Happy Earth Day!
What a different earth this is to 3 months ago!!! Needless to say, we will not try and make any magical predictions. Our main concern is that all those hotels and hospitality businesses out there will find a way to keep this industry as manifold and colourful as it has always been up to the start of these new times.
Our other main concern is of course also the on-going climate change our planet is experiencing. Despite the respite we are currently experiencing through reduced economic activity worldwide, nature will keep telling us, through simply extreme weather conditions, that global warming remains another challenge we need to deal with.
The good news is that, in my mind, the hospitality and tourism sectors are perfectly placed to address this. It is one of our most truly international and multi-cultural industries. It has for decades now built bridges between cultures and different peoples by opening doors and furthering knowledge about each other’s traditions. All of us working in this sector are used to working with myriads of people from different cultures, and we thrive on making this work.
As the WTTC puts it, Tourism is a force for good, and I believe we can harness this to work together to combat climate change.
Particularly during this difficult period for our sector, sticking together and using these months constructively to concentrate on the good we can do is going to be vital to revitalising the trust of our guests and customers. Without trust, people will be reluctant to travel again.
So we need to show that we can be trusted by being transparent about our actions, talking about the progress we might be making with reducing waste, fair wages, conservation programmes, supporting national and regional food production and also reducing our energy consumption to contribute to clean air in our surroundings.
We will do our bit by starting a series of short, bitesize and informative webinars to bring you up to speed on issues around the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, Certifications, Responsible Purchasing, and Legislation, as well as introducing our set of toolkits around waste, plastics and energy.
So stay tuned, stay well and above all let’s stay together.
