Archive for August 22nd, 2007

Air pollution can be so bad in Beijing, the BBC reported earlier this month, that Olympics boss Jacques Rogge may consider postponing some events at the 2008 Games hosted by China.

So it is no surprise that Chinese State officials are now promoting sustainability initiatives where many first time visitors will reside–hotels. Olympic travelers now have the option of staying at “Gold or Silver Leaf Green Hotels,“ properties that have been certified by the China National Tourism Administration. 52 of the 112 hotels that are being built just for the Games have passed the green assessment and only those that pass may promote a connection to the Olympics.

Green hotels must improve energy and water efficiency, reduce air pollution and not offer any wild or protected animals at their food service operations. The Green Leaf program just started this year and supposedly improves upon a previous standard developed by the China Hotels Association.

The People’s Republic’s green hospitality goals seem quite ambitious, since 10,000 environmentally friendly hotels must be built by 2010. Spurred by the standards, eco-friendly hotel products were reported to have been very popular at the recent Shanghai International Hospitality Equipment & Supply Expo.

Unfortunately, the Green Hotel program currently lacks transparency. Hunting down the actual benchmarks behind the standards or even finding background information on the various State departments, at least in English, is difficult.

Nonetheless, this green hospitality trend seems to be moving quickly in the right direction. We will be closely following this movement and reporting any news on this blog.

By Stefan Deeran, at The Element Agency in New York