Workshop “Energy and Water Saving Solution in Hotel and Restaurant Sector”

On October 19, 2011, Hai Phong’s Department of Culture, Sports and Tourism (DCST) held Workshop “Energy and Water Saving Solution in Hotel and Restaurant Sector” in Nam Cuong Hotel, Hai Phong City.
Participants in the event included representatives from Hai Phong’s DCST, Viet Nam National Administration of Tourism (VNAT), MEET- BIS project, relevant departments, hotels and restaurants in Hai Phong.
Speaking at the workshop, Deputy Director of Hai Phong’s DCST Nguyen Anh Tuan pointed out the importance of energy, which considerably affects the tourism competiveness and environment protection. So that, energy saving was seen as an imperative issue in hotel and tourism in particular and the economy in general.
At the workshop, representative of Hotel Department (under VNAT), Ms. Nguyen Thanh Binh presented programme “Green lotus label” for accommodations in Viet Nam. Director of ESRT project Vincent P. Gibbons introduced responsible tourism development programme. Sao Bien Hotel, which is considered as a typical energy saving business in Hai Phong, addressed its energy saving solutions.
Green Lotus label is considered as the essential condition for sustainable development of tourist accommodations and the first important link to build other systems of sustainable criteria for Viet Nam tourism.
The sustainable tourism label of Green Lotus has five levels: from the lowest level with 1 green lotus to the highest level with 5 green lotuses and is conferred on accommodations that make efforts to protect the environment, use natural resources and energy efficiently, preserve the country's heritage, develop the local economy, culture and society, and pursue sustainable tourism development. The number of green lotuses that an accommodation obtains will only depend on the points that it reaches according to the criteria of the sustainable tourism label of green lotus.
Set of criteria for the sustainable tourism label of Green Lotus include 80 criteria divided into four groups, including sustainable management; maximizing economic and social benefits for local communities; minimizing negative impacts on cultural heritage; minimizing negative impacts on the environment.