Travel Goes Green

Last week I attended the inaugural Green Travel Summit held at the Fairmont Hotel in Newport Beach, Calif. American Express Business Travel and the National Business Travel Association served as co-presenting sponsors of the two-day Summit. There has been a national emergence regarding Green Travel (or as some refer to it as sustainable travel) so I wanted to hear and learn from the experts at the Summit some of the best practices being implemented in the hospitality industry. After filtering out all the issues, ideas and, yes, rhetoric, it is important to note that Louisville’s hospitality industry should work together to support “best green practices” for all Louisville businesses, not just hospitality businesses. We will be impacted soon rather than later.
 

The topics at the Summit ranged from “The Effects of Global Climate Change on the Business of Travel,” “The Greening of Hotels and Venues” and “The ROI of Green and the Journey of Getting There.” Olivia Zaleski, Host, “Business of Green,” CNNMoney, shared public relations marketing tips on how to get your best green practices on-air. What was very interesting is that the topic of ROI found its way into every discussion. What was refreshing to hear is that all of the experts understood that there must be an ROI associated with any new green initiative or, for all intent and purposes, it won’t be implemented.

The topic of carbon footprint was very interesting. Nobody seems to have their hands around that issue yet. There is no system in place to legitimately measure a buildings carbon footprint. But, they are working on it. There is also no specific way to legitimately offer carbon offsets for travel; they are working on that as well. How does a city or a building become carbon neutral? There are theories, but answers to that issue are also being worked on. In truth, there are a lot of people working in this area which is part of the green jobs we’ve been hearing so much about.

The meetings industry is just now beginning to see meeting planners inquire about cities green initiatives, or as some are now referring to it as responsible travel. It won’t be long before we are responding to RFP’s about our own green initiatives so we should make strides to get our game plan together – sooner rather than later. The U.S. Government Office of Procurement is working on it as we speak. Before long, 20,000 government meeting planners will be sending out RFP’s complete with green meeting clauses in them. These green clauses will quickly find their way into corporate, association and other RFP’s as well. So the time is now for us to get prepared. We must prepare ourselves to answer the questions – even though we don’t quite know what all the questions will be.

The Convention Industry Council (CIC), in partnership with the members of the local meeting, convention, exhibition industry, as well as other stakeholders, will host City Discussion Groups (CDG) in 17 cities as part of the Accepted Practices Exchange (APEX) efforts on Green Meetings and Events. Several discussion groups are now taking place to review the draft standards developed for transportation, meeting venues and destinations. To learn more about this initiative go to www.conventionindustry.org

Last Thursday and Friday I was in Washington DC and had the opportunity to read the “draft” of green standards APEX is developing for the hospitality industry. I could speak on that 70-page document for days. Suffice it to say they are leaving no stone unturned. At a later date I will begin to discuss some of the issues heading our way. As I read that document, I came away with a sense that Louisville is in pretty good shape overall. My sense is there will be scorecards developed by planners who will be operating from an added set of standards to demonstrate they are making not only a good decision regarding the city and its venues, but environmentally sound decisions as well.

Here are 12 questions we may be answering in the not-to-distant future for most meeting and convention bids:

• How close is the airport to the meeting venue?
• Can they use local transportation to get to and from the meeting venue?
• Does the city use hybrid buses?
• Do the hotels have a recycle plan in place?
• Does the convention center have a recycle plan in place?
• Does each hotel and meeting venue have a green team?
• What types of energy efficiency best practices do you have in place?
• Do your local car rental agencies offer hybrid rentals?
• Lodging – do you have the “Energy Star” acknowledgement?
• Is there an opportunity for travelers to donate to a “green cause” to offset carbon travel?
• Does the CVB offer a green meeting tool kit?
• How many non-stop flights come into your city each day?

Here are 10 sound bites from my notes I took last week:

• Heavy reliance of Bio-fuels can cause deforestation; it can cause food prices to sky rocket and can cause a food shortage.
• Cities being serviced by non-stop flights have less carbons emitting into the atmosphere than those serviced by connecting flights.
• Incandescent light bulbs are public enemy #1.
• Check out this web site www.doubletreegreen.com; one hotels efforts to be Hospitable-Sustainable-Responsible.
• People and businesses refuse to pay a premium price regarding green travel initiatives. There must be a sustainable ROI associated with any conversion.
• Fairmont Hotels offer free parking to any guest who arrives in a hybrid vehicle.
• Travelers want to travel to cities that practice environmentally favorable practices.
• Sun Microsystems commented that hotels that can demonstrate a utility savings from one year over another helps them to receive more room night business.
• Oracle Corporation stated that in order to become a qualified preferred supplier you must demonstrate a sustainability program year-by-year. The key word here is “sustainable.”
• “Cultural change” is evolutionary.

In Louisville we have a lot of work to do, but the table is being set for us very nicely. All we need to do is take advantage of all the good things Louisville is currently doing. We are now a city of parks; a city of bicyclists; a city that’s converting its buses to hybrids; a city that recycles; a city that has an organization dedicated to raising money that is reinvested back into trees, plants and flowers; a city that is converting a train bridge to a pedestrian friendly attraction. Yes, Possibility City is fast becoming the smart place to travel to.