Arabian Park Hotel GM Mark Lee says he entered the Dubai Green Tourism Awards to benchmark the property against industry standards.
Dubai hoteliers have called on the government to create green standards and guidelines that are both legally binding and transparent.
They say initiatives such as the Dubai Green Tourism Award programme, the winners of which are expected to be announced in Q1, are a step in the right direction, yet Dubai’s Department of Commerce and Tourism Marketing (DTCM) and Dubai Municipality needed to join forces to put together green specifications that all hotels – both old and new - must adhere to with each being forced to declare their green credentials publicly.
Emirates Hotels & Resorts senior vice president Tony Williams, who has been forcing the ‘green’ agenda in Dubai for the last 13 years, said green standards must be created and the results of the Dubai Green Tourism Awards in terms of why the winners won and details of their green initiatives must be published.
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“They awards are a good idea as long as they are assessed properly and are transparent,” he said.
“If not, such initiatives like that will be seen as another ‘green wash’.”
Williams said the firm’s Dubai eco-resort Al Maha did not enter the awards programme, “because compared to most other hotels in Dubai, we are so far ahead [in terms of sustainability] that it would be a case of us having to win it”.
“Everyone at the DTCM knows what we do at Al Maha and if they want to check, they are more than welcome to.”
He stressed that the reputation of Dubai hotels was “shocking” when it came to green issues and hoped initiative such as the awards would force hoteliers to change their ways and improve public perception.
Mark Lee, the general manager at Arabian Park Hotel, a property that did enter the awards programme, said it proved a useful exercise in terms of benchmarking the hotel against industry standards and to review its current systems in a bid to become greener.
He agreed with Williams that the results of the awards needed exposure and that having “measurable targets and set guidelines to adhere to would facilitate the benchmarks to achieve and clarify the effort/advances that are actually being made”.
Lee added: “Government initiatives should be through realistic legislation, even if this means a gradual stepped change as opposed to a massive change over a shorter time period – this way it is more likely to get the buy in from owners/hoteliers and the end results will be more beneficial to all.”
Hotelier asked at least 10 more Dubai hotels or groups to comment on their awards participation and to declare what green initiatives they were involved in, but all declined to respond.
ABOUT THE DUBAI GREEN AWARDS
• Introductory workshops were conducted for the hospitality industry to explain the green tourism concepts and the awards programme earlier this year.
• About 200 hotels were eligible to compete for the programme but 79 applications were actually submitted.
• From the 79 applicants, 33 hotels were visited by the awards panel for further evaluation.
• A six-member judging panel evaluated submissions and shortlisted 18 hotels from which the winners were then selected.
• InterContinental Dubai Festival City is the official hotel sponsor for the awards and entered a submission to the programme.
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