Responsible Tourism Is Key To Driving Travel Industry Recovery In A Post-Lockdown World

The travel industry has been impacted by environmental disasters including the droughts in Cape Town and the bushfires in Australia, which have awakened our business and personal consciousness. The industry has arguably been late to sustainability and we are now at our own ground zero. This is a unique moment in time to take a pause, right the wrongs, and move away from viewing responsible travel as a 'nice to do'. There should be no such thing as 'sustainable tourism', simply 'tourism' where acting ethically and responsibly sits in the DNA of every travel brand.

 Destinations need to move away from acting as marketing organisations and focus on being responsible management companies with an environmental and social emphasis which in turn will help reap long-term economic benefits

Health and safety will also be embedded into travellers' decisions. This means that destinations will need to work closely with the health ministries, banks, investors, insurance companies and the private sector to achieve this moving forward in a well-coordinated, informed and transparent way. Carbon offsetting also needs to be looked at more closely by all travel brands to ensure their schemes are ethically driven.

It's important, now more than ever, that brands and destinations prioritise responsible travel as the cornerstone of all recovery plans. Amid Covid-19, we can't lose sight of the Paris Agreement, out of this tragedy will come innovation and greater responsibility that the travel industry must act on.

The Amsterdam Restaurant Using Individual Greenhouses For Social Distancing

Mediamatic ETEN, part of a larger arts and entrepreneurship center focusing on sustainability, is a vegan restaurant located on the Dijksgracht in the Oosterdok neighborhood of Amsterdam. From May 21, the restaurant will begin taking in guests, only this time they will be seated inside Serres Séparées ('separated greenhouses'), enclosed glass structures each equipped with a table for two or three diners.

“This was one of the most feasible ideas from a large list of ideas we had when brainstorming,” Mediamatic's founding partner Willem Velthoven said .Initially, no more than three guests will be allowed to dine inside each greenhouse, even though there is the capacity for more.

"We have other, bigger greenhouses, but using them depends on how everything ends up going. Bigger groups could [come] now but then they should be families. For now, bigger groups are being discouraged because, from our experience, they are just louder and then you get the excited behavior causing spittle to fly and so on, and that's the kind of behavior that would make the virus spread faster," Velthoven said.

Radisson Hotel Group Announces Global Plan For A Future With Reduced Single-Use Plastics

Radisson Hotel Group will implement bulk amenity dispensers across all brands by the beginning of 2022, replacing small bottles for common bathroom products. This action will remove 57 million miniature amenities from circulation, avoiding the use of almost 500 tons of plastic annually and has a global commitment to #refusethestraw, ensuring plastic straws and plastic stirrers are no longer used in its hotels by 2021 and eco-friendly alternatives will be offered to guests upon request.

Radisson Hotel Group’s initiatives demonstrate the commitment and solidify its participation in the International Tourism Plastic Pledge

The Group is also running a series of innovative pilot projects in various locations, with the aim of finding new ways to drive plastic reduction globally. These include:

• In all the Group’s properties in India, a roll out of Commercial Reverse Osmosis Water Filtration systems to provide in-house bottled water and avoid the use of PET water bottles.  

• In Bangladesh, Radisson Blu Chattogram Bay View is piloting a similar installation and is replacing PET water bottles by in-house filtered and bottled quality water.

• To cut down on the use of 39,000 plastic water bottles in the average hotel each year the Group offers unlimited filtered water to guests. This is already in place in selected hotels such at the Radisson Blu Hotel Manchester Airport, UK, and the Radisson RED hotel Brussels and Belgium, additionally, guests are offered reusable Radisson Rewards water bottles

• In addition to making Radisson Meetings 100% carbon neutral, the Group is constantly striving to phase out single-use plastics in meetings and events across its portfolio and has already achieved this in over 200 of its hotels, with the aim to roll-out this initiative to other properties.

800 Room Grand Hyatt Hotel Coming to Miami Beach

Hyatt Hotels Corporation (NYSE:H), Terra Group and Turnberry announced plans for a new 800-room Grand Hyatt hotel in Miami Beach, Fla that will be managed by Hyatt. Slated to open in 2023, It will offer elevated experiences for leisure and business travelers alike. Its prime location adjacent to the Miami Beach Convention Center, which completed a $600 million renovation last year, offers visitors convenient access to the city’s most anticipated tradeshows and events.

The 17-story hotel will be situated at the intersection of 17th Street and Convention Center Drive, within walking distance of the Atlantic Ocean beachfront, Lincoln Road Mall, New World Symphony, The Bass Museum and The Fillmore Miami Beach. The hotel development is being led by David Martin of Terra and Jackie Soffer of Turnberry and will be a joint venture between the two development companies.

The new hotel will become only the second Grand Hyatt property in Florida, joining Grand Hyatt Tampa Bay.

Hotel features are expected to include 12 floors of guest rooms offering expansive views of Miami Beach, two floors of meeting spaces and ballrooms that will complement the Convention Center, a resort-style pool deck with panoramic views, and limited retail space that will activate the district at street level. An elevated skybridge will enable event attendees to move freely between the hotel and Convention Center in a climate-controlled, art-filled corridor.

The project’s resiliency and sustainability measures include storm water management and reuse, flood risk mitigation, and the use of solar power – all of which are designed to ensure operational continuity during weather events.

Six Senses Shaharut to Open This June in Israel

Located in the Arava Valley in the south of the Negev Desert, Six Senses Shaharut will celebrate its opening this June. The resort is intimate in nature, comprising just 60 suites and villas, offering guests an authentic desert adventure. From sunrise yoga workshops and immersive local community experiences to late-night stargazing sessions, incredible hikes and camel treks through the luminous Negev Desert, the aim is to leave enriched and reconnected.

 Construction was done in an -friendly manner masterplan introduces architecture and interiors that blend seamlessly with its desert environment

It aims to bring guests in sync with nature and its elements by reinforcing the relationship between the inside and outside.

There are many on-site experiences including the fascinating Earth Lab, camel stables and an open-air amphitheater. The desert setting presents a host of activities from overnight camel camping to extreme sports, hiking, jeep safaris, and neighboring Kibbutz tour. Locally-inspired and restorative treatments together with a variety of wellness programs will be on offer at Six Senses Spa which draws its inspiration from the majestic landscape in which it is situated.

There are many on-site experiences including the fascinating Earth Lab, camel stables and an open-air amphitheater. The desert setting presents a host of activities from overnight camel camping to extreme sports, hiking, jeep safaris, and neighboring Kibbutz tour. Locally-inspired and restorative treatments together with a variety of wellness programs will be on offer at It draws its inspiration from the majestic landscape in which it is situated.

Guests can opt for a 50-minute domestic flight from Tel Aviv to the new Ramon International Airport (ETM) near Eliat, which also directly serves key European markets. From there, it is a 45-minute transfer to the resort.

Reservations are being accepted now for stays from June 1, 2020, onwards.