According to a recent study, five-star hotels in Dubai are 225% more energy-intensive than hotels in Europe. In 2008, the Dubai Department of Tourism and Commercial Marketing (DTCM) took a course to reduce carbon dioxide emissions in the hotel industry by 20% by 2011. However, apparently, it can still be a long way to achieving these indicators.
According to statistics from the American Green Globe Hotel Classification System, only 4 out of 556 Dubai hotels comply with international environmental standards. According to Markus Oberlin, general manager of Farnek Avieal, partner company of Green Globe, the main factor that motivates hotels to switch to alternative energy sources and other environmentally friendly technologies, today is the opinion of tourists, who increasingly prefer environmentally oriented hotels. To implement the DTKM project to reduce hotel emissions by 20%, according to Mr. Oberlin, much more significant investments in the hotel sector of Dubai will be needed than those that are currently being implemented.
According to recent forecasts preceding the International Conference on Green Tourism in Abu Dhabi, the share of environmental initiatives in world tourism in the next six years could reach US $ 473.6 billion. This prospect is of great importance not only for the environment, but also for the hotels themselves, which, as the experience of hotel chains such as Rotana Hotels shows, thanks to green initiatives can significantly reduce their energy costs.
