STB also wants to work with the hotel industry on clear and quantifiable emissions targets, noted Mr Tan.
“Through the roadmap, STB and SHA envision a hotel industry that integrates sustainability as a core value across the entire hotel ecosystem, is established as a living lab and uses sustainability to drive business competitiveness and growth, and is recognized as a leader in environmental sustainability in the region,” added SHA and STB.
The roadmap is endorsed by the HSC, which was set up in March 2020 to drive industry-wide adoption of sustainability practices in hotels to promote Singapore as a sustainable destination.
The committee is made up of members from the hotel industry and representatives from the public sector.
To help hotels achieve these targets, the roadmap lays out four strategies and related initiatives.
The first is raising sustainability standards and striving towards internationally recognized sustainability certification by a number of solutions.
Other strategies include test-bedding and adopting innovative sustainable solutions, developing sustainable hotel concepts and experiences in Singapore and raising awareness of the industry’s sustainability efforts and promoting sustainable consumption habits among hotel guests.
STB and SHA have also identified four focus areas to green hotel operations, to ensure that sustainability efforts drive impactful environmental outcomes.
These areas are water conservation, waste management, recycling and circular economy, sustainable sourcing and procurement as well as energy conservation.
“This roadmap is also another significant step forward that we have taken forward towards greening our tourism sector which has been hard hit by the pandemic,” said Mr Tan.
“But I hope that it can guide hotels to chart and achieve ambitious sustainability goals, and inspire this change, that the hotel industry can lead the efforts in other tourism sectors and other tourism businesses.”
