Tourism plays a large part in the world economy and is an important source of wealth for many countries.

It is also an industry that is facing increasing pressure to balance its economic, social and environmental performance as more attention is given to its impacts in the context of climate change, local communities and how it should respond to the current economic downturn.

We believe that travel and tourism should be operated responsibly and that the long-term benefits of taking this approach far outweigh the costs. Responsible tourism is the central focus for our Corporate Responsibility (CR) programme and it will play a major role in the long-term viability of our business and of the travel and tourism sector.

Hotels, as part of the global tourism industry, have a responsibility to ensure that owners and hotel general managers understand and adopt responsible tourism practices. Hotels should also work with all relevant stakeholders involved in the travel and tourism sector to reduce the negative impacts and maximise the positive benefits of tourism.

The ways in which we run our business and generate value, impacts our stakeholders, especially in the areas of the environment and communities.

Our impacts are driven by all elements of the hotel lifecycle, these include:

• Design and construction
• Choosing local business partners and suppliers
• Providing lodgings, food and drink for our customers
• Recruiting and training our staff
• Sourcing food and disposable goods
• The creation of waste

These impacts are all the more important to manage responsibly as we are opening approximately one hotel per day. We recognise that addressing the challenges created by these impacts is crucial to both our short-term and our long-term success.

In 2009, we will concentrate on evolving the future of responsible hotels in recognition of the challenges we face such as climate change and local economic opportunity creation. Our strategy will be to address these challenges while executing against the greater understanding we gained in 2008 to make our hotels more responsible.

Community and local economic opportunity

Beyond reducing negative impacts on the environment, responsible tourism ought to generate greater wellbeing for the traveller and the local community.

Our hotels support economic development though the creation of stable sources of income and by providing opportunities for both local employment and local businesses, most notably as employees of and suppliers to the hotel.

The environment and climate change

Climate change is about the disruption of the earth's climate by man made greenhouse gases; among those gases is carbon dioxide. Tourism can reduce its negative impacts contributing to climate change by using resources such as energy and water wisely, minimising waste and conserving ecosystems and biodiversity, as well as sourcing locally when possible.

If left unaddressed, climate change could become a significant risk factor: impacting how and where hotels are built and operated as well as how guests travel to our hotels. These risks could manifest themselves as higher costs, greater regulation and environmental degradation. Minimising hotels' contribution to climate change mitigates risk and negative environmental impacts, making for a more sustainable business model.

Hotels can reduce their negative impacts like carbon dioxide emissions though greater focus on more responsible design, construction and operations. This is why we developed our online sustainability tool, Green Engage. This tool guides and tracks the progress of our hotels' against our target to reduce our negative climate change related impacts.

Read more here: www.ihgplc.com/index.asp?pageid=615