Tourism Breaking News
The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance has launched a ground-breaking new digital version of the Pathway to Net Positive Hospitality at COP28 in Dubai. This cutting-edge tool provides hospitality companies with a clear roadmap to accelerate their ESG progress, enabling them to navigate the stages of the pathway with ease. The latest edition of the Pathway includes over 80 pages of comprehensive guidance, as well as brand-new resources and case studies showcasing best practice. Developed by and for the industry over a period of two years, the Pathway underwent rigorous consultation with the Alliance’s hospitality and affiliate donor members, expert partners, and sustainability professionals from academia and consulting firms. Today’s update introduces a Progress Tracker, developed in collaboration with EY, which allows companies to understand and record their progress along the Pathway, providing valuable insights to measure their impact.
The digital pathway offers comprehensive guidance, including checklists, tools, and resources, addressing 10 crucial topics within an ESG framework. In the hospitality industry, with its complex ownership and management structures, it can be challenging to identify responsibilities in sustainability. This Pathway aims to support the entire sector, from sustainability leaders to those just beginning their journey, in embracing sustainability.
Speaking at the UNWTO Side event at COP28, Glenn Mandziuk, CEO of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, highlighted how this first-of-its-kind resource sets out a clear and ambitious journey for the entire sector to embark on together. Mandziuk affirms, “At the Alliance, we believe that every hotel can and must go beyond minimizing negative impact and work to truly give back to the community, the destination, and the planet, regardless of their starting point. This digitised version of the Pathway to Net Positive Hospitality provides the industry with a clear and user-friendly framework to instil sustainability across the entire ecosystem. Building on V2 of the Pathway, which has already been adopted by hotels worldwide, we hope that this innovative digital version will empower hotels to prioritise, plan, and take practical action, ensuring accessibility for hotels of all sizes and experience levels.”
Key features of the digital pathway include:
– A breakdown of the journey to Net Positive, with 10 crucial topics and four stages per topic, helping hotels navigate the complex challenges of environmental sustainability and social responsibility.
– Guidance on Financing Net Positive Hospitality.
– New resources on engaging employees, customers, and the community along the Pathway.
– An Action Planner to identify relevant actions within each topic.
– A Utilities Tracker to monitor environmental performance.
– A Progress Tracker to understand hotels’ position along the Pathway.
– A link to the Alliance’s Resource Directory, connecting hospitality companies with sustainable and responsible businesses that can support their sustainability strategies.
– Downloadable checklists highlighting key steps towards becoming Net Positive.
– New case studies from across the Alliance’s membership, providing inspiration and highlighting best practices.
– Considerations for building owners to embed sustainability throughout the asset life cycle.
– Topic-specific guidance for hotel operators.
The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance engages companies representing over 50,000 properties and 7 million rooms globally, making it a powerful force within the hospitality sector. 2023 has been a decisive year for the Alliance, as it has adopted a bold 5-year strategy to accelerate the industry towards Net Positive Hospitality and set ambitious priorities for translating its Net Positive vision into tangible action.
