NATIONAL REPORT—Three green travel and/or lodging industry events have been added to the calendar for 2010. In chronological order they include: the New England Eco-Hospitality Expo, May 25; the Green Travel Summit, June 10 to 11; and the West Coast Green Lodging Conference, August 22 to 25. The New England event will be held at the Grappone Conference Center in Concord, N.H., the Green Travel Summit at the Willard InterContinental in Washington, D.C., and the West Coast Green Lodging Conference at the Embassy Suites Lake Tahoe Hotel & Ski Resort in South Lake Tahoe, Calif.
Details are still being worked out for the New England Eco-Hospitality Expo. It will include educational sessions as well as 20 vendor tables. Contact Michelle Veasey at mveasey@nhlra.com for information and monitor www.nhlra.com for updates. At the Green Travel Summit in Washington, D.C., approximately 350 executives from a cross-section of the travel industry are expected to gather. They will include corporate travel managers, airline, hotel and ground transportation providers, meeting and incentive planners as well as travel marketing executives and destination marketing organizations.
Sessions will focus on topics such as measuring green efficiencies, green meeting guidelines for the private and public sector, the greening of the supply chain and leveraging green travel initiatives with employees and others. The InterContinental Hotels Group has signed on as a Platinum Partner and Wyndham Hotels Worldwide as a Silver Partner. Watch for additional details at www.greentravelsummit.com.
The specific itinerary for the West Coast Green Lodging Conference is currently being developed but the event will be a “how to” conference for owners, general managers and engineers. Through first-hand case studies and site tours, attendees will learn what investments offer the fastest (less than one year) and most valuable return. Topics to be addressed during the educational sessions include: why going green is valuable, how to go green, the financial impact of going green, the public relations benefits from going green, and how the community benefits from green efforts.
The keynote speaker at the West Coast Green Lodging Conference will be Glenn Hasek, publisher and editor of Green Lodging News. Click here for additional information about the event.
Glenn Hasek can be reached at editor@greenlodgingnews.com.
