Beyond zero – moving our industry along the pathway to net positive hospitality

As someone who has devoted my life’s work to the travel and tourism industry, it’s hugely heartening to see the sector bouncing back after the pandemic and occupancy across the world returning to previous levels. Our industry has once again demonstrated our resilience in an unprecedented crisis and our ability to flex to meet the demands of a rapidly changing situation. We were also able to prove the central role that hotels play within our communities – offering accommodation to frontline workers, becoming temporary medical and quarantine centers, supporting food banks and other local charities, and many other acts of localised hospitality.

However, as gratifying as it is to see the industry thriving once more, we cannot forget the negative aspects that all too often occur as a result. Beaches overfilled with people; damage to the local environment and sites; lack of cultural integration between visitors and the local population; poorer quality of life for the residents; risks of exploitation in the labor supply chain; over-consumption of natural resources; waste and pollution to name a few.