What are the most common sustainable practices in the French hospitality industry in 2018 ?
Last week I was a guest speaker at the “Future of Sustainable Hospitality 2018” conference, organized by the Riga Hotel School in Latvia.
The topic I chose to develop was “Sustainable practices in the French hospitality industry”, since France has been, for many years, the country with the highest number of tourists’ arrival per year.
The highlight was placed on the current environmental practices in different categories of establishments, from single owner units such as “Table d’Hôtes” to large hotels, chain affiliated or independently managed.
It is generally perceived that sustainability brings many benefits for the business, mostly in terms of image, and in many cases also translates in cost reduction.
Higher ranking chain hotels have a better-structured approach toward sustainability, and dedicate more efforts than smaller and/or independent hotels and resources to these practices.
Many different environmental labels are available in the country, although the rates of participation are quite different from a hotel segment to another.
Based on various recent studies, a gap can be observed between customers’ intentions and actual eco-friendly practices when travelling. Government and associations have been putting a lot of efforts into communication in the past few years, but still need to improve on lisibility and visibility.
Sustainable tourism
Firstly, what does it mean to be “sustainable”?
Let’s have a look at the definition from UNWTO‘s (United Nations’ World Tourism Organization), which declared 2017 as the “International Year of Sustainable tourism for development” :
“Tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities”
The #IY2017 will promote tourism’s role in the following five key areas:
(1) Inclusive and sustainable economic growth
(2) Social inclusiveness, employment and poverty reduction
(3) Resource efficiency, environmental protection and climate change
(4) Cultural values, diversity and heritage
(5) Mutual understanding, peace and security
Let’s now have a look at the specifics of French hospitality industry :
Key metrics of tourism in France
Revenue : In 2017, which was a record year for tourism, 36 Bl $ were generated. This is the world’s 5th place, and represents 8% of France’s GDP.
Arrivals : France welcomed 89 Ml visitors in 2017, placing it ahead of Spain and USA (82 and 76 Ml respectively).
Occupancy increased from 58,4% in 2016 to 61,2% in 2017, which is the best year recorded so far. The drop of occupancy in 2016 is mostly the consequence of the Paris terrors attacks in November 2015.
Occupancy rates 2009-2017 :
Room nights totalled 429 Ml, compared to Spain’s 470 Ml (1st position). Interestingly, 64% were generated by internal tourism.
Average length of stay is relatively short, -which partly explains the low generated revenues- at 1,8 days (1,6 for French, 2,1 for foreign tourists).
Foreign visitors (36%) originated mainly from UK (11 Ml), USA and Germany. The number of Chinese visitors increased by +40% compared to 2014, whilst Japan and Russian visitors decreased by 42 and 31% respectively.
Favourite destinations
Not surprinsigly, Paris area was the first region visited in France, with 73%, followed by “Urban province”, “Seaside”, “Mountain resorts” and “Other categories”
Hotels structure : 80% of hotels have 26 rooms or less, and are independently owned and/or managed. Investment levels are generally low in the sector, with the exception of chain hotels.
In my next post, I will be taking a closer look at environmental labels, and some interesting examples of sustainable hotel and F&B operations.
