Sri Lanka Hotels Going Green – August 2009

Greening Sri Lanka Hotels programme commenced this week with 34 hotels participating in a very ambitious programme to reduce energy water and waste in a hotels sector environment conservational drive.  Among the participating hotels are the Aitken Spence, John Keells, Jetwing, Confifi group of hotels, Siddhalepha Ayurveda Resort & Spa, Saman Villas and Mermard Hotel & Club. These hotels are from the areas of Colombo, Kaluthara, Beruwela Bentota, Tissamaharamaya, Trincomalee, Galle, Hikkaduwa, Yala, Bandarawela, Kandy, Nuwera Eliya, Negombo, Habarana, Sigiriya and Dambulla.
 
This programme initiated by the Responsible Tourism Partnership (RTP) and the Travel Foundation UK  is a joint collaboration supported by the  Ministry of Tourism (MoT), Sri Lanka Sustainable Energy Authority (SLSEA) and the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL). Greening Sri Lanka Hotels is all about hotels optimization of energy efficiency and conserving natural resources towards making the hospitality sector more sustainable.
The Chief Guest on the occasion was Mr. George  Michael, Secretary of the Ministry of Tourism  and the Guest of Honor was Mr. M.M.C. Ferdinando, Secretary , Ministry of Power & Energy. Mr. George Michael said  “  The Ministry is very keen  in environmental aspects have any programmes with the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources .  We have been actively promoting this programme as it is a very useful and valuable one for the hotel sector”  

Hotel facilities globally are known for very high energy consumption and this is no different in    Sri Lanka. The Hospitality sector can immensely reduce the high cost of energy by doing simple and particle changes that are very effective. Some of these include, using lighting and equipment efficiently, introducing energy efficient lamps and introducing low flow showers and restricting tap output. Most of the hotels already have schemes such as towel reusing policies and managing waste wisely.  According to Ms. Charmarie Maalge, CEO of the RTP,   “Travel & Tourism sector globally has been accused as major contributors towards Climate Change. In Sri Lanka hotels are already green and our hotels have won many international awards and recognition for their best practices and environmental efforts. This programme will help the hotels to become more sustainable, share best practices and market Sri Lanka hotels on a green platform. While reducing carbon footprint, the main aim of the Greening Sri Lanka Hotels is to help hotels to reduce costs of operations, sustainability is good for business is the key message of our programme. The first part of the programme will assist hotels to measure their position with regard to energy, water and waste and thereafter, provide them with tools and technical know how to implement a plan to reduce consumption and save costs. By doing simple practical actions without major investments can help save costs substantially”. The Greening Sri Lanka Hotels will also carry out benchmarking and developing standards for new and existing hotels. The programme  will also promote renewable energies. Hotels in Sri Lanka have already ventured in to sustainable energy resources such as dendro, solar, wind and micro hydro power. These measures have enabled hotels to reduce costs of operations substantially also reducing their carbon foot print.

Hiran Cooray, Chairman of the RTP mentioned that “There is no choice for hotels other than to become more environmentally proactive, and there is no better time for our industry to become more green than now”

Mr. Srilal Miththapala President of (THASL) explained that no hotel will consider adopting these measures for the sake of going green unless there is financial benefit and his work has proved that quite a lot of financial gain can be achieved.  He further said that “this is exactly the time for this very important aspect. Most of the hotels have been built few decades ago and transforming is a big challenge, the cry is for refurbishment and improving rooms. Change of mindset is needed to look in to the energy saving”. 

Mr. Asoka Hettigoda from the RTP thanked all the institutions involved such as the Ministry of Tourism Sustainable Energy Authority and the Tourist Hotels Association of Sri Lanka (THASL )  for  their support  to the RTP to implement this valuable programme.  Dr. Krishan Deheregoda- Chairman, SLSEA, Mr. Upali Daranagama – Additional Secretary Ministry of Power & Energy, Dr. B.M.S. Batagoda - Director General Ministry of Finance & Planning and Mr Chandana Samarasinghe Director General and Mr. Harsha Wickremasinghe Deputy Director General of the SLSEA too participated.

The objective of the Greening Sri Lanka Hotels is to implement this programme as a national initiative encouraging various categories and scale of hotels to participate not limiting to the formal sector and all interested hotels are requested to contact the Responsible Tourism Partnership. The programmme targets for a 10% reduction of total energy consumption, 10% reduction of water consumption and 20% reduction of solid waste.

Another element of the programme is to promote participating hotels as green hotels with the support of the EU Travellife Sustainability Store & Federation of Tour Operators of UK.  With the increasing awareness on global energy crisis and growing concerns amongst consumers on climate change and global warming, it has purely become a sustainable issue for the Sri Lanka  hotel sector to embark on an appropriate energy & other natural resources conservation.

7th August 2009