Sustainability, the key to tourism development

Sustainability is a big buzz word globally, and it is increasingly shaping the way how businesses think and operate. In the travel and tourism sector, which is the largest industry worldwide, sustainability has become a key driver helping market airlines, destinations, hotels & tours.

For us in Sri Lanka, the tourism industry is bringing a whole new world of opportunities for economic development, especially in the rural areas.

The integrated nature of the industry is such that the economic benefits spread across the entire country. Tourism also helps us to look after our natural and cultural resources.

The Aitken Spence Hotels Group has come a long way in making their hotels sustainable. According to Managing Director, Aitken Spence Hotels Management (Pvt) Ltd., Malin Hapugoda, the Groups sustainability practices have been adopted long before sustainability became fashionable in the international tourism industry.

Hapugoda said "Aitken Spence has invested in a lot of time and financial resources over the decades to make our hotels world class case study examples of sustainability.

We have found out that our business associates and our guests are keen to learn about the sustainability practices of the hotels than ever before.

The unique sustainability features of our hotels are clearly giving us a marketing advantage.

Our expertise gained in sustainability in Sri Lanka is spreading across to our hotels in the Maldives, India and Oman."

Sustainable tourism is on the rise in Sri Lanka, with consumer demand growing, travel industry suppliers developing new green programs, and the government encouraging sustainable practices in tourism.

But what does sustainable tourism really mean? How can it be measured and credibly demonstrated, in order to build consumer confidence, promote efficiency, and fight false claims? Hapugoda said, "There are internationally accepted guidelines and framework for sustainability implementation, evaluation, data collection and reporting.

If Sri Lankan hotels want external parties to recognise their efforts and build credibility it is very important to adopt these guidelines, to share information on what they have achieved and disclose information on a universally accepted format.

The sustainability reporting framework developed by the Global Reporting Initiative (GRI) complies with the G3 guidelines and indicator protocols for economic, environment, human rights, labour, product responsibility and societal performance. The report outlines the company's progress in embedding the ten principles of the United Nations Global Compact and Climate Change mitigation actions.