The global footprint of travellers, both on the cultures of peoples and their environment is only like to increase, in spite of efforts to minimise it. The hospitality and travel industry has a leading role to play in ensuring that the growth in travel does not destroy the very reason people are travelling for.

Countries, states and provinces which work jointly with the tourism industry in finding this difficult balance will be critical. This will help sustain growth patterns without reckless exploitation of the natural and cultural resources of a destination leaving it depleted for future generations.

An organisation which works towards this goal is Business Enterprises for Sustainable Travel (BEST). Its objective is to serve as a leading source of knowledge on innovative travel and tourism practices that advance business, community and travellers’ interests and which also support the economic and social sustainability of destinations.

BEST focuses on three main areas to make a difference, university education, travellers philanthropy and community tourism. For more information please visit http://www.sustainabletravel.org/

Some other organisations include:

The International Ecotourism Society www.ecotourism.org/

International Tourism Partnership www.tourismpartnership.org/

Responsible Hospitality Institute http://www.rhiweb.org/

Tour Operators Initiative http://www.toinitiative.org/

Here is a video on Rainforest Conservation and Community Development Expedition in Ecuador, one of the many ways organisations and travellers are working together.

With the protection of the environment becoming more and more important, all hotel companies are embracing green – this will see a series of improvements in green initiatives. What does this mean? Simply put, it is minimising the impact a hospitality establishment has on its environment. It could take the form of lower energy consumption, unique environmentally friendly design, social work in the surrounding communities to protect and conserve the environment among others.

And this has also in turn lead to the emergence of green certification companies. The biggest challenge as with all certification is the level of co-operation between organisations in different parts of the world who may prioritise differently.

VISIT is the joint European initiative for the promotion of Ecolabels and sustainable tourism development. The common standards arrived at by them can be accessed at their website http://www.yourvisit.info/initiative/cont_org_c_.html

Another leading organisation is the newly rebranded EC3 which is a subsidiary of the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre in Australia. Their Green Globe certification programme focuses on improving operational efficiency and cutting waste making a direct benefecial impact on the environment. You can find more information at http://www.ec3global.com/products-programs/green-globe/Default.aspx

A new generation of environmentally friendly hotels where guests are also involved in protecting the areas they travel to, may be the way forward.

This rapid growth in tourism and hotels have left a wide gap in skilled manpower that is needed to run the industry – this has resulted increased employee turnover thereby affecting standards of service directly. The future of the industry will remain with companies who are able to look at the welfare of the employees and who invest in training.

But with the explosive growth targeted by some companies, this seemsmore and more challenging. Shangri La is said to be targeting an additional 60 hotels in the coming two to three years. In India, a country one assumes due to its population, is rich in manpower is falling desperately short of skilled employees in the hospitality sector. For someone like me who had only the choice between the Taj group and the Oberoi’s to join after passing out of Hotel school in the early 90’s this seems like employment paradise. But at the same time it is posing some serious questions to employers.

So what is that magic formula which will help companies retain employees? Motivation has to be the key - a company with great leaders who can inspire and follow up on their promises to their teams. A company that takes its training and manpower development seriously. A company that rewards good performance handsomely and recognises it openly. A company that actually celebrates creativity and new ideas and not just pay lip service…

2008 will see further innovative growth in online marketing. Companies who are not able to leverage the power of the internet to carry their message to consumers will be left behind.

Here is a funny and informative video from Travelclick titled - So, you wanna be a Hotel eMarketer? http://www.longtail-yeah.com/

Travelclick has successfully created a viral effect through an interesting and innovative approach to this theme…ensuring that this message will be distributed far and wide.

While capsule hotels are a type of budget hotels that are already commmon in Japan, of late they have been of interest to european hoteliers. Check out this great video of a capsule hotel from the Roppongi district in Tokyo

A few companies have ventured further into this concept in Europe most notable among them being Yotel (from the founder of Yo Sushi). Compared to the Japanese model, the european versions incorporate a few more luxuries.

An initiative of the Convention Industry Council that is bringing together all stakeholders in the development and implementation of industry-wide accepted practices to create and enhance efficiencies throughout the meetings, conventions and exhibitions industry.

While this initiative has its fair share of critics, there will be no going back and the meetings industry is going in for more and more standardisation

Areas of standardisation include terminology, RFP’s, Contracts etc. With ROI in Events assuming an increasingly important place for Meeting Planners, it follows that this can be achieved only through more and more standardisation.

Which in turn means of course that you will only hear more and more about APEX and hotels should be better prepared for the standardisation which is expected!

For more information please visit http://www.conventionindustry.org/

The phenomenon of Web 2.0 has seen an increased level of interaction between the consumers and businesses. In the business world, this took the form of blogs (web logs) where business experts and users commented on various topics and these were primarily based on their experiences. Tripadvisor.com used this concept of capturing feedback to build one of the most powerful travel advisory websites in existence today. Web 2.0 also took the form of RSS (Really simple syndication) which made it possible for people to keep up with their favorite web sites in an automated manner. Travel networking sites like WAYN.com (Where are you now) have used the power of Web 2.0 social networking software to get millions of travel enthusiasts to link and network with each other.

Further developments in this area now bring forth the next generation of interactivity provided by technology giants such as Microsoft and Google. An example would be a customer searching for a hotel in a city – finds the reviews, photos and videos of people who have been to that hotel, is able to talk to them about their experiences, and take it to the next level by talking to guests who are the hotel at the time…..this level of interactivity is brought about by joining the power of social networking and the latest technologies.

Has Web 3.0 arrived?