UK tourism to establish green accreditation for hotels

Tourists will be able to see a hotel's green credentials when booking to see the UK's sights. Photo / VisitBritain

LONDON - Amid evidence that British tourists would rather their hotel be sustainably run than have five-stars, the UK tourist board VisitBritain is aiming to establish a green marque which will establish which have genuinely green credentials.

Only 4 per cent of holiday-makers would choose to book a five-star hotel over a four-star establishment, which is sustainably run, according to recent research from the Travel Foundation.

The clamour to know that a hotel's green claims are valid has led to VisitBritain's project, which is expected to come to fruition in the New Year.

Scotland, under the aegis of the VisitScotland body, has set the pace and is already considered at least five years ahead of England and Wales in its green tourism development, with sustainable 'green' hotels and guest houses far easier to find.

Over 700 establishments in Scotland, where VisitScotland says it aspires for carbon neutrality across all its hotels, are accredited through the Green Business Tourism Scheme (GBTS), which from its base in Scotland has become the largest and most successful environmental accreditation body of tourism-related businesses in Europe.

Although five of the nine English regions have now signed up to GBTS, only hotels in the south west have earned accreditation in any great numbers.

To gain the coveted GTBS 'leaf' branding, businesses are assessed and graded against more than 120 measures of best practice.

These cover everything from efficient lighting and heating, to nature conservation, use of produce, renewable energy and community support and involvement.

GTBS awards gold, silver and bronze rankings and each hotel is judged by independent environmental auditors.

Green hotels in Scotland include the five-star Gleneagles hotel, in Perthshire, which has installed a £40,000 woodchip-burning boiler and introduced computerised technology to control the temperature of the rooms.

The hotel's owners have also floated the suggestion of asking guests to pay a voluntary carbon levy, which could then be put towards green projects.

Edinburgh's Radisson SAS hotel has gone one step further with the appointment of one of the UK hotel industry's first full-time "green gurus." But the establishment of a green standard for all British hotels may not be easy.

Tourism professionals insist that there should be independent assessment, rather than self-assessment - a method which is believed to be under consideration by VisitBritain because it is more affordable for hotels - to ensure that the green marque will actually means something for consumers trying to choose between a myriad of eco-lodges and 'green' hotels.