Opinion on future trend in tourism and hospitality

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My Quest and scrutiny through the crystal ball informs that it's safe to say, the next big thing to be incorporated in all industries and academics in totality will be sustainable practices, coming after Information technology. There will be demand or dynamism in humanity to conserve the available natural resources as a survival implement. Presently, information technology is leading in all industries in every aspect.

Ecology and environmental conservation will be vital and especially in hospitality and tourism where natural resources deployment and usage is a must and is also intense, considering the rising number of travelers and leisure seeking populace.The discovery of green equipment and general resource conserving equipment and technics are found to be cost-effective, trendy and enjoyable.

Reason; The population is growing rapidly and at a dangerous rate, yet resource are never increasing or they are overstretched. Hospitality businesses will have to embrace this sooner rather than later because effects of unsustainable practices are evident with extreme climatic changes, effects of pollution on our healthiness and lack of enough natural resources to sustain the ever high demand for tourism services. Besides the contribution of tourism practices in our GDP, the future need can’t be gainsaid.

 Nature reciprocates accordingly, depending on how we treat it; even the hospitality industry can win big or be affected diversely. If we take care of nature, nature will richly reward the industry. Think about the drying falls which are tourist attraction. How about natural attractions that are getting depilated day by day due to mishandling? Wildlife is dying as their habitat is destroyed or overzealous trophy hunters reduce some animal species.  

 But in all these, information technology will play a major role to achieve the objective of sustainability in its entirety. So, combination of information technology and sustainable practices is the way to go. Matthew Mason in his environmental science write up, noted that it’s not yet clear what our sustainable future will look like but with emerging technologies and the improvement of older cleaner fuel sources, many people now look to a post-fossil fuel world. He further explains of the estimated usage of resources which is about 40% more every year than we can put back and that needs to change. This is something to contemplate on as an individual or organization.

More and more hotels and lodges are embracing usage of technology to ensure there is energy conservation, sustainable water management and supporting environmental sustenance. Partly, this is by using non-pollutants and biodegradable products in all aspects of hotel operations. Recycling the recyclables is in every modern professional’s mind though not practiced wholly.

 Inculcation of conservation practices are increasingly being witnessed in hotel and tourism facilities Construction and by extension spreading in the day to day operations. I find this citation by B. Erdem1, N. Tetik2 over “A new trend in the hotel industry: Ecolodges” more than evocative. This is more of a confirmation than just a citation that ecosystem footprints are embraced and have high ROI due to high-profit markup for green products and especially in hospitality and tourism yet cost of production can be much lower in some aspects as compared to other products which are not green. The modern customers/tourists are more and more informed and he/she is ready to pay more on Eco products.

 It’s time that stakeholders in the industry start being inquisitive on trends and industry future indicators.  How about sustainable training being considered a must for hospitality professionals? How about rewarding staff with greening attitudes? How about celebrating hospitality institution that conserve environment by giving them cash compensation or tax reimbursements or waiver? This is the bigger picture and a way the government can show the importance of this to the masses. Imagine having a waiter, or a housekeeping steward championing sustainable practices in their day to day work activities and being given certificates of recognition. How about benchmarking of sustainable practices with developed countries where these practices are more celebrated than in developing countries? There are more sustainable footprints in developed countries than developing countries. Maasai Mara in Kenya for example, is supposed to be a high-end tourist’s destination but it’s not sustainably utilized because no real surety has been made on tourist capacity load management. This is a destination that can only make both economic and environmental sense by encouraging qualitative tourism and not quantitative. This will ensure that capacity for tourist load is sustainable and does not overload facilities in the park. It’s logical to say the more the number of tourist that visits the park the more probability of pollution and interference of ecosystem.

Some prying realities are knocking on the doors of stakeholders. Are hospitality and tourism investors enlightened on the benefits of going green? Remember green products are classified as premier products. During interviewing sessions for senior managers in hotels for example, does sustainable practices looked upon as one of the basic requirements for the job or it’s about the bottom-line and making ends meet for the company? How many days a week do you need your laundry machines to be operational as compared to workloads? How many liters are used in flash toilets and overall bathroom needs or even measurement per guest patronizing your hotel?  How do you reuse your cast-off cooking oil and other kitchen products? Are guests educated about sustainable practices within the precinct of your facilities? Are chemicals used in your operations assessed on the extent of their environmental effect? Does it make sense to you that linen should not be washed daily and guests can be educated on the need to observe such practices?

Inculcation of sustainable practices in hospitality and tourism processes, actions and advances can’t be ignored. Participation by private and public sectors will come in handy to fast-track Eco practices for a better future. It’s said that acts repeated constitute habits. Let’s develop sustainable habits in hospitality.

The Sustainable Practices Dogma (“Policy”) institutes goals in nine capacities of sustainable practices: transportation, clean energy, green building, microclimate and macroclimate protection, sustainable operations, waste reduction and recycling, environmentally superior purchasing practices, sustainable foodservice, sustainable water systems.

All indicators suggest that tourism survival will depend on conservation and sustainable practices. The present and future bywords for tourism will by ecotourism, ecotel, ecolodges and bionetwork. The future inclination of the industry whether its investors or entrapreneurs/entrepreneurs, whether it's tourists or employees, sustainable practice will be a must observe and information technology can play a big part in assessment, implementation and research in this future thoughtful consideration and development. Thank about Eco technology also.