TOUR OPERATORS are pressuring regional hotels to become more energy efficient.
This was revealed by Loreto Duffy-Mayers, project manager of the Caribbean Hotel Efficiency Action (CHENACT) programme, during an alternative energy seminar hosted by the Government and Central Bank of Barbados last week.
Speaking at the Lloyd Erskine Sandiford Centre, she said the project, which was in its second year, would help hotels attract a lot more tour operators.
Duffy-Mayers noted that tour operators were “putting stress on the hotels in the region to become more environmentally friendly”.
“The Federation of Tour Operators, which includes Virgin [and] British Airways, now have their own set of standards – not just health and safety, but environmental standards as well,” Duffy-Mayers noted.
She said tour operators go around to hotels to find out their water and energy usage and to see what efforts are being made to reduce those costs.
CHENACT was established to drive Caribbean hotels to implement energy-efficient practices.
This, in turn, is expected to improve their competitiveness through improved energy use. It was conceptualised by the Inter-American Development Bank. (NB)
• From the Barbados Business Authority.
