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How Green are Our Hotels?

Environmental management remains a neglected area in the management of hotels. But it has been seen that hotels in Bangkok are practicing environmental management practices. However, at a point they also do not want to compromise with guest comfort. The idea of Green Leaf is very innovative and the hotels are trying their best to be a part of that.

According to the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT), they are ‘going green’, taking its environmental responsibilities seriously and developing a programme to maintain and improve the natural environment by reducing the carbon footprint. They promote the belief that tourism should be developed in a manner that minimizes negative impacts on local communities and negative impact on the environment.

TAT has identified four key Green Initiatives (TAT, 2009):

1. Promoting Thai ‘Green’ tourism by raising awareness of green tourism operators and service providers through the creation of a database of environmentally responsible tourism related businesses.

2. Recognizing, developing and rewarding green tourism role models.

3. Organizing green tourism conferences, meetings and educational seminars.

4. Implementing a ‘Seven Greens’ programme. They are Green Hearts, Green Logistics, Green Attractions, Green Community, Green Activities, Green Services and Green Plus.

Over the years, the number of star hotels has increased in all the cities of Asia. However, there is no exploration on the environmental management practices of these hotels. Though the concept of Ecotel hotel has emerged in India, not many hotels have this hallmark. Baring the few Ecotels in Delhi, Mumbai and other cities like Lonavala, Mahabaleswar, Jaipur and Kollam, others remain indifferent to the idea of being environment friendly. Therefore, there is an urgent need to find out how green our hotels are.

(Article from the Environment and Urbanization ASIA)