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1. Directive 2010/31/EU of the European Parliament and of the Council of 19 May 2010 on the energy performance of buildings
2. See agreement of the European Parliament and of the Council on the proposal to amend Directive 2010/31/EU on the energy performance of buildings and
Directive 2012/27/EU on energy efficiency
3. Tourism Towards 2030 - Global Overview, UNWTO
4. Hotel Global Decarbonisation Report, International Tourism Partnership, November 2017
The International Tourism Partnership, a non-competitive platform
for hotel industry leaders which includes 14 major international hotel
chains, reckoned in a recent study that to fulfil its share of the Paris
climate agreement objective, the global hotel industry will need to
reduce its greenhouse gas emissions per room per year by 66% by
2030 and by 90% by 2050 compared to 2010 levels. Still according
to the International Tourism Partnership, half of the reduction efforts
will need to be achieved internally by 2030. This is a herculean task to
which the hospitality sector has to prepare for.
HOTREC therefore decided to take further action to help the 1.9 million
enterprises active in the hospitality sector (90% of which being micro-
enterprises) adopting a robust energy policy which will result in lowering
their emission levels while generating cost-savings.
This brochure presents the key aspects of a good energy management policy. It also contains guidance to
generate energy savings with little investments and identifies long-term energy saving solutions requiring
more important investments, while presenting the HOTREC charter to promote the use of sustainable energy
and improving energy efficiency in the hospitality sector. Finally, this brochure presents the UNWTO’s nearly
Zero Energy hotels (NeZEH) initiative, which HOTREC fully supports, together with a selection of best-practice
initiatives across Europe and examples of energy efficient hotels and restaurants, all showing that the hospitality
sector is already accompanying this major shift towards sustainability.
These guidance, if implemented, shall result in major cost-savings, as energy accounts for 5% to 10% of total
costs in the hotel industry, therefore increasing hospitality businesses’ economic sustainability and profitability.
This also offers a unique opportunity to communicate to clients the positive actions hospitality businesses are
taking, therefore responding to an increasingly important request from consumers across Europe for a more
sustainable tourism.
The scale of the reduction in emission levels that hospitality businesses will be required to achieve by the middle
of the century represents a gigantic task, especially for SMEs and micro-enterprises in the tourism sector,
justifying a need for EU and public funding and incentives. However, by implementing early a robust energy
efficiency policy, hospitality businesses can turn this challenge into a clear economic and marketing opportunity,
therefore giving them a major competitive advantage.
5 good reasons why a hospitality business should have an energy efficiency strategy:
Good energy management practices generate immediate cost-savings
Medium term investments help raising long-term profitability
A good energy monitoring allows to reward loyal customers with sustainable behaviours
It improves your reputation with customers and gives you a competitive advantage
It fosters a positive image of tourism destinations and help preserving tourism destinations from
catastrophic climate change impacts on tourism
“One of the world’s largest
economic sectors, tourism
is especially well-placed
to promote environmental
sustainability, green growth
and our struggle against
climate change through its
relationship with energy”
Ban KI-MOON,
Secretary General of the U.N,
World Tourism Day 2014
Making tourism more resource efficient: guidance and solutions to raise energy efficiency in the european hospitality industry
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