Dromoland Castle won silver award for environment

 

Green Hospitality Award Welcomes Results of Failte Ireland Visitor Attitude Survey

 

52% of visitors to Ireland would seek to stay in a hotel that has reduced its environmental impact and 35% would pay more, according to Failte Ireland’s visitor attitudes survey 2008.

 

 The survey, which was carried out amongst 5,700 overseas holidaymakers who completed questionnaires between May to October 2008, revealed a strong trend of visitors becoming more environmentally aware and more conscious about the impact of their activities. One in every three visitors think about the environmental impact when booking their holidays, and nearly half of visitors surveyed agree to some extent that they would seek to offset carbon emissions when flying on holiday. 

 

The survey is further backed up, in terms of consumer trends, by the 2008 Tripadvisor survey which found that 33% of USA Travellers would be willing to spend more for a hotel with environmental certification.

 

“We are obviously delighted with these findings as it further endorses the work of the GHA which assists businesses in the hospitality sector to reduce their carbon footprint”, said Maurice Bergin, Director, GHA. “Already our members are convinced of the value of introducing effective environmental management programmes as they have experienced substantial reductions in costs resulting from the programme, so this is just a further boost for them”

 

Achievements as a result of implementing the GHA programme include reducing waste going to landfill by 75%, reducing water consumption by 50% and reducing energy consumption by up to 30% all of which impact positively on the bottom line as well as on the environment.

 

The GHA provides a step-by-step approach to environmental management with awards given at Bronze, Silver, Gold or Platinum levels. The GHA is now recognised as the standard for environmental management within the hospitality sector in Ireland and is fully supported by Failte Ireland and the Irish Hotels Federation.

 

 

The Green Hospitality Award programme, currently has 150 members, and last year a total of 81 awards were presented nationally to businesses that are actively partaking in the programme. Those that are involved have already seen the positive results of their efforts. In 2008 the Environmental Protection Agency commenced funding the Green Hospitality Award, through its Green Business Initiative. This funding is planned to be available until 2011 and is designed to assist the award in spreading throughout the hotel and hospitality sector.

 

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