waste Recycling: Implementing a comprehensive recycling program that covers all areas of the hotel. Recycling calls for a higher level of planning and implementation than waste reduction or composting. It’s a key responsibility in a hotel’s waste management program and calls for innovation and planning – effort that is unique to the hotel operations.



  • Reduce packaging: Hotels can purchase items with the objective of reducing unnecessary packaging that eventually gets discarded. Hotels can also provide guests with refillable dispensers for shampoos and soaps.
  • Green Purchasing: Encourage staff to purchase recycled and recyclable products. Replace hazardous chemical products with eco-friendly cleaning solutions, and encourage staff to use natural cleaning solutions where possible.




Hotels can also switch to environmentally friendly cleaning products that are free of harmful chemicals and don’t come in single-use plastic containers. A good option is to source local products packaged in environmentally friendly materials.


Images used are courtesy of: 1-pexels-farhan-alkhaled-7526590 / 2-pexels-mikhail-nilov-7988504 / 3-pexels-lara-jameson-9324345 / 4-pexels-ron-lach- 8286624 / 5-pexels-tima-miroshnichenko-7879769

Content Disclaimer: The views expressed in our interviews and stories do not necessarily reflect the official policies, practices and guidelines of the All India Resort Development Association, or its members. These views are based on personal experiences, private opinion, or open source information. (Images used here are either "paid-for" stock photos, images shared by the people we interview, or images under one of the open source licenses such as Creative Commons and others.)
Here’s a link to some recent interviews done by us on the AIRDA website

Virtual Tours

Welcome to AIRDA's virtual tours gallery - an initiative to provide an enhanced visual experience of our member properties.



If you would like to see how 360-degree panorama can work for you and give your customers an enhanced visual experience, please get in touch. Write to us at info@airda.org for more information.


Membership

Benefits for Resort Owners

What does an AIRDA membership mean to resort owners and developers? AIRDA comes in as your industry partner, conscience keeper and business catalyst - with a wide portfolio of support services.

Benefits for Consumers

What does AIRDA mean to holiday seekers and prospective customers? AIRDA comes in to provide information and offer guidelines on making the right timeshare decisions.

Get in Touch

Email: info@airda.org
Phone: 080 41255007 / 08

Address

No. 582, 1st Floor,
6th Cross, 11th Main,
HAL 2nd Stage,
Near Indiranagar Club
Bangalore – 560 008