As hotel industry bounces back with number of travellers increasing across the globe in the post-COVID era, the hospitality sector is expected to witness robust growth in coming years. But what are the important environmental factors that are becoming important for a sustainable growth of the hospitality sector?
In this column, Mr Gaurav Pokhriyal, Executive Vice President – Human Resources, The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL), shares insights on sustainability measures that hospitality businesses need to quickly adopt towards bringing inclusive sustainable growth in the sector.
Column by Mr Gaurav Pokhriyal, Executive Vice President – Human Resources, The Indian Hotels Company Limited (IHCL)
Environment is not just something that we inherited from our ancestors, but it is also an endowment that we are responsible to give back to posterity.” It’s no news that the world is battling a climate crisis at present. Adopting a sustainable way of living is the need of the hour. For sustainability to become the norm in the society, business leaders need to step forward and introduce more impactful and extensive
practices for the world to foresee inclusive growth in the future.
To combat this global crisis, India needs to step forth and partake in this sustainable revolution. The country’s gradual progression towards adopting a sustainable lifestyle is commendable. Initiatives like banning single-use plastics act as a stepping stone in the right direction. However, more investment needs to be made. Fortunately, in the next five years alone, the electric vehicle market in India is projected to attract investments worth Rs 94,000 crores.
The current trends openly portray the dramatic rise in domestic and international revenge tourism. It’s a peak opportunity for all the sectors involved to relapse back from the losses they incurred due to the pandemic. This is why it is imminent for brands to develop creative ways to implement their business practices sustainably. The Indian hotel industry is expected to amount Rs. 1,210.87 billion by the end of 2023, expanding at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of ~13% during the period of 2018-2023, as the aftermath to the soaring arrival rate of foreign tourists and business delegates.
Leading players in the hotel industry have already been mindful and are setting examples by executing sustainable business practices and growing their business organically. Speaking of organic, 40 hotels under our organisation have already initiated recycling 100% of organic waste. The company has achieved the landmark of consuming 22% energy from wind or solar sources.
When it comes to creating ripple effects of positive change, hotel industry leaders are not shying away from initiating programmes to make sure their contribution is adding value to the ecosystem. For instance, Paathya is a century-old initiative that forges a journey focused on Environmental Stewardship, Social Responsibility, Excellence in Governance, Preserving Heritage, Value Chain Transformation, and Sustainable Growth. With a long-term vision of driving responsible tourism, Paathya stands for 100% elimination of single-use plastic across hotels, ensuring 100% of wastewater is recycled and that all business meetings and conferences go green.
Apart from this, there are other creative ideas that can promote deeds for the greater good. One such action would be for hotels to strive to achieve the EarthCheck Platinum Certification, which is a sustainability certification of social and environmental impact by ensuring sustainable tourism and management practices.
Hotel chains can also partner with service providers in the EV segment to offer EV charging stations across hotels in remote locations and also leverage such partnership to utilize renewable energy as a green energy source across hotels. With the aim to minimize and manage waste, they can also deploy waste composters at hotels to manage kitchen waste. This will ensure that the waste sent to landfills is minimized by a significant extent.
Moreover, in line with the government’s push towards renewable energy, the hotel industry must ensure that a significant part of its energy must be derived from renewable sources.
Not just the planet, companies must also dedicate their services to the people that work for them. Skill enhancement programs must be in place for the workforce. Businesses can contribute to developing skill centres across geographies to offer key courses like skill building and entrepreneurship. This will not only aid the unemployed youth in the country to find meaningful work, but also allow the industry to bridge talent gaps.
Finally, companies must be cognizant that all of these sustainability-focused initiatives are not just to-do’s but are must-do’s with a larger long term purpose that is also aligned to emerging workforce aspirations. Today, an increasing number of people are looking to associate with organizations with a strong focus on sustainability at the core of all that they do, and envisioning sustainability goals in line with this evolving sentiment will only assist in ensuring attracting and retaining talent, which will in turn lead to long term sustainability in business.
To make sure that the world is heading towards an inclusive sustainable growth, businesses need to come together and share ideas. Through this, the industry, as a whole, can ensure that they are minimising the adverse effects that their line of work entails towards the environment. The government has been working tirelessly to ensure that the country follows the guidelines to sustainability. As business leaders, pioneers are expected to forge a pathway towards an environmentally friendly way of business leadership. As business developers, entrepreneurs need to make sure that their business practices are not harming the environment. And as people, it’s for the citizens to ensure their individual input towards sustainability is accounted for.
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