Dubai Hotel Travel

The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) had launched the first-ever Dubai Green Tourism Award in June this year as part its commitment towards sustainable tourism and incorporate best environmental practices within the booming tourism sector.

Through the pioneering award programme, it wants the tourism industry stakeholders to demonstrate a firm commitment towards reducing the impact of their business on the environment.

Hotels and hotel apartments were invited to participate in the award programme and their business practices were assessed for a wide range of environmental, economic and social issues, including energy saving, nature conservation and community involvement.

Mr. Eyad Ali Abdul Rahman, DTCM Executive Director Media Relations and Business Development, who opened the judging session, said: “We are providing an opportunity to the tourism industry to keep pace with changing patterns and to demonstrate that tourism sector is acting and committed to green initiatives. Tourism sector fuels Dubai economy and the whole idea is to inspire and encourage tourism industry stakeholders.”

The response of the hospitality industry to the Dubai Green Tourism Award has been highly encouraging, reflecting the enthusiasm and commitment towards sustainable tourism. Introductory workshops were conducted for the hospitality industry to explain the green tourism concepts and the award programme.

A total of 79 applications were submitted for the debut edition of the award. About 200 hotels from three, four and five stars and deluxe hotel apartments were eligible to compete for the annual recognition programme.

Out of this, the award committee selected 33 hotel establishments for the site visits after the scrutiny and assessment of their submissions under the two-tier evaluation criteria.

A six-member judging panel comprising of experts from various organisations completed the evaluation of submissions and shortlisted 18 hotels and hotel apartments to select the winners.

The panel of judges included Ms. Habiba Al Marashi, Chairperson of Emirates Environmental Group (EEG), Mr.Ali Bin Towaih, Executive Director of Sustainable Energy & Environment Division (SEED) and Environment Park at TECOM, Mr. Majid Al Marri, DTCM’s Director Classification, Ms.Razan Khalifa Al Mubarak, Managing Director, EWS – WWF, Mr.Satish Bhaskaran, DTCM Executive Director Administration, and Mr.Hamdan Al Shaer, Director of Environment at Dubai Municipality.

The panel held its meeting over two days at the DTCM Head Office recently.

Mr. Eyad said the main objectives of the award are to encourage the hotel establishments to use and implement environmental systems and tools to reduce the negative impact of CO2 the in the hospitality industry,, the award also reward hotels who introduce initiatives that highlight the importance of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) programmes and develop awareness/educational culture within hospitality sector about the sustainable tourism.

He praised the enthusiasm and commitment of Mr. Majid Al Marri, DTCM Director of Classification, and Ms. Shaikha Al Mutawa, DTCM Director of Business Development, towards making the award project a reality and a long-term programme of the department. They have been interacting with the tourism industry players and getting their feedback on the programme right from its conceptual stage.

Ms.Shaikha Al Mutawa, DTCM Director of Business Development and Chairperson of the Dubai Green Tourism Award, said the judges evaluated the submissions as per the judging criteria, set according to the international level, considering four main criteria- hotel environmental strategies and team involved, environmental issues that their initiatives and programmes addresses, The performance and impact of these initiatives; the stakeholders management and cooperation, and resources management.

Mr, Majid Al Marri, DTCM Director Classification and Deputy Chairman of the Dubai Green Tourism Award, gave a presentation on the judging process noting that all the process have been done electronically to save the environment by avoiding the use of papers.

The award sponsors are EcoVentures, M.Can, InterContinental Hotel Dubai Festival City, and Philips.

For more information, please visit http://green.dubaitourism.ae

Originally published by http://www.dubaitourism.ae

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