Radisson Hotel Group has come together with top brands, associations and destinations at this year’s World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) Global Summit in Manila, the Philippines, to launch Hotel Sustainability Basics, an important new initiative that will drive responsible and sustainable travel in the Asia Pacific region and around the world.
Hotel Sustainability Basics is a globally recognized and coordinated set of 12 actions which are fundamental to hotel sustainability. These include actions to measure and reduce energy and water usage, manage waste and cut carbon emissions, as well as a linen reuse program, use of green cleaning products, the elimination of single-use plastics, the implementation of bulk amenity dispensers, and measuring the benefit to local communities. The program supports hotels that are just starting out on their sustainability journey as well as those that are further along; eight of the 12 criteria are mandatory, whilst others can be implemented within three years.
This initiative has already gained support from major groups and hotel associations around the world representing over 50,000 hotels*. The WTTC is now calling upon hotel operators, owners, associations, and investors around the world to officially endorse the program and implement its criteria.
Radisson Hotel Group has made a strong commitment to Net Zero by 2050, in line with the SBTi Net Zero Standard, and to set emission reduction targets based in climate science. The implementation of the eight foundational elements of the Hotel Sustainability Basics in all our hotels worldwide by the end of 2023 is one of these important short-term steps on the pathway to the Group’s ambitious decarbonization target.
“Our world needs sustainable solutions and we know the crucial decade of action to move towards Net Zero by 2050, is now. These ambitious targets can only be reached by taking everyone in the hospitality industry on the sustainability journey. With the Hotel Sustainability Basics, we collectively define the common starting point accessible to all hotels and the industry framework to grow sustainable travel,” said Federico J. González, CEO of Radisson Hotel Group.
During his time in Manila, González also reaffirmed his belief that the Philippines’ tourism and hospitality industries would rebound rapidly from the global pandemic. The country reopened its borders to international travelers in February 2022, with no quarantine requirement for fully vaccinated visitors from 157 countries and territories worldwide. Radisson Hotel Group will continue to expand its presence in the Philippines in the coming years, as it builds upon its current portfolio of seven properties in the country, covering key destinations such as Metro Manila, Cebu City, Bacolod, Davao, Clark and Iloilo City.
“I am pleased to see that the hotel sector is taking a coordinated and non-competitive way forward to facilitate a true and effective response to the climate change challenge we face. Hotel Sustainability Basics are a first step that will help every hotel to get started on their sustainability journey faster, with clarity and transparency and answering to our customers’ needs and demands for sustainable travel options that are easy to understand. This will move us at Radisson Hotel Group, together with our owners Jin Jiang International, and the whole industry closer towards the ultimate target of Net Zero,” he added.
Hosted by Department of Tourism, the WTTC Global Summit is one of the industry’s most important events. Approximately 1,000 delegates, including government ministers and senior executives from the travel, tourism and hospitality sectors, are meeting in Manila from 20-22 April 2022 to drive the sector’s recovery and achieve a safer, more resilient, inclusive and sustainable future. Federico J. Gonzalez, CEO of Radisson Hotel Group, appeared on stage at the WTTC Global Summit, to confirm his company’s commitment to Hotel Sustainability Basics and to reiterate his confidence in the future of tourism in the Philippines.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, said: “We are launching the Hotel Sustainability Basics to ensure no hotel, however small, is left behind in the drive to introduce a basis sustainability measures within a minimum level the next three years. Sustainability is non-negotiable but not every small hotel has access to the science on how to make a difference. This gives everyone access to a global standard and provides consumers to travel with conference. WTTC wants the hospitality industry to lead by example so that sustainability becomes the basic requirement used to drive change forward for this generation and the next.”
