Singapore – Digital travel platform Booking.com has partnered with the World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) of the United Nations to launch a new series of free online courses designed to support accommodations on their journey to operate more sustainably.
Providing practical knowledge around sustainability for accommodations, each course will focus on a different topic: local community engagement, energy usage & greenhouse gases, food management, and water management.
The modules share actionable recommendations that accommodation providers can immediately start integrating into their practices, ranging from how to calculate a property’s energy consumption and reduce its emissions to best practices for community engagement.
The series is led by respected subject-matter experts and academics, providing strong technical expertise, deep industry knowledge and a data-driven approach. Booking.com accommodation partners are also included in the modules as a way of sharing practical success stories from their own individual sustainability journeys.
Talking about this initiative, Danielle D’Silva, head of sustainability at Booking.com, said, “We are excited to expand our longstanding relationship with UNWTO and deliver this new educational series which responds to the desire of accommodation providers for resources on how to implement more sustainable practices.”
“Supporting partners, and the wider industry, to integrate more sustainability practices into their operations is a core component of our mission to make it easier for everyone to experience the world. By increasing the supply of more sustainable accommodation options, we are also enabling travellers to make more mindful travel choices. This ultimately benefits the places we visit, the people who live there and the planet,” she added.
Meanwhile, Natalia Bayona, executive director at UNWTO, commented, “Education and skills development are the foundations for building a more sustainable tourism sector. UNWTO looks forward to working with Booking.com to enable accommodations everywhere to benefit from the wide range of resources available through the UNWTO Tourism Online Academy.”
