Accor Hotels in New Zealand to Become Gold Standard Sustainable Tourism Businesses

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(15/02/24)
 Accor has expanded its partnership with Qualmark as the French
hospitality giant works towards
certifying all its hotels, resorts and apartments across New Zealand
as Gold Standard Sustainable Tourism Businesses.

For three decades Qualmark, a New Zealand quality assurance
organisation, has supported thousands of tourism businesses across
the country to operate more sustainably.

Its certification criteria evaluates standards of sustainability across five key pillars: business systems, environment, people, community and
culture, and health and safety.

This criteria was
recently the first in New Zealand to gain Global Sustainable
Tourism Council (GSTC) recognised status, meaning that Qualmark
members can be confident that achieving Qualmark certification
meets global standards of sustainability and that travellers can
be assured of a globally recognised accreditation.

Novotel Queenstown Lakeside

“We’re excited to partner with an industry-leading
hotel operator like Accor,” said Qualmark New Zealand General
Manager, Steven Dixon. “Compared to 10 years ago, travellers are
now three times more likely to choose a business that has been
sustainably accredited. Our vision is to see all New Zealand
tourism businesses join Qualmark, to make it easier for our
manuhiri (visitors) to make sustainable choices.”

Around the world, Accor is supporting its 5,500 hotels in obtaining external sustainable
certifications. Through a combination of global and local
partnerships, the company is confident that it will reach the target of 100% of its network
eco-certified by 2026.

“Our hotels
are already accredited with Qualmark and we are now taking actions
for them to reach gold accreditation – the highest possible
standard under the new GSTC aligned standards,” said Adrian
Williams, Accor Pacific Chief Operating Officer PM&E. “Sustainability is fundamental in our business, and we are proud
to contribute to shaping the future of tourism in New Zealand by
investing in our sustainability actions and activities. Our next
phase of growth is built on our powerful sense of environmental,
social and economic responsibility. In 2023, in
collaboration with our hotel owners, Accor Pacific removed some 55
single use plastic items, such as individual toiletries from guest facing areas and plastic water bottles, in over 80% of hotels. In
2024 and beyond, we are committed to taking these actions further
into food waste and sustainability, water usage, eco certification
and diversity and inclusion. We know there is a lot more to do and
our teams will continue to focus on driving sustainability
actions.”

Accor operates more than 40 hotels across New Zealand, including
international brands such as Sofitel, MGallery, Pullman,
Mövenpick, Peppers, The Sebel, Mantra, Novotel, Mercure,
BreakFree, ibis, ibis Styles and ibis budget, as well as Ennismore’s SO/.

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