The UNWTO event “Energy solutions for hotels” at Fitur (Madrid’s tourism fair) was a timely reminder of the long road ahead to reducing CO2 emissions in the hotel industry. Most of what the 23 speakers covered in 5 hours has been evolving for a decade, and yet the sector (and particularly small firms) have failed to change their behaviour. Why?
The business case made for energy management is eco-savings- yet none of the presenters showed return on investment periods that would be sufficiently tempting. Instead each speaker went off on different directions to present less focused reasons for behaviour change, with few showing a product that is more experiential as a result.
The greatest disappointment did however come from the floor- from a maximum audience of 150, half the room was empty and this worsened as the event progressed. This first ever Fitur event on sustainable tourism failed to capture the attention of industry in a way that WTM and more recently ITB have.
www.hotelenergysolutions.net is set to be however a valuable tool for hotels aiming to reduce their operational costs, and the UNWTO plans a second and final event at Fitur in January 2011 to conclude their three year project. My concern is that we seem to have failed to understand how and why small businesses take decisions and what can contribute to positive behaviour change.
Presentations will be available on the UNTWO project’s website