Dubai: The second cycle of the Dubai Green Tourism Award was launched yesterday by the Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM), Dubai’s tourism marketing and licensing body.
The award is a part of the DTCM’s initiatives to turn the emirate’s successful tourism industry green and sustainable and is expected to see an increase in the number of participants.
Launched in 2009, the first round of the Dubai Green Tourism Award attracted 79 hotels, and 450 general managers of different hotel establishments participated in four workshops and seminars.
Hotels and hotel apartments were invited to participate in the award programme and their business practices were assessed for a wide range of environmental, economic and social issues, including energy saving, nature conservation and community involvement.
The environmental programme which aims to reduce hotels’ carbon emissions by 20 per cent was soft-launched in 2009 and has already enrolled a number of prominent fivestar properties in Dubai.
Participation has been extended to two-star hotels and standard hotel apartments this year to expand the green initiative and more than 120 hotels are expected to go through eight workshops to create more awareness.