just say ‘Please leave your towel
on the rail if you don’t need a
clean one.’ They should give
people a whole list of things
they could be doing.”
Hilton Hotels director of
energy management and
sustainability Andrew Forte is
responsible for 90 hotels in
Europe and up to 20 new
projects. At the end of 2005, his
division set a three-year target
to reduce energy use by 15%
and water use by 10%, encouraging
staff members to come up
with ideas on how to do it.
Forte said: “We trained
16,000 staff, began measuring
consumption and introduced
monthly online reporting.”
By the end of 2007, Hilton
could report a 10.2% reduction
in energy use and 5% cut in water
use. A review of housekeeping
at Hilton Vienna reduced
the fl ushing of toilets during
cleaning from nine to two.
Forte said: “We reduced
the toilet fl ush to 5.5 litres and
check properties regularly for
leaks. In the kitchen, we
avoid using hot water to defrost
frozen food. Gardens are
watered early in the morning to
reduce evaporation and we
collect rainwater for plants.
We reduced the average water
consumption per room
www.travelweekly.co.uk
“Resources seem
limitless in a hotel
and people seem
to check in their
ethics with their
bag on holiday”
from 516 to 490 litres a night.”
That leaves a long way to go
to hit Hilton’s target of a 20%
reduction in water and energy
use across 3,500 properties by
2014. But Forte adds: “It is
much more challenging to
reduce water use than energy
consumption. This is mainly
due to guest perception as they
expect luxury.”
TUI Travel sustainable
development manager Jane
Ashton agrees: “There is a
dilemma. When people go on
holiday they do not want to take
the issues they care about at
home away with them. But it is
amazing the amount you can
cut without affecting the guest
experience. It is basically about
good housekeeping.”
DESALINATION
Desalination may help
alleviate water scarcity in
areas such as the Canary
Islands where Gran Canaria
– host to last month’s ABTA
Travel Convention – has no
running water. The island’s
tap water comes entirely
from desalination plants.
Many countries in the
Middle East already rely on
desalinated water.
However, desalination
is heavy on fuel and
therefore costly.
It produces
concentrated
waste and care
must be taken to
preserve life in the
CYPRUS WATER
SHORTAGE
Cyprus is in the second year
of a severe drought, with
water cut off to many local
people for 40 hours in every
48 this summer.
UK tour operators and
Cyprus hoteliers have joined
the Cyprus Sustainable
Tourism Initiative in a bid to
cut water use – in a project
supported by The Travel
Foundation.
Flow restrictors and
aerators have been fi tted to
shower heads and taps, and
sand bags placed in cisterns
to cut the water used in
fl ushing.
sea around water intakes.
The UK’s fi rst desalination
plant is due to open close to
the World Travel Market
venue in Beckton, east
London, in 2009,
while Melbourne
will draw water from
one of the world’s biggest
plants from 2011.
November 14 2008 | Travel Weekly | 23
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