Caring for destinations
Wednesday, 19 Nov, 2009
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TravelMole Guest Comment by Sue Hurdle, chief executive, The Travel Foundation
In today’s tough, competitive climate, the concept of looking after the places we love to visit is more relevant than ever before.
Customers are more aware of issues such as climate change and are beginning to look to companies to provide evidence of their commitment to people and the environment.
At the same time, destinations are looking for ways to differentiate their product to gain competitive advantage – and by demonstrating their ‘green’ credentials they can do just that.
Helping destinations ‘go green’ will continue to be a focus for the Travel Foundation in 2010 and beyond.
Our water and energy saving projects are already helping accommodation providers in four destinations to conserve precious resources and play their part in tackling climate change – and we have seen that once the commitment is in place the rewards can be huge.
Our ‘Every Drop Counts’ project in Morocco, launched at the beginning of the year in partnership with the Morocco National Tourist Board, is helping hotels and guest houses to save water and reduce their bills.
Each month, businesses involved in the project saved enough water to fill an Olympic-sized swimming pool –the same amount used by a local family of six over 30 years.
And that’s just from around 30% of the 90 properties that signed up for the project.
Imagine the savings we can achieve together if destinations and accommodation providers around the world got involved.
Not only do these measures save water, but also the energy to treat that water and to heat it for showers and laundry, benefitting the destination, its people, the environment and the businesses themselves.
The success of this project shows that simple, inexpensive solutions such as training staff, fitting aerators to taps and checking for leaks regularly can make a big difference.
To make it even easier The Travel Foundation has created a practical guide to help accommodation providers get started.
But it’s not just about minimising tourism’s footprint. To look after the destinations we love to visit, we also need to ensure that local people benefit from the opportunities that tourism brings.
By offering "authentic" experiences, such as excursions which showcase a destination’s nature, culture, food, architecture, shopping in local markets and so on, companies can help local people make a living from tourism, giving something back to the community whilst also gaining competitive advantage.
In the Gambia, the Travel Foundation has helped local farmers to gain vital income from the sale of produce to hotels. Over 400 farmers have been trained in crop production techniques and the initiative supplies many of the hotels in the main resorts, collecting and selling fresh produce from community farms.
By committing to sustainability today and implementing straightforward solutions we can help ensure that the places we love to visit and the people that make them so special can thrive.
The ‘Every drop counts’ project is a shining example of just how easy it is to make a difference – using the simplest of measures to save one of life’s most precious resources, water.
Phil Davies
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