Annual Report 1998/99 Environmental Reporting
Annual Report 1998/99: Environmental Report
Environmental protection is and remains an essential factor for the development of TUI GROUP as an integrated European touristic group. The central division Environmental management supports all companies of the Group in the setting-up and the carrying-out of their environmental policies in the destination areas and takes pains to see that TUI GROUP, as market leader in Europe, participates actively in public discussions on environmental topics in the touristic area.
Product Ecology
The continuous expansion of ecological quality assurance especially in the core area of hotel services was made yet more professional through the active membership in the IHEI International Hotels Environment Initiative. To this end, TUI holds seats in the International Council and the Executive Council. The internal benchmarking, carried out each year, showed once more that the TUI hotel brands come off clearly better in the ecological evaluation of guests than do the other contractual partners. The Iberotel Sarigerme Park (Turkey) and the hotel chain Grecotel were honoured on this basis as TUI environment champions for 1999. Also in 1999, the internal hotel monitoring of our contractual partners showed, in addition, worldwide a significant positive correlation of quality management and environmental quality.
Development of Destinations
Measures for a sustainable development in tourism in the destinations were initiated in the reporting period primarily in the Balearic Islands, Canary Island, Cyprus, Egypt and on the French Mediterranean coast. As a rule, they usually relate to the sea water and beach quality, noise prevention, the drinking-water supply, hygiene checks and waste management. Questions like the introduction of an environmental tax for tourists in certain holiday areas (Balearic Islands, Canary Islands, Seychelles) were also discussed. In a number of destinations, climatic consequences, such as continual drought and a further sinking of the ground-water level, are becoming increasingly noticeable. Corresponding customer information was published in the internet and in catalogues.
Dialogue with the Public
Due to its international activities, TUI was invited to present its environmental management system on the occasion of the seventh meeting of the Commission of Sustainable Development (CSD 7) of the UNO in New York in April 1999. In cooperation with the professional journal “Political Ecology”, a booklet “TUI in Dialogue: Tourism and Environment” was published for the second time for a “Tourism Special” (4/99). In the meantime, TUI´s environmental forum has established itself for the industry as a regular feature on the occasion of the world´s largest tourism fair, ITB. The 1999 topic was the network connection with the United Nations Environmental Programme UNEP and also the General Directorate XXIII of the European Commission. The measures needed for sustainable development were explained in lectures at institutions of all types and at national and international conferences. The continuous cooperation with environmental associations (for example NABU, Euronatur, WWF, STPS etc.) and their support at home and abroad assures a high degree of transparency. TUI GROUP also meets the social expectations of the market leader shown in public dialog, inter alia, with its own environmental website (www.tui-umwelt.com) in nine languages.