New UN initiative aims to boost energy efficiency in world’s hotels

The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) has launched a new project to increase energy efficiency in the majority of the world’s 5.9 million hotel rooms, over half of which are located in Europe.

The 1.1 million Euro project targets savings from heating cooling, lighting, washing and drying by focusing on reducing energy consumption by 20 per cent overall in small- and medium-size hotels. It also seeks to increase the use of renewable energy by 10 per cent.

The UNWTO notes that energy efficiency and the enhanced use of renewable energies will have a special place in hotel management, given that today small businesses are only marginal users of renewable energy resources and outdated technology makes them less competitive.

The initiative by the Madrid-based UN agency brings together partners from the hotel, environment and renewable energy communities.

In addition to small- and medium-size hotels, it is also expected to benefit hotel associations, national tourism bodies, destinations and tour operators, as well as green technology suppliers and manufacturers.

The Davos Declaration, adopted at the Second International Conference on Climate Change and Tourism in October 2007, acknowledged the strong interrelationship between climate change and tourism.

It also acknowledged the need for a long-term strategy for the tourism sector to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions in line with other sectors, and called for urgent policies to encourage sustainable tourism and travel.

“In our Davos Declaration Process on Climate Change we established a way forward for the tourism sector to become climate neutral in the front ranks of the global community,” UNWTO Assistant Secretary-General Geoffrey Lipman said as he launched the energy efficiency project.

“We have to start now and this project is exactly the kind of collaborative public-private initiative we shall be seeking around the world,” he added.