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Dubai’s Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (Dubai Tourism) urged hotels on Monday to comply with its sustainability requirements and resume reporting of carbon emissions for their establishments by July 1.
Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST) had earlier set the so-called “19 Sustainability Requirements” for hotel operators in the emirate. The requirements, which support Dubai’s Carbon Abatement Strategy for 2021, include sustainable management approaches as well as energy, food and water management plans.
These requirements have been set to strengthen the emirate’s position as one of the world’s leading sustainable tourism destinations. By improving internal sustainability practices, Dubai Tourism said hotels could enhance the competitiveness of the city’s tourism-linked economy.
Since 2017, Dubai has been tracking the carbon footprint of hotels around the emirate. Every month, hotels were required to declare their consumption of 11 carbon emission sources, including electricity, district cooling, water, waste, fuel, fire extinguishers and liquefied petroleum gas.
In 2019, the Dubai Tourism also trained 528 hotels on sustainability standards, and establishments were supposed to fully comply last year.
However, due to the coronavirus pandemic, which has impacted the hospitality industry, the deadline was extended for an additional 12 months.
“Over the past year, the strength of the city’s tourism industry is reflected in the safe and successful reopening of Dubai to domestic and international visitors,” said Yousuf Lootah, vice chairman of Dubai Sustainable Tourism.
“We strongly encourage hotels to comply with the [requirements] … and provide carbon calculator submissions by July 1. We know that with the ongoing support of the relevant government bodies, these hotel establishments can play a huge part in achieving the overall carbon emission target over the next year and beyond,” said Lootah.
(Writing by Cleofe Maceda; editing by Seban Scaria)
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