Accor and Expedia team up to expand UNESCO sustainability pledge globally

FRENCH multinational hospitality corporation Accor has joined forces with global travel system Expedia Team to extend the UNESCO Sustainable Tourism Pledge (The Pledge) into 96 nations around the world to market sustainable tourism globally.

This tripartite agreement
will see 3,358 Accor resorts globally join with each other to market environmental
sustainability and sustainable tourism globally.

The Pledge was launched in Oct 2019 with the Tourism Authority of Thailand, United Nations Academic, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) and Expedia. It promotes responsible techniques, group resilience and heritage conservation, with the objective of transforming the character and affect of international tourism. Collaborating get-togethers commit to supporting the reduction and elimination of solitary-use plastics and marketing local economic climate and tradition.

Accor houses are among
the above 500 accommodations in Thailand that have signed The Pledge considering the fact that the Thai
microsite was set up in 2020.

“The expansion of The Pledge arrives at a time when travellers’ consciousness of and need for tourism sustainability techniques carries on to improve, with Millennials and GenZ having the guide with heightened environmental consciousness,” explained Expedia and Accor in a joint assertion when saying their partnership.

Markus Keller, SVP revenue
& distribution at Accor, mentioned the hospitality team has a  “responsibility to offer sustainable and
tangible solutions” to its guests to lower the impression the sector has on the
environment.

“Accor and all of the inns
in its community have lengthy-standing commitments in this space, for our selection to
take out all single-use plastic goods from visitor experience in our hotels by
2022. We want to accelerate our efforts, which is why we are currently joining the
UNESCO Sustainable Tourism Pledge in partnership with Expedia Group.”

He added that it is Accor’s “ambition” to carry on to push the adjust toward good hospitality. “Joining The Pledge with 3,358 of our resorts is a continuation of our group’s sustainable progress programme, Earth 21 – Acting Here.”

Accor released World 21 in
2011 and is based mostly all over four strategic priorities: function with our staff,
contain our attendees, innovate with our partners and do the job with local communities
two vital troubles are tackling foodstuff and building sustainability. It extra that “hotels can be examples of superb environmentally friendly practices
and forces for good transform in the group. All it requires is to commence with
a number of very simple commitments.”

 Zuhairah Washington, Expedia Group senior vice
president, strategic accounts, included the partnership with Accor “is about
getting needed steps at a international scale to minimise waste in the tourism sector”.

She elaborated: “The UNESCO
Sustainable Tourism Pledge aims to change phrases into action and is a testimony of
our developing dedication to collaborating intently with the hospitality sector in
order to increase environmental and sustainable tourism consciousness and
tactics throughout the globe. Absolutely everyone needs to perform
their component in promoting sustainable tourism and serving to protect vacation
locations.”

In a associated enhancement, the
German Federal Ministry for Financial Cooperation and Enhancement has delivered 2
million euros to enable broaden the Pledge across 7 countries – Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Cambodia, Ga, Indonesia, Kenya, Namibia and Vietnam. The
programme will enable UNESCO’s function to make tourism emerge much better from the
COVID-19 crisis and persuade sustainable advancement in the sector.

“The collective exertion is all
the far more important as the pandemic has strike the tourism and society sectors tough.
We hope that the attempts of Germany, Accor and Expedia, will inspire other
major players in the sector to be part of us and commit to offer you much more liable
tourism,” mentioned UNESCO director general Audrey Azoulay commented,

Check out online video of how Accor inns are performing with the Pledge

• Highlighted impression credit score: Petmal/Getty Visuals