In response to the high demand of sustainable accommodations for tourists, Mexican hotel owners are working on a certification program that may validate them in the eyes of eco tourists.

In hopes of establishing long-term investment stability, hotel owners in the area have decided to make a commitment to take care of the natural environment surrounding their projects.

And in lack of a real government program that verifies and certifies sustainable policies in Mexico’s hotels, hotel owners themselves, in joint effort with national and international NGOs, have taken the first steps.

“We are the ones most interested in making tourism more sustainable, not only because of resulting environmental benefits, but also because that way we’ll be investing in something long term, not on what may seize to exist in a couple of years,” says Manuel Paredes, President of the Riviera Maya Hotel Association.

Proof of this is the fact that the association which groups 80% of accommodations in one of the country’s most popular tourist destinations has launched a program to encourage hotels in the Mexican Caribbean to adopt a greater number of sustainable practices.

“We’re looking to create less impact on the environment, especially in a destination as precious and fragile as the Caribbean, without this implying a halt in development,” states Paredes.

He also adds that the project is also justified in light of the ever-growing tendency of tourists to look for destinations that coexist with nature and the environment.

Some association members have voluntarily implemented the program “Walking towards Hotel Sustainability” since 2005. This initiative invites hotels to participate in sustainable practices and is also part of the Mesoamerican Reef Tourism Initiative (MARTI) launched in 2004 with the support of The Summit Foundation. MARTI’s goal is to get all three main sectors of the private tourism industry and the public sector involved in the effort to reduce environmental impact by 2012.

If the government, hotels, cruise companies, and tour operators in the Mesoamerican Reef all participate, this will improve efforts to protect and conserve an area stretching from Quintana Roo to Honduras.
 
“So far, we’ve been working with hotel owners to help them improve their practices and environmental performance so that they lower their impact in terms of water contamination and energy use,” says Thomas Meller, director of the MARTI initiative.

The group is also in the process of publishing guides on the most sustainable way to manage a hotel and how to build one.

“There are two guides, one of which will include which aspects must be considered when planning and designing a hotel, so that more eco-friendly accommodations may be built in the future. It will offer architectural solutions to build more intelligent constructions that consume less water and energy,” Meller explains.

Manuel Paredes and Thomas Meller both agree that it is crucial for a government organization to take some action to inspect hotel practices throughout the country and provide certification to those that comply with sustainable practice standards.

“What hotel owners in the Maya Riviera are doing is basically voluntary, as there is no obligation to establish good environmental practices. But if we had an official certification program, all hotels would need to comply with it,” explained Paredes.

There are currently three “official recognitions” in Mexico received by those hotels that make an effort to be eco-friendly. One of these is offered by Green Globe, an international association established in 1994 by the World Tourism Organization (WTO). This is the only international certification program for sustainable tourism, and is highly regarded internationally. Certification is awarded to organizations within the tourism industry, design and construction, ecotourism, and the community. In 2003 Windham Azteca, located in Playa del Carmen became the first Mexican hotel to be Green Globe certified. It is estimated that within the following months around twenty more hotels in the country will have a similar certification. Another sustainability related certification is ISO 1400, which certifies businesses that employ an eco management system.

The only government improvement in this respect is the National Environmental Auditing Program launched by the Attorney General for Environmental Protection (Profepa), which has developed and provides a Certificate of Environmental Tourism Quality. These distinctions attempt to create benefits for the destination, such as the preservation of natural resources, competitiveness, and a reduction of environmental risks.

Only two businesses are currently members of Profepa’s program: the hotels Fiesta Americana and Holiday Inn. “Certification is very useful environmentally speaking, because it leads businesses to follow and improve environmental policies, as they all wish to maintain certification and use it as a selling point,” added Meller.

Nevertheless, he admits that developing certification programs is not easy. Certification for hotels must be economically feasible, so that is may be attained and the industry and tourists trust in its value.