Scots hotels ready for green light
By Angela Frewin
Scottish hotels will get the chance to save money and tap into the growing green tourism market this summer with the launch of the UK's first national environmental scheme for hotels, says the country's tourist board.
Jim Allison, Scottish Tourist Board (STB) deputy director of planning and development, said the awards would not initially be linked to the accommodation grading scheme, but he saw this as a desirable goal. In the longer term, he saw a case for it forming the basis of a standardised European initiative.
After nine months of trials with 50 Scottish hotels, the STB hopes to involve 100 hotels in the scheme by the end of the year, rising to 2,000 by year five.
Hotels face a full third-party environmental audit to gain foundation, award or merit level status, and a logo, yet to be finalised, will proclaim the hotels' green credentials in STB guides.
Dagmar Woodward, general manager of the May Fair Inter-Continental London, part of the International Hotels Environment Initiative set up in 1993, said it was harder for UK hotels to go green because nothing is enforced, and UK guests do not push for green initiatives as do those from more environmentally aware areas such as Germany, Scandinavia, the Netherlands and North America.
Her biggest headache was petrol fumes, something the Government needed to tackle. And recycling is still a patchy process in the UK, where the landfill tax per tonne is just £15, compared with more than £100 in Germany.
