With the reality of Brexit looming upon us, it is not surprise that all industries are worried about what it means for them.

In Tourism, the figures are quite alarming, it is estimated 10,000 job losses and a drop on National Tourism revenue of €390 million.

Nobody really knows for sure what is going to happen exactly, will it be as bad as they expect? will it be worse? Or will it actually be better? Who knows! Not even those in charge are too sure about any of it, so instead of panicking striking, let’s start looking at other things you, in your business, can do, to contra-rest the expected loss of revenue should the worst case scenario happens.

Green Tourism, a growing market

The answer is quite simple, if we are going to lose a large amount of tourist coming into Ireland from the UK, we simply need to look at other emerging markets. And, conveniently for me you might think, Green Tourism, is one of the fastest growing markets.

According to Travel Agent Central...

All of us living in the Western world, have never known any different but an unlimited amount of water coming out of our taps and showers. You could argue therefor, that it is not our fault, to think this natural resources is unlimited and can be used as we please.

I’ve sometimes walked into a public bathroom and a tap is open at full force while nobody is using it. I myself, used to brush my teeth in the past while leaving the tap open, or washed dirty dishes without using a stopper in the sink.

This is not a guilt trip for anyone, we only know what we have been given all our lives, we think that water will never stop coming, and therefore, conserving it is not necessary.

Changes are coming

In Ireland, households do not have to pay for water. This is very different in all other European countries. In fact, Ireland and Northern Ireland are the only jurisdictions in the EU without domestic water charges. (...

Recently, I spent some time in my beloved Spain, in the city of Bilbao in particular. During my stay I was delighted to see the hotel I had booked did not offer single use toiletries, Yipee! I was thrilled.

I know for most people this might be a silly thing to get excited about, but when you work in the world of Environmentalism, and you see the figures I see in a weekly basis, regarding discarded mini toiletries, this is a big thing.

Single use plastics in hotels are a much bigger issue than most people think. To a customer, opening a mini bottle of shampoo, or an individually wrapped ketchup sachet, or a mini jam at their breakfast seems like a very small thing. It is just one item, isn’t it? What harm can it do?

An issue much bigger than we think

According to STR Global (American based company that tracks global data), there are nearly 200,000 hotels in the world. This number does not include guest houses, B&B’s or hostels so the real number is much larger....

Customer demand for Climate Change and for all industries to play their part is at an all-time high.

Society is changing, their values are changing, and those that align their business to their customer values ahead of the rest, stand to become more successful.

So what are you doing, at your hotel or restaurant, to commit and run a greener business?

The benefits of running a Greener Business

• Align your business to your customer values

• Green Marketing & PR

• Goodwill, improve your reputation

• Reduction of your business Carbon Footprint

• Better controls of your utilities, resulting in a reduction of your Energy, water and waste bills.

The future of the travel industry 

Right now, tourism & travel account for 10% of the global carbon emissions globally. AT the rate tourism is growing as an industry, would it be possible that we will become the most polluting industry worldwide in a couple of decades?

And how would that affect...

When was the last time you took time out of your day to review the energy your Hotel or Restaurant uses?

After staff wages, your Energy consumption, could possibly be one of the largest costs to your business, yet, every week, I meet hospitality managers, that don’t have control over their energy consumption.

I always found it funny, I spent 4 and a half year in Hotel Management. They told me how to budget, how to forecast, how to control staff wages. However, nobody ever told me that, when I finally became a Hotel Manager, I would also be in charge of a building.

A building that comes associated with high costs to run on Energy, Water and Waste.

In my early hotel management years I was often assigned the Early duty manager shift. Walking into work at 6.30am, your best buddy becomes the breakfast chef, they are the only ones up earlier than you!

For years, I saw breakfast chefs arrive on duty and turn all the lights on, all the ovens on, extractor fans, grills, fryers....

You have heard that Greening your hotel or restaurant can bring you more exposure, more clients and more profits. This much is true.

You also know that the Green Wave is real, and your customers will soon demand sustainable practices from your business. I firmly believe this will happen.

You would like to run a green business, but the learning curve seems so steep, you are busy as it is and you think it is going to cost you a fortune to get there. You are wrong in this one.

An issue of time

Greening your Hotel or Restaurant is easier than you think, and it does not have to cost you a fortune, in fact, I can prove to you that it is the opposite, it might end up saving you money. As for the amount of time you have in your hands? Well yes, the Hospitality industry is a fast paced industry, but ask yourself something:

If your accountant told you in the morning someone is stealing money from your till, would you prioritize finding out who it is so you can stop it over other items in your...

The second most polluting industry in Ireland, according to the Climate Action Plan released a few weeks ago, is transport. The plan is aggressive in it’s targets to face out diesel and petrol cars, and my mind always goes to those that can not afford and electric car.

How will higher fuel tax affect lower income families?

Imagine a young family of four, with two parents working at a rate slightly up from the minimum wage. They can’t get into the property ladder because their salaries and the standard of living does not allow them save for the required deposit. The rely in their cars to go to work because they can’t afford rent in the city and public transport outside the city is just nearly non existent.

Most their wages go on rent, petrol and child minding.

They will not be in a position to buy an electric car in the next years.

They will be even in a worse position as time goes by and carbon tax increases, putting petrol in their cars will become a luxury.

How...

Yesterday I saw and add on telly for Mout Cider. The add simply highlighted three things: A fully recyclable glass bottle, a cider that is vegan, and that the company are allied to the World Wildlife Fund that protects endangered species.  I was sitting on the couch and I instantly thought “Well that is a nice cider”, the add did not speak about it’s taste, or how refreshing it might be, or what fruit is made with, but the three things they highlighted, are three things I felt aligned too instantly.

Align your business values to your customer values

In a world where society is changing and demanding for companies to change their own mind-sets, a huge opportunity lies for those that are whiling to make that change, to highlight what is seen now as a positive effort towards climate change and protection of the planet.

The add resonated so much with me that this morning I had to get up and find this cider’s website. Unfortunately, the same message does not...

Have you ever put an item into the wrong bin? Food in landfill, landfill in recycling…Did your brain tell you for a second this is wrong and you still did it? I know I have, and I am ashamed to admit it but hey, it’s the truth.

I worked in the Hospitality Industry and this is a hard paced, busy, exhausting industry. There have been occasions when, even though I did realise the item was in the wrong bin, my body just did not follow the brain commands: pick it up!! This is wrong!! You might contaminate the entire recycling bin!! I swallow my after guilt by reasoning that I am up the walls, in a hurry, it’s only a small thing.

Have you ever been there? Has it happened to you?

The phrase “Out of sight, out of mind” seems appropriate in this case.

Learning from our mistakes

Everybody makes mistakes, or things they should not do, it is human nature, the trick is to learn from those things that we know we have done wrong. I know I have, and that is why I do...

Last week I shared an article by The Guardian titled “Humans have made 8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic since 1950” If you missed it the link is at the end of this blog.

The Current Situation

The article states that up until recently we had no idea how much plastic we had created, and now that we know, the picture is not pretty.  8.3 billion metric tonnes of plastic have been created from 1950 to 2015, that is a terrifying statistic. It is equivalent to the weight of 1 Billion elephants!!

But the worst is, only 30% of the plastic created is still in use, the rest has been disposed off in three ways: 79% is in our landfills and environment, 12% has been incinerated and only 9% has been recycled. What really got me thinking, is that half of the amount of plastic generated since 1950, was actually made only in the last 13 years. That means over 4 billion metric tonnes of plastic has been made in just 13 years.

Why has our production increase so expedentially...