Travellers conscious of environmental protection now

Hotels moving towards green tourism

Harshini Perera

Market trends in local tourism show clear green directions.

Customers and the travel and tourism distribution channels are becoming more in demand to ensure that holidays have minimal negative impacts on the environment, Responsible Tourism Partnership Sri Lanka(RTP) Director, Charmarie Maelge told Daily News Business.

“It is estimated that 250 hotels in Sri Lanka can reduce 20 million kWh per annum.

“Sri Lanka has very strict laws and regulations making it already a fairly green destination,” she said. The future sustainability of the destination and its economy will basically depend on safeguarding the natural resources.

In tourism the environment is the very key product we are marketing, and safeguarding it will protect the resources that the tourism business is dependent on.

“Greening concepts can only be a win-win situation for the tourism businesses, and the entire country and the people,” she said. Hotels see this as the future of their businesses.

There is also an increasing number of certifications, standards and also environmental taxes that have been introduced.

Greening hotels started at many levels and initially without any investments by simply educating the staff and engaging the guests to save energy, water and reduce waste.

These schemes may need good monitoring mechanisms, for example, there are hotels that encourage the guests to reuse the towels to save water and energy, despite the towels are kept in the prescribed way for reusing, the staff takes those away for washing.

At a next phase the hotels can fine tune equipment, or introduce newer technologies and then move in to alternate energy options such as bio mass, solar, hydro and wind power.

Maelge said tourists do not want their holidays to damage the environment of the destination, a survey conducted in the UK shows that the tourists will in fact pay a 10 percent more of their holiday package if they can help ensure that the environment will not be damaged because of their holiday.

She said that the tourists are keen to address their green guilt, and that is exactly why many tourists are contributing to a number of environmental conservation projects.