Prepared for what lies ahead in tourism
Stay up-to-date with current, independent statistics and information on tourism in the Alpine region.
F.acT: The "European Tourism Going Green (ETGG) 2030" project supports European SMEs in tourism on their path to sustainability. What exactly does this project involve in detail?
Paula Kämpf: The "European Tourism Going Green (ETGG) 2030" project supports 70 small and medium-sized enterprises in the 6 different project partner countries Austria, Germany, Italy, Croatia, Bulgaria and Romania. In Austria, the ÖHV, the Austrian Hotel Association , was responsible for national project management.
The businesses were supported with consulting services on their way to sustainability certification. In Austria, all 11 participating hotels successfully completed certification for the Austrian Ecolabel and the EU Ecolabel.
Another aim of the project is an international exchange of experience and communication at European level. The final "Green Tourism Conference" provided an ideal opportunity for networking. Networking was also promoted through the LinkedIn channel for the ETGG 2030 project.
F.acT: Can you give us specific examples of how Austria (or other countries) has actually implemented more sustainability in tourism?
Paula Kämpf: The services provided as part of the project were varied. On the one hand, the participating companies were to receive practical and hands-on support. This was guaranteed by the three national training workshops and the tailor-made consulting services provided by our expert, Mr. Erwin Bernsteiner. On the other hand, the international exchange of experience between the 70 SMEs was defined as a goal. The certified SMEs were thus able to expand the online community in sustainable tourism.
In Austria, for example, the third workshop included a guided tour of the world's first and only SDG hotel, the Boutiquehotel Stadthalle. The focus was always on the provision of relevant information by the experts and the ÖHV as well as on the exchange of experiences between the individual businesses at regional and national level.
F.acT: The Green Tourism Conference took place in Vienna at the end of the project. What were your personal key takeaways from these two days at the beginning of May?
Paula Kämpf: The Green Tourism Conference with more than 250 international participants marked the end of the ETGG 2030 project. We were also able to welcome participants from all over the world, such as Greece and India, via our livestream. This clearly shows that interest in sustainable tourism is growing steadily and will continue to gain in importance. There were interesting presentations at the Green Tourism Conference, for example by Andreea Staicu, Stefan Gössling, Ivana Budin Arhanic and Kristof Tomej. These videos can be viewed again at any time on our ÖHV YouTube channel, as they represent added value for businesses and other tourism stakeholders.
The conference was held as a Green Meeting - I personally found the purely vegetarian and vegan catering very innovative. This was enthusiastically received by the participants.
F.acT: And what advice would you give to a tourism company that wants to take the issue of sustainability seriously in the future?
Paula Kämpf: The ETGG 2030 project has once again made it clear that interest in green tourism is constantly increasing in Austria, Europe and worldwide. In order to implement certain sustainable measures in your own tourism business, it never hurts to network with other like-minded businesses in advance and use pioneers in this regard as examples of best practice. And there are now 11 more of them in Austria! We are proud of the achievements of our participating businesses and hope that many will follow their example to make tourism in Austria even more sustainable in the future.