GENEVA, SWITZERLAND—Representatives from across the travel and tourism industry are coming together at the United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights in Geneva to call for collaborative actions to end human trafficking, forced labor, the sexual exploitation of children, and share their initiatives that tackle key challenges associated with human rights issues. The United Nations Forum on Business and Human Rights, being held November 26 to 28, is the first time the sector has gathered to discuss possible solutions to these shared challenges before a United Nations audience. The travel and tourism industry has rapidly expanded in recent years, with...

PARSIPPANY, N.J.—Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, the world’s largest hotel franchising company, has received a Gold recertification from the U.S. Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program for the company’s headquarters in Parsippany, N.J. The recertification designates Wyndham Hotels & Resorts’ corporate campus as one of the highest-performing green buildings in the country, reflecting the company’s commitment to minimizing its environmental footprint. LEED is a third-party certification program and premier benchmark for the design, construction and operation of green buildings. It uses a point system to determine the environmental merits of a building, with four levels of...

NEW YORK—Over 75 percent of Americans think companies can be more talk than action when it comes to supporting social issues, according to Changing Our World’s latest report, “The Authenticity Opportunity.” The report, based on a new study of Americans aged 18 to 65, explores people’s perceptions of and expectations for authenticity in corporate citizenship. As more and more companies push their support for social issues into the spotlight, the study finds that many Americans are skeptical that companies do what they say, and that consumers and employees will reserve their loyalty for those companies which they believe are...

CINCINNATI—The Procter & Gamble Co. extends its long history of doing good in the world by bringing the comforts of home to those impacted by disasters, continuing to spark conversations about diversity, inclusion and gender equality with its advertising and making meaningful impact on the environment with new 2030 goals including a vision to ensure that none of the company’s packaging ends up in the world’s oceans. Captured in the 2018 Citizenship Report, P&G highlights the recent activities that define the company as a force for good and a force for growth. “Our aspiration is clear,” said David Taylor, P&G’s Chairman...

MADRID, SPAIN—The World Tourism Organization’s (UNWTO) initiative Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism (MST) received a boost last week when its working group met in Madrid. After successful pilot studies to produce credible and comparable data, the initiative is on track with its aim of getting the MST framework adopted as the third international standard on tourism statistics. The group of experts creating a statistical framework for Measuring the Sustainability of Tourism met to establish the MST initiative’s major goals for 2019. The initiative is creating a draft framework for a data standard for tourism’s impact on sustainability and plans to...

BROOMFIELD, COLO.—Vail Resorts, Inc. took major steps in its Commitment to Zero, as the company announced a long-term wind energy contract to purchase the equivalent amount of electricity needed to power 100 percent of its estimated FY 2019 North American operations by 2020. Additionally, Vail Resorts announced a partnership with Eco-Products to supply all its North American restaurants with compostable and recycled-content items and eliminate conventional single-use plastics, a process which will begin during the 2018-19 winter season. “As a growing company, deeply connected to the outdoors, we made a commitment last year to address our most pressing global and...

FÉLICITÉ ISLAND, SEYCHELLES—October marked the first anniversary of the coral restoration program at Six Senses Zil Pasyon and the beginning of the next chapter in the project, which aims to restore a seafloor area of about 6,500 square feet (600 square meters). During the one-year period, corals grew over 200 percent on average, with a growth range of between 85 and 422 percent per harvested segment. Survival rate was 93.4 percent, with most of the loss resulting from nursery damage that unfortunately took place during August’s rough monsoon season. The restoration program, which saw the resort collaborate with local NGOs...

HONOLULU, HAWAII—To mark its 20th year of operations, the Hawaii Convention Center is launching the Hoʻomaluō Program, a comprehensive approach to environmental sustainability with the goal of enhancing the guest, planner, staff and community meetings and events experience. Hoʻomaluō launched in conjunction with the 2018 American Dental Association (ADA)—America’s Dental Meeting. The meeting was held last week and drew over 15,000 registrants from 46 countries, while generating an estimated $70.8 million in statewide visitor spending. It was ADA’s third annual conference at the Center, including the building’s largest-ever gathering of 30,000 attendees in 1999. The ADA returned in 2009, marking...

NEW YORK—Interface Hospitality has launched Luxcierge, a custom design process available to the full-service hospitality market. The new premiere service takes a collaborative approach to bring its clients’ luxury flooring vision to life. Luxcierge will debut at BDNY, November 11 to 12, 2018, at the Interface Hospitality booth #1139 in the Jacob K. Javits Center in New York City. Mirroring the service level guests receive in upper upscale luxury hotels, Luxcierge offers a creative partnership directly between Interface Hospitality designers and the client’s internal team. Recognizing that each high-end hotel is unique, Interface Hospitality’s custom design team crafts every offering...

LOS ANGELES—In the Los Angeles offices of Cuningham Group architecture firm, natural daylight streams in through four skylights and floor-to-ceiling glass walls, while discreet vents manage the flow of fresh air. Individual offices are set in upcycled shipping containers, with a central indoor garden that filters the air and enhances the space with morale-boosting greenery. “Sustainability in the office has advanced by leaps and bounds in the last five or ten years,” says Stuart Finnie, Head of Design at Tétris. “Design measures that can enhance a firm’s environmental credentials are coming to the top of every client’s wish list.” Common eco-friendly measures include the...