Aitken Spence Hotels observe Earth Hour 2012

Hundreds of millions of people, businesses and governments around the world unite each year to support the largest environmental event in history – Earth Hour.  For 42 years Earth Hour has been uniting people to protect the planet but it seems that Mother Earth has never been faced with a crisis as severe as it does now.

In 2011 alone more than 5,200 cities and towns in 135 countries worldwide switched off their lights for Earth Hour 2011 alone, sending a powerful message for action on climate change. This year too Aitken Spence Hotels joined hands with millions of supporters from around the world and dedicated 60 minutes to a greener planet by switching off the lights in all its hotels.

Climate change can be considered as the greatest challenge of our time; which also means that we have huge opportunities to turn the process around by advancing climate policy, energy efficiency, renewable energy and green jobs. This is the perfect opportunity for the community of the world to make a personal commitment to join together and create a global green economy.

At Aitken Spence Hotels, the staff is committed to safeguard and preserve air and water quality and reduce demands on Mother Earth. This philosophy is not practiced only on one day of the year but it is instilled in its day to day operation. Aitken Spence Hotels and Heritance Hotels in Sri Lanka have achieved a remarkable feat by having all nine hotels in Sri Lanka attain the prestigious Earth Check Silver status.

Earth Check is the international benchmarking and certification program for the travel industry based on the agenda 21 principles for sustainable development endorsed by 182 Heads of State at the United Nations Rio De Janeiro Earth Summit in 1992. The aim of the program is to assist international organisations to attain sustainability by providing a certification system that responds directly to the major environmental problems facing the planet, including climate change, waste reduction and non-renewable resource management. In addition eight out of its portfolio of nine hotels in Sri Lanka are ISO 14001 certified.

 “Aitken Spence  has  invested substantial amount of time and financial resources  over the decades to make our hotels world-class examples of sustainability. We have found out that our business associates and our guests are keen to learn about the sustainability practices of the hotels than ever before. The unique sustainability features of our hotels are clearly giving us a marketing advantage.  Our expertise gained in sustainability in Sri Lanka is spreading across to our hotels in the Maldives, India and Oman,” said Aitken Spence Hotels Managing Director Malin Hapugoda. With a sustainability focus that transcends beyond mere operational to one that is strategic, Aitken Spence Hotels seeks to create an organisation-wide culture that in turn will inspire individuals to act as catalysts for global change. This sustainability vision will drive the Group’s commercial objectives given the growing global demand amongst consumers for eco-tourism and sustainable tourism. Global tourism trends indicate that consumer choose destinations and resort properties that practice sustainable tourism in light of the opportunity to offset their individual carbon footprints.