Sustainable Tourism and Responsible Travel

What is Sustainable Tourism?

Over the past decade, people have begun to acknowledge that hotels are not all blessings for the local population and the ecosystem. We have recently understood the impact of travel on ecosystems and global warming. Where ECO tourism and sustainable tourism are in many communities, sustainable tourism takes social impacts into the facility. But there are historically many ECO resorts with excellent social programs that can consider changing tags.

Does sustainable tourism only have a local impact?

In most cases, sustainable hotels and resorts focus on their impact on the local community and the country in general. These are called sustainable hotels, resorts, or sustainable destinations if they are in more than one area or country. Add your destination and have sustainable tourism.

Green energy is a viable option for hotels?

You can buy green energy in most Western countries. This option is not available in the Caribbean. As a result, the only way to generate electricity. While there are many forms of green energy (see article on the Green Energy Opportunities in the Caribbean), we discuss only the concept of wind and solar energy, as these are the most obvious.

Wind Power

Paradise Bay installed an 80 kW windmill with an expected annual output of 180,000 kWh. This is the first utility windmill installed in Caricom and we did not find a resort that has already installed a windmill although it is more planned and under construction. Estimated annual energy consumption of 120,000 kWh, the resort will be better than zero carbon after joining the network as the energy reminder will be sold to the local power company. In our case, due to the direct position to the wind, windmill could be placed, while the windmill could have been placed in a retreat, for the guests not intrusive. We only get positive reactions from the windmill.

The Dutch company (www.mainwind.nl) recognized this gap and transport solutions in the form of medium-power (250-750 kW) windmills from upgraded wind parks. The need for repair is obvious; the lightest in existing wind farms is to increase capacity for current technology (2 – 3MW). The smaller windmills are completely replaced (fully refurbished) and have a new guarantee and, if applicable, a 15-year all-inclusive maintenance contract.

The cost per kilowatt is competitive with larger windmills, typically 7-9 US $ cents; 5-6 times lower than the power

Solar energy

The price of photovoltaic cells has dropped significantly as production has increased over the last decades. In the Caribbean, we reach the point where the price of solar energy is approaching the electricity company's prize. This is contrary to the western hemisphere where energy prices are lower and the sun is less strong.

Solar cells installed in hotels often account for only a small part of the total energy demand and are then far more than symbolic. But the guests appreciate these efforts, so they value marketing. Much of the energy needs of the hotel are usually not possible because of the large number of panels required.

Solar water heaters are an excellent way to avoid energy consumption and payback time is between 1 and 4 years depending on installation. Because the water usage of the guests differs, it is considerably more economical for a number of solar collectors to be placed in parallel. If you have cloudy or rainy days, your yield will be much lower. One approach is to measure the worst case (rain). Another way is to heat the solar heated water in the "cold" input of the electric heater.

What can hotels do to save energy?

Use a heat exchanger with an air conditioner that transforms heat loss into hot water. For most air conditioning systems, this latter can be installed and traditional (electric) water heaters can be easily insulated. Installation can be done by good air conditioning technicians. Savings are fundamental and justifiable in every case we have seen. The reason why this is not the main problem, however, involves the much lower energy costs in the United States and Europe and the rapid increase in energy costs. Solutions are always behind reality.

Since waste heat will produce more water than your customers are using at any time, it is still very important to use energy-efficient air conditioners. In general, energy consumption is accounted for by larger central systems, but high savings are achieved by system-based air conditioning systems that are commonplace in the Caribbean region. Typical savings are 30-40%, so the payback period is short.

When guests are not in the room, they do not want to keep the air conditioning running. The traditional solution is the room key switch. When the guest leaves and withdraws the key, the air conditioner switches off – or some advanced central systems – to higher temperatures.
Another powerful effect is the door switches. When the balcony door is opened, you do not want the compressor to run. Perfectionists turn off the air conditioner when the windows are open but this is not always appreciated by the guests.

Cooling is an area where great savings can be achieved, especially in smaller units such as guest rooms. Savings also run in the range of 30-40%. The availability of energy-efficient professional refrigerators and freezers is still limited.

Use high-performance dishwashers and washing machines with hot water connection; this has a huge impact. Most built-in washing machines are already able to work with hot water instead of cold water (heated by an electric element). So this is just a matter of modifying the installation, which is an easy task. Especially for washing machines, a thermostatic valve must be fitted that mixes cold water in hot water to obtain the desired temperature.

Energy-saving lamps are the most popular form of saving energy and money, and most hotels are already using them. New developments are taking place that will save even more, so it is important to keep an eye on it before you order the bulbs.

Why would the Caribbean hotel be sustainable? Travelers are increasingly aware of global warming and other environmental hazards. Surveys have shown that a group of aggressively growing travelers is pursuing sustainable policies, and it is not uncommon for libraries to seek environmental protection.
So besides saving, apart from making smart decisions, marketing is a benefit.

Long-term vacation restraints will become stronger

Paradise Bay implements a carbon offsets program by automatically resorting to holiday homes, accommodation, local transport, which are carbon-free due to the windmill supplying the electricity grid.

Guest's freedom is guaranteed to be carbon neutral. The new carbon dioxide compensation program Zero Carbon Travel is growing in Ethiopia, which has additional social and ecological benefits. Due to deforestation, only 3% of the forest remained in Ethiopia. In a country where the majority of the poor population depends on firewood at dinner, it means that many people have to go to fish to find twigs. Fortified areas are more likely to be eroded, with significant mid- and long-term negative impacts. For a typical transatlantic flight, nearly 40 trees are planned, far more than most carbon offsets programs, which do not take into account carbon dioxide recycling. carbon dioxide after the life of the tree, and it uses too optimistic lifetime for trees. In the unregulated carbon dioxide sector, 5-6 times less wood is planned for the same trip 2-3 times higher. Efficiency and general costs are the problems. Zero Carbon Travel aims to be transparent, accounting and efficient.

All hotels and resorts will be able to use this efficient and therefore affordable plan to provide guests with a Carbon Free Stay (just compensate for the release due to stay) or go and offer guests Carbon Free Holidays includes the compensation of flights.

Hotels can choose between Carbon Free Stay and Vacation options or the price. In any way, it will have a positive impact on the image and will be a marketing / PR tool. Compensation for one night is almost always less than $ 0.70 / night, while compensating for a $ 10-20 $ flight. With the new Zero Carbon Travel initiative, the hotel can receive commissions for aviation compensation. If a checker tells the guest that the hotel has paid for carbon-free stays, then the right atmosphere is created to ask the guest to pay a small amount to offset their carbon emissions.

Especially in the Caribbean, we really need to deal with long-distance travel as part of existence. Other aspects of sustainable travel include waste water treatment, organic products, meat and detergents, social programs, and so on. Again, it should be stressed that more and more people are becoming more and more aware of (and wanting to pay more) for responsible hotels. Organizations such as the spiral growth of responsibletravel.com (UK) and sustainable international travel (US) reinforce the trend.

Source by James Post

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