TTG@WTM Special Feature EU SWITCH-ASIA Greening Sri Lanka Hotels
WELCOME T
he EU Switch–Asia/Greening Sri Lanka Hotels project was formulated at a very critical
stage in 2009, just as the prolonged unstable security situation in Sri Lanka came to an end. Tourism in Sri Lanka immediately
grew in leaps and bounds, fuelling rapid tourist hotel product development in the country. With an ancient history more than
2,500 years old, Sri Lanka has always been known as a pristine destination, with an abundance of natural beauty and wide range of flora and fauna. It was therefore essential that nature and environment were safeguarded in this thrust for rapid tourist development. To maintain their edge in a fiercely
competitive environment, where operational costs were rising steeply, it was important that Sri Lankan hotels began to understand environment and energy conservation in a more strategic and holistic manner. With global visitors becoming more and more conscious about the environment, it also was fast becoming essential for hotels to embrace more sustainable consumption practices. The Greening Sri Lanka Hotels (GSLH) project has been able to create awareness, and lay a solid foundation for the Sri Lankan hotel sector to move forward in a more environmentally responsible and sustainable manner. Over the following four pages, you’ll find an outline of the project, and case studies of hotels that have embraced sustainable practices – and are reaping the benefits.
ngreeningsrilankahotels.org
Prema Cooray managing director and chief executive, CCC Solutions (Ceylon Chamber of Commerce)
Srilal Miththapala project director, Greening Sri Lanka Hotels project
Cinnamon Lodge Habarana took the gong for “best large green hotel” in the 2013 GSLH awards
Greener future for Sri Lanka
T 38 06.11.2013
ourism in Sri Lanka has shown tremendous growth since the war. Year on year, the country has achieved double-digit growth,
with arrivals surpassing an all-time record of one million in 2012. Earnings also grew in a similar fashion to break the $1 billion barrier for the first time in the history of Sri Lankan tourism. In pursuit of the ambitious target of
attracting 2.5 million tourists by 2016, there is a surge of tourism development taking place in the hotel sector, with 125 new hotel projects having already been approved up to the end of last year. According to Sri Lanka Tourism
Development Authority data, this will add 7,500 additional rooms to the existing stock of 20,000 rooms in hotels and other approved forms of accommodation. Given the pristine, and still very much unspoilt environment, Sri Lanka Tourism
Jetwing Vil Uyana has been commended for waste management
needs to temper this development surge by carefully implementing effective sustainable environment and energy conservation practices. The EU-sponsored Greening Sri Lanka Hotels (GSLH) project was conceptualised
during 2008 when the internal problems in Sri Lanka were at their peak. By the time the project was actually implemented in late 2009, the country had returned to normalcy, so the timing was ideal to engage with the newly rejuvenated and fast growing tourism
More than 350 hotels have participated in the EU Switch-Asia project, known locally as Greening Sri Lanka Hotels. Here is an overview of how and why the project was set up, while overleaf we take a look at how five properties are embracing sustainability
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