PARIS—Accor’s two decades-long commitment to sustainable development has been recognized by regional travel industry players, as the Group earned a prestigious distinction at the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA)’s annual PATA Gold Awards. The French hospitality group has won the 2013 PATA Gold Award for Corporate Environmental Program in recognition of PLANET 21, Accor’s sustainable development program.
With PLANET 21, Accor has made 21 commitments to act together for the well-being of the world. These commitments span a range of issues and have associated targets for the year 2015, including a 15 percent reduction in water consumption, a 10 percent decrease in energy use and carbon emissions and a total ban on endangered seafood such as shark’s fin.
“We are thrilled that our travel industry peers have acknowledged our efforts to reinvent hospitality in a sustainable way,” said Javier Cedillo-Espin, vice president, Communications & Loyalty for Accor Asia-Pacific. “Our hotels in the Asia-Pacific region have been particularly committed to improving their environmental awareness and performance. In fact, just one year after the program’s launch, our hotels have already reached some of the PLANET 21 targets, including 80 percent of hotels promoting locally-sourced products and 88 percent of hotels offering balanced menu options. And the hotels are well on the way to achieving the other targets, with 84 percent already banning endangered seafood species and 8 percent using some form of renewable energy.”
Towel Reuse Savings Add Up
While many of the actions take place “behind the scenes”—such as installing low-consumption lighting, implementing recycling programs, or switching to renewable energies—Accor also invites guests to play their part, through simple yet meaningful gestures, such as reusing their towels.
For example, Accor’s reforestation program, Plant for the Planet, is proof of the Group’s firm commitment to sustainable development and focuses on supporting local agroforestry projects around the world.
More than 1,400 Accor hotels have joined the Plant for the Planet program since it was launched in 2009. These hotels encourage guests to mitigate their impact on the environment by reusing their towels. In return, the hotels pledge to contribute a portion of their laundry cost savings to tree planting projects around the world, including in Thailand, Indonesia, Japan, Australia and New Zealand. So far, thanks to the laundry savings generated by this program, Accor hotels have funded the planting of three million trees worldwide.
The 2013 PATA Gold Awards, open to members and non-members of the Association, attracted a total of 165 entries from 60 travel and tourism organizations.
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