What is Responsible Hospitality?
By Andreas
8th June, 2009

Responsible Hospitality is in its core about creating better places for people to live in and for people to visit, as drafted by Harold Goodwin in the Cape Town Declaration, 2002. By hospitality we are thinking of the hospitality industry, i.e. the economic activities associated with the provision of food and/or drink and /or accommodation away from home.  Dedicated international networks for responsible hospitality are now established in the mainstream international hospitality associations (see for example the initiatives of the International Tourism Partnership and the International Hotels & Restaurant Association) as well as the smaller more specialist associations whose main purpose is to provide information on this topic (e.g. the Green Hotels Association).

We should not be surprised at overlaps between Responsible Hospitality and Responsible Tourism. As per the Capetown Declaration on Responsible Tourism (see www.icrtourism.org), Responsible Hospitality is culturally and environmentally sensitive. Importantly, rather than calling for the unachievable, Responsible Hospitality simply makes the case for more responsible forms of hospitality, hospitality that benefits locals first, and visitors second. Certainly, all forms of hospitality can be improved and managed so that negative impacts are minimised whilst striving for a maximisation of positive impacts.

There are numerous ways hospitality businesses can and do engage in becoming more responsible (Accor and Hilton are examples of hospitality businesses that are engaging with the responsible business agenda). Often this relates to cost reductions associated with improved energy efficiency. However, Responsible Hospitality is about much more than a concern with environmental issues alone. In accordance with the Corporate Social Responsibility agenda, Responsible Hospitality should focus on social and economic impacts alongside environmental ones. It thereby includes, for example, how it treats its employees, to the impact is having on the local community as well as its contribution to climate change. Awareness of the Responsible Hospitality agenda is growing and will continue to do so. Hospitality businesses need to ensure they become more responsible for their own benefit, for the benefit of the communities where they are based and ultimately for the benefit of the global community.

The International Centre for Responsible Tourism has created a unique Masters in Responsible Hospitality Management which targets those who would like to see positive change happen within the hospitality industry. It provides participants with the knowledge, skills and understanding to bring about this change (see www.icrtourism.org/hm.shtml for further information).