The negative effects of Climate Change are still embedded into our world. Whilst we welcome the worldwide reduction in air pollution and drop in C02 there is an inexorable rise in global temperature already fixed.

Would’nt it be wonderful if we could maintain these reductions into the future…unfortunately this will not happen. As soon as we can world economies will scale back up and Ireland will be right there with the rest.

Can we do it more sustainably? Can we scale back and at the same time reduce our environmental footprint? I would argue that that is exactly what we should be planning. The downtime is the time to plan how each business can be more efficient from the day you re-open – and have a defined action plan.

What are some of the key goals every tourism or hospitality business should put in place now, and implement when re-opened?

Measure, Monitor, Benchmark

Get a real handle on your utility consumptions and costs – Energy, Water, Waste. Put in place a process where you measure consumptions on at least a weekly basis. Create Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s) so you can track if your consumption’s increase, without a comparable business increase.

For larger businesses with large energy bills install sub-meters so you can measure individual areas and hold them to account – Swimming pools, in-house laundries, kitchens – these are departments that use large amounts of energy but nobody is measuring it – so there is no responsibility.

It is staggering that so few larger businesses track and actively manage their energy consumption – especially when savings of up to 50% are achievable.

Reductions in energy consumption = Increase in PROFIT and = Reductions in carbon footprint = WIN WIN.

Then – develop a plan to minimise consumption

Buy Irish

The immediate market pick up will come from the domestic market and they will deliver much needed income to Irish Hotels, Restaurants, Attractions, Activities, Restaurants, B&B’s, Guesthouses, Accommodation providers, etc. These will be Irish Consumers putting money into Irish Businesses.

How about Irish Tourism & Hospitality Businesses putting that money back into other Irish Businesses? Buy Irish, Buy Local – for goods and services. If you are importing goods or services challenge yourself – is this right? Why are you not actively supporting fellow Irish Businesses? Don’t hide behind a claim that you cannot get the same quality from an Irish Supplier – find them and work with them to deliver the service you require – they will welcome your support and adapt their service to secure a sustainable income stream – which will benefit the Irish Economy.

Sustainability begins at home – Support your own first and then celebrate them – tell your stakeholders who your suppliers are and what % of your non-labour expenditure stays in Ireland boosting the Irish Economy.

How many of your businesses and employees are benefitting directly from the financial supports the Irish Government is pumping into the economy? Every Irish Business should make it a priority to pump as much of that back into the Irish Economy!

Conclusion – We firmly believe that Environmental Sustainability should not stop because of Covid-19 – We believe that it should actually increase and also boost our nations sustainability. We believe that there are many tourism and hospitality businesses across Ireland that will support this.

Let us know what you are doing and how your business is actively seeking out Irish Suppliers to replace imported goods or services.