Accor, together with Trip.com Group and McKinsey, launches whitepaper on sustainable travel in China and sets out series of industry and consumer recommendations
Accor, a world-leading hospitality group, in partnership with Trip.com Group, a leading global travel service provider, and global management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, published a new educational whitepaper that examines the environmental impact of China’s tourism sector, analyses Chinese travelers’ sentiment towards sustainability and ultimately sets out actions key stakeholders in China’s tourism sector need to take to foster sustainable travel. The pioneering survey identifies a series of sustainable changes that ought to be made, from the everyday to the systemic, which can support the travel and hospitality of tomorrow with the intention of becoming an informative industry reference tool for change. The report, entitled “The path toward eco-friendly travel in China”, proposes that by adopting a set of collaborative measures across the industry value chain, from guests to major global providers, China’s tourism sector could move toward a more sustainable future.
These certifications will support Accor hotels in getting external and independent recognition of their sustainability practices and push their transformation a step further
For many years, Accor has been committed to sustainable development. In 2020, the Group set out its commitment to contribute to net zero carbon emissions globally by 2050 and reducing its absolute emissions by 46% (Scopes 1&2) and by 28% (Scope 3) by 2030. Accor wants to go a step further in its sustainability transformation and commits to supporting its 5,400 hotels in obtaining an external sustainable certification.
Alongside Accor joining the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) last year, the Group is proud to announce that two additional global partnerships have been signed with Green Key and Green Globe, both partners having their standards recognized by GSTC. These certification programs assess businesses across the four pillars of sustainability: sustainable management, environmental impacts, cultural impacts, and socio-economic impacts, confirmed by independent, third-party audit of the hotels’ practices.
By encouraging sustainable certification of its hotels, Accor will help guests and partners travel more sustainably by providing reliable information on sustainable options. Accor will also contribute to sustainable destination approaches, as in Marseille with a commitment to have all Accor hotels in the city certified by 2024, in line with the city and the region’s ambitions.
Brune Poirson, Chief Sustainability Officer at Accor, said: “Accor’s capacity for action is global. But this requires a method of implementation to maximize social and environmental impact. Independent certification is a must-have for all hotels as it helps them to provide proof of our sustainability commitments, meet the growing expectations of our guests, and contribute to scientific objectives. It shows a strong external recognition of our sustainability practices by all stakeholders in the industry.”
