Going green via Eco-Certification

Touting a country as a package may bring to mind a clinical, profit geared efficiency. But negative connotations and consequences arise when a holistic viewpoint is glossed over.

With tourists becoming ever more discerning and the efforts to sell Malta and Gozo as a culture, rather than simply as a fun and sun, destination there have been several wake-up calls to put our act together.

Vested interests are now crying out for a mental shift away from the temptation of being content with the famed Maltese hospitality or the mushrooming of five-star hotels.

Significantly, the Malta Tourism Authority's product planning and development directorate (PPD - inaugurated three years ago) has embarked on series of inter-linked schemes that are primarily aimed at encouraging and supporting a fully-fledged and professional tourist product that puts a strong emphasis on self-assessing an establishment's environmental impact.

The latest in the series is an accreditation scheme entitled Eco-Certification. Launched last October and based on the decade-old Alcudia model, Eco-Certification incorporates 130 environmental criteria set by the MTA, which is awarded to tourism accommodation establishments if they pass an environmental audit on a yearly basis.

"Assessing the Spanish model has helped us learn a great deal from their 10-year experience... Enhancing our tourist image demands co-operation and liaison with different sectors. That takes time, effort and persuasion," says Mario Attard, PPD director. "We hope to build on a club spirit by sharing results and varying modes of operation," he adds.

Dealing directly with tour operators and hoteliers, the MTA is ideally placed to step up its role as "motivator" in order to upgrade standards on all fronts. Conse-quently, Eco-Certification encompasses inter-related 130 criteria that cover: Environmental management systems; waste management; products and materials; energy use; water use; air quality; noise protection; buildings and green areas; local culture and guest information.

These are divided into 40 mandatory and 90 non-mandatory criteria. It's good to point out that the scheme encourages eco-certified hotels to achieve and maintain high standards in water and energy conservation as well as promoting the use of bio-degradable cleaning products, eco-friendly herbicides and pesticides.

Development of a sustainability policy, environment information for guests and strict control in the storage of toxic chemicals tops the list of compulsory criteria.

The most important factor to note is the continuous improvement process. The MTA is not merely satisfied with hotels joining the scheme. Once in, they must improve. The same applies to the scheme itself - it is an ever-evolving programme to ensure a consistently better environment.

Though the entire scheme is voluntary, the PPD is using it to consolidate MTA's personal approach in inculcating the social and financial benefits accruing from an increased environmental awareness.

In order to qualify applicants must have at least one employee attend the co-ordinator training session; fulfil at least 65 per cent of the parameters involved, including all the compulsory criteria and have management abide to the Green Policy as established by the Green Commission;

The Eco-Certification is accessible to all accommodation categories. Its all-inclusive approach aims to improve Malta's tourism by helping hoteliers to cut down on direct costs primarily as regards energy and water consumption, plus goading on cost-effective operations and motivating long-term commitment.

"Instilling pride in what we have and inculcating all round courtesy are the clinching factors. This sense of commitment grows out of an increased environmental awareness.

"The social impact of sustainable tourism goes hand in hand with improving our quality of life. This is why the emphasis is on quality and not merely on quantity," affirms Mr Attard.

The Eco-Certification scheme points to a long-term vision that caters both for the common and localised needs of designated tourist. Zones that go beyond the historical Valletta, Mdina and Cottonera cities.

That tourists are more sensitive to the environment and are even willing to pay extra to enjoy it can be gleaned from an MTA survey carried out in February 2001.

The PPD's efforts to put the Maltese Islands on the international map of cultural tourism is clearly in line with stepping up the initiatives begun in 2002 - the year that was dedicated to eco-tourism.

Though much more needs to be done, the participation of 13 hotels to date is a start. What about the thorny issue of the notable increase in hotel beds? "We are adopting a slow-growth approach that aims to establish a benchmark that will prove sustainable for a good number of years to come," says Mr Attard.

The upsurge of top-of-the range hotel accommodation in Malta reflects the clout of all those at the helm in the tourist and construction industries - two areas that dominate the Maltese economy.

It also points to the responsibilities involved - indeed a growing chain of obligations that is not confined to the blinkered vision of guest dumping at maximum profits.

Ultimately, there is a limit to the lure of even the most luxurious hotel and ultra-professional service - meaning that advertising one's establishment is made or unmade by the state of its environs - and of the entire country.