Sustainable Travel

The Minister of Tourism and Culture, Mrs. Ambika Soni chaired the 84th Session of the Executive Council of UN World Tourism Organization in Madrid, Spain on 14-15 October 2008 in her capacity as the Chairperson of the Executive Council. One of the main agenda items was related to cooperation between CED (Centre of Excellence for Destinations) and UNWTO. CED is based in Montreal, Canada and was set up to provide guidance to tourism destinations.

The Executive Council Meeting agreed to India’s proposal of not allowing certification, grading or ranking of tourist destinations by CED with which UNWTO had entered into a MoU. India expressed its concerns about CED assuming the role of a certification agency which would lead to standardizing of cultures, heritage and biodiversity of nations and could seriously undermine the concept of diversity that drives tourism across the world.

India was strongly supported in its stand by the members of the Working Group set up by UNWTO to examine the by laws and procedures for running the CED. Costa Rica, Brazil, France, Iran, Ghana, Spain besides India were members of the Working Group which was constituted by a resolution adopted at the last meeting of the Executive Council held in Jeju, Korea in June 2008 which was also chaired by the Indian Minister Tourism and Culture.

CED will now only extend technical assistance to destinations in developing countries to achieve excellence and attract more tourists. In addition, developing countries could ask UNWTO’s support for securing financial and technical assistance.

The Executive Council Meeting reiterated its commitment to the resolution on ‘Climate Change and Tourism’ adopted by the UNWTO General Assembly at its 17th Session held at Cartagena de Indias, Colombia emphasizing that there should not be any discrimination against developing countries. The meeting agreed to take consensus-based measures to implement the resolution within the framework of the UNFCCC.

The UNWTO’s Executive Council agreed to create a Resilience Committee to support its Members with accurate economic analysis and response mechanisms to combat challenges arising out of global uncertainties due to financial crisis.

Source: Travel Impact Newswire

Posted by BrianM at 7:32 AM | Permalink

Feds, Caltrain trying to make it easier to get to work

Buried in the financial rescue bill passed by Congress last week is a provision to encourage bike commuting. The idea is to level the playing field for cyclists, who currently can’t get benefits like those available for participants in car or van pools or other programs designed to reduce traffic congestion.

Starting in January, employers can reimburse bike commuters up to $20/month for the “purchase of a bicycle, bicycle improvements, repair, and storage, if such bicycle is regularly used for travel between the employee’s residence and place of employment” and have such reimbursements get the same favorable tax treatment as other benefits. Twenty bucks a month isn’t a lot, but as a regular bike commuter, I think the concept is very cool!

Meanwhile, Caltrain, which runs commuter rail service into San Francisco from points south is trying to figure out how to provide more bike capacity on its trains. All trains have a specially fitted bike car with room for 32 bikes and passengers. During rush hour, some trains have two of these bike cars. But the number of bike commuters is growing (now 8% of Caltrain’s ridership), leading to overcrowding and frustration among cyclists when they can’t get a spot on the train. Waiting on the platform for the next train 30-60 minutes later is no fun, especially if you’re trying to get to work on time.

Caltrain is using all the cars it has, so this won’t be an easy problem to solve. In a plan approved last week, officials said they will increase bike-parking facilities at stations and experiment with removing some seats in train cars to make room for more bikes. A long term solution probably involves a big investment in more bike cars and more frequent train service.

Source: TerraPass

Posted by BrianM at 6:27 AM | Permalink

Investing in renovations that make hotels more sustainable will increase their value, slash operating costs and attract customers who are trending toward more sustainable hospitality experiences, PKF Capital managing partner Henry Bose told a conference here on green hotels.

“For every dollar you can add to the bottom line of a San Francisco hotel, more than $11 is added in value,” Bose says.

Bose said that so far there are too few hotels that have earned the U.S. Green Building Council’s LEED certification to compare their financial performance against traditional hotels. But he indicated that his firm, in conjunction with PKF Consulting and Research, is planning to produce a study on the issue.

He noted that the USGBC has recorded dramatic savings in large green commercial buildings the size of hotels—30 percent energy savings, 35 percent less carbon output, 50 percent less water and as much as 90 percent less waste. USGBC also reported a decrease in operating costs of as much as 9 percent for sustainable commercial buildings and an increase of 7.5 percent in value and a 6.6 percent higher return on investment.

Lower Operational Costs Equals Greater Value

“It is important to note that hotels are extremely resource intensive, open 24 hours, 7 days a week, whereas commercial buildings are used primarily only during business hours,” Bose says. “That means the financial benefits of operating a green hotel are likely to be much higher than what USGBC says about the commercial office sector. Hotels that are less costly to operate are simply more valuable to owners.”

Improving financial performance does not only come from savings on operating costs. Groups and individuals are increasingly choosing sustainable hotels in a trend that is being codified in many group contracts stipulating that hotel operators describe the degree to which their properties are sustainable.

“In contract negotiations with companies, consortia and government agencies for all of their travel and meetings business, hotel operators are being asked not only to confirm that they use sustainable business practices, but to prove it by naming the awards and certifications they have earned,” Bose says.

Greening Hotels in San Francisco

Bose spoke before a conference at the City Club in San Francisco entitled, “Green Hotels Can Be More Profitable.” The event was sponsored by the group Greening Hotels in San Francisco.

Also addressing the conference was Dana Merker, whose firm, Patri Merker Architects, designed the new InterContinental Hotel in San Francisco, along with other city hospitality landmarks, such as the Nikko Hotel, The Ritz-Carlton and the Omni Hotel.

Speaking on the topic of greener engineering practices among hotels was Scott Vollmoeller, managing principal of Glumac’s Seattle office. He is in charge of the sustainable engineering firm’s hospitality practice.

Both Merker and Vollmoeller underscored Bose’s contention that investments in greener hotels will provide tangible downstream financial benefits.

Source: Green Lodging News

Posted by BrianM at 2:25 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)