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Tourism is one of Europe’s most valuable economic assets. Europe is the world’s prime tourist destination. In
2016, it registered more than 619 million inbound international tourists, corresponding to a share of about 51%
of the global market for international travel. While the cultural and environmental quality of the European natural
and cultural heritage is clearly a competitive advantage, it could be endangered by its own attractiveness.
At the same time, contributions of tourism to global CO2 emissions range from 3.9-6% of human emissions.
Where emissions from transport and the build environment account for more than 90% of mentioned emissions.
Climate change puts tourist destinations at more and more risk, therefore we need to invest in resilient
infrastructure that is sustainable, liveable and designed, built and managed in resource efficient manner. It
was accounted that for some building it takes 20-30 years takes to pay off the energy that was invested in only
constructing them, not even counting the energy and resources used for producing the construction products.
We should build on the existing good initiatives to implement further action and to move our tourism industry
to a more sustainable model. A model, where business operators, authorities collaborate and also empower the
tourists e.g. labelling or other form of transparent and accountable information empowers consumers, who are
increasingly aware about environmental and climate concerns.
In 2015, the EU adopted the Circular Economy package, which profiles a new development paradigm that aims
at reconciling economic growth objectives and environmental sustainability, capitalising on the actions of
everyone. The Commission is convinced that the transition to a more circular economy will help creating secure
jobs in Europe, promoting innovations that give the European business industry a competitive advantage while
providing a high level of protection for humans and the environment. The two most practical tools for such
information with a direct impact on environment and energy efficiency in tourism are the Eco-Management and
Audit Scheme (EMAS) and the EU Ecolabel.
EMAS helps tourismoperators to improve the environmental performance
of their operations, while the EU Ecolabel provides reliable guidance to
both providers and consumers on sustainable tourism services. It helps
businesses to make savings when it comes to energy consumption and
improve the CO2 footprint and overall to stand out amongst other hotels
in terms of environmental excellence and corporate social responsibility.
These instruments therefore lead to a win-win-win situation, benefitting
consumers, enterprises and the environment.
We support the initiative of HOTREC that is addressing energy efficiency issues and encourages hotels to become
low-carbon business examples as it could contribute to generalising sustainable practices in the sector. Our
common goal is to raise the awareness amongst the tourism operators and to provide them with the right tools
and support to initiate more sustainable practices in order to ensure the sustainability of such vitally important
sector.
Daniel Calleja
Director General of DG Environment, European Commission
FOREWORD BY
MR. DANIEL CALLEJA,
DIRECTOR GENERAL
OF DG ENVIRONMENT,
EUROPEAN COMMISSION
We support the initiative of
HOTREC that is addressing
energy efficiency issues and
encourages hotels to become
low-carbon business examples.
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Making tourism more resource efficient: guidance and solutions to raise energy efficiency in the european hospitality industry