LONDON—In the Silver Jubilee year of World Water Week (August 23 to 28), multiple global hotel companies are meeting the challenge “to think innovatively—together—about new development pathways” and are developing a methodology and calculation tool to enable hotel companies and individual properties to measure and report on water consumption in a consistent way.
Following the success of the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative, now used by over 21,500 hotels around the world, the International Tourism Partnership (ITP) is developing the equivalent tool for water consumption.
As World Water Week demonstrates, water scarcity is a recognized global problem, with demand for water projected to exceed supply by 40 percent by 2030. By the same year, more than a third of the world’s population will be living in areas of high water stress. As part of a rapidly growing tourism sector and a large consumer, the hotel industry has recognised it needs to take action if it is to mitigate risk going forward.
In its thematic document for 2015, World Water Week says: “If we are to progress beyond ‘business-as-usual’ that did not fully deliver on the MDGs, we need to think innovatively—together—about new development pathways. Our various communities, too often separated in silos, need to form new alliances, innovative public-private partnerships and social entrepreneurships for an effective and socially accepted development agenda.”
History of Addressing Water Issues
Marking themselves out as sustainability leaders, ITP members have been addressing water security, risk and conservation for some years. Outcomes include ITP’s Know How Guide on Water Conservation, ITP’s stakeholder event at WTM 2014 to address water issues, and a Water Risk Assessment Report commissioned from SIWI, the Stockholm International Water Institute.
Taking that progress and know-how forward, the ITP Water Working Group, with representatives from global hotel chains including Carlson Rezidor, Diamond Resorts, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, InterContinental Hotels Group, Mandarin Oriental Hotel Group, Marriott International, NH Hotel Group, Soneva, Starwood Hotels & Resorts, Taj, Hong Kong & Shanghai Hotels, Whitbread, Wyndham, Accor and MGM Hotels & Resorts are collaborating to create the hotel industry’s first consistent water measurement tool.
Fran Hughes, Head of Programmes, International Tourism Partnership, said, “We and our members know that effective measurement is the first step towards effective management of resources, and the success of HCMI has demonstrated this time and again. The Hotel Water Measurement Initiative is a natural progression for the International Tourism Partnership’s water agenda, and we are delighted that our members are proactively participating in this Working Group to make HWMI an effective and globally accessible tool to help all hotels with their good water stewardship.”
The objective of HWMI is to develop a methodology and calculation tool to enable hotel companies and individual properties to measure and report on water consumption in a consistent way. The Working Group responsible for the creation of the tool is composed of ITP member companies with KPMG as technical consultants and a stakeholder steering group of global experts, including the Stockholm International Water Institute, Water Footprint Network, World Resources Institute and Carbon Trust.
ITP welcomes participation in the Water Working Group from other hotel groups.
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