Commercial Sustainability & Value Creation
Commercial Sustainability & Value Creation
Out of the PR department and into the Boardroom: Over the past 30 years, “greenwashing” and resistance to change Sustainability has moved to the top of every destination’s agenda. New regulations across the world means Tourism and hospitality businesses are held accountable and their leadership responsible.
Great destinations, hospitality and tourism companies have embraced sustainability into their planning; as much a measure of management performance as employee retention and financial controls.
Over the past 15 years we have assessed and guided hundreds of destinations, tourism and hospitality companies, from SME’s to global hotel brands, to countries and single resort developments.
We understand that global best practice is achievable at every level.
Operating cost reduction
Sustainable and renewable energy sources, waste reductions and recycling programs greatly reduce the scale and demand on local government’s infrastructure. For developers ROI (return on investment) from renewable power and resilience to water, waste and power cost increases means they become measurably independent.
While public and private-sector bodies lobby for and against sustainable development and investment into sustainable practices, the facts remain absolutely clear: Sustainable infrastructure and operational practice has never damaged a destination or tourism development, but it has always contributed to ensuring a level of future-proofing and resilience, at the very least. This verses the thousands of examples of polluted, impoverished and denuded destinations that have failed to adopt such planning and practices.
Sustainable Procurement
The value-chain of sustainable goods and services begins well in advance of their consumption, and the principles adopted by destinations, authorities and companies determine the sustainability and quality of goods and services, and supply-chain management.
As example: Procurement of hotel F,F&E, (furniture, fittings and equipment) from certified suppliers, (those using sustainably harvested wood and ethical manufacturers for example), denies illegal, unethical and often criminal suppliers from entering and gaining a corrupt foothold in the destination. The decision to ‘buy local’ may stimulate small industries, and as long as these are environmentally and socially supportive, and it is preferable to the C-footprint created, with no benefit to the local community, of flying ‘fresh fruit’ 6,000 kilometers to serve as plate decoration.
Endangered species and unethical trade
Many destinations, international hotel brands, airlines and travel organisations have rejected any association with the trade in endangered and threatened species. Many leaders in the industry have adopted these policies, and have faced resistance and lobbying from these unethical, and often criminal, commercial interests. However, by resisting this pressure, sometimes akin to criminal threat, they have elevated the status and value of their brands and destinations beyond any reproach.
It must be noted these ‘luxury’ products never serve a destination well in terms of foreign revenue retention, and many fuel illegal, corrupting and criminal activity in other locations and should not be allowed to tarnish the reputation of any destination for short-term individual commercial greed.
Value creation
Sustainable practices create ongoing commercial value far in excess of the investment. Improving, stable habitats have great value, (as real estate, and as attractions). Denuded, overcrowded and polluted locations do not. Investment and regulation into the wide spectrum of sustainable practices and value creation is noticeable.
From reducing utility costs and pollution levels through utilization of renewable energy, to protecting and reinstating valuable natural assets, or renovating and preserving archaeological sites, each incrementally adds to the destination’s values and value. The commercial terms are not fully measurable: but the quality of the destination for residents and visitors is abundantly clear, and will become more so over time.
Sustainable Development
From the UN Convention on Climate Change, to Global Sustainable Development Goals and UN World Tourism Organisation efforts, the majority of nations concur on the need for urgent global sustainability practices. Organisations such as UNEP and IUCN create conservation models on a local and regional scale.
It is on the local level however where impact of successful action is seen. Where the environment and communities benefit from efforts made, and can be seen almost immediately: The greatest beneficiary of these efforts is tourism, but tourism is its first victim when no effort is being made, and catastrophic failure is widely reported.
Leveraging Natural Assets
Whether a city or remote wilderness preserving clean, unpolluted, natural spaces is obvious; often overlooked in the ‘rush’ to tourism growth and over-development. Through careful planning and protection of natural landscapes, habitats and urban spaces, destinations leverage their greatest assets to the benefit of both visitors and local communities and see the greatest gains from tourism.
From New York’s Central Park to Tanzania’s Serengeti Plains, from coral reefs off Maldivian Islands to mountain trails across New Zealand, natural attractions are amongst the strongest visitor motivations. These natural environments do not compete with each other, but form the natural context in which the history, heritage and culture of the destination is best presented to the visitor, while being preserved and enjoyed by the local communities.