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30th Anniversary Water Project
The Challenge
2010 marks Journey Latin America's 30th anniversary. As part of our celebrations we have incorporated an important responsible tourism initiative. Throughout the course of the year we will be asking 30 of our key hotels to look at ways to save water.
Here in our London offices we will also be implementing changes to the way we use water and we hope to reduce our consumption by at least 20%.
To get our clients involved in this challenge we will be sending a travel bath plug to those travelling on a group tour - we've all stayed in Latin American hotels unfamiliar with the concept of a bath plug - and not just cheap hostals! The average tap uses 8 litres of water per minute, by using a plug you can help save gallons over the course of a month.
It’s estimated that 1/3 of water used on a daily basis is wasted - this is what we aim to cut out. In hotels, measures taken can be as simple as offering guests a reduced linen service and training staff to turn off taps when cleaning rooms. Other very effective and inexpensive methods include fitting flow restrictors to taps and low flow shower heads.
Hotels taking part
All hotels participating in the project have been given an information pack with ideas of how to reduce water and energy, put together by The Travel Foundation who have carried out a similar project in Morocco. Participating hotels saw on average a 20-25% reduction in water usage. We hope to see similar results....
We have been deliberate in inviting hotels from across the region, in areas where water is scarce such as the Atacama Desert and Buenos Aires, as well as regions where water is abundant and therefore conservation may not be taken seriously. We have also ensured hotels range from first class to tourist class, to prove that every hotel, whatever the size and budget, can implement effective changes. Changes to daily practices need not be costly, in fact many are free, it’s just a question of addressing the issues. Some hotels have swimming pools and gardens, some just have a handful of rooms - if each hotel succeeds to reduce their annual water consumption by 25%, we should have saved enough water to fill Lake Titicaca - well, almost...
These are the hotels participating in the project. We hope to fulfil our objective and have 30 hotels taking part before too long.... And we hope the important message of reducing waste water will filter out across the region, from this project and from the hotels taking part.
- Maroma Resort and Spa - Riviera Maya, Mexico
- Bocas Inn - Bocas del Toro Archipelagao, Panama
- Villa Santa Catarina - Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
- Villa Colonial - Antigua, Guatemala
- Villa Maya - Tikal, Guatemala
- Huaorani Lodge - Amazon, Ecuador
- Finch Bay Hotel - Galápagos Islands
- Libertador Lake Titicaca - Puno, Peru
- Hotel Rosario - La Paz, Bolivia
- Hotel Rosario del Lago - Lake Titicaca, Bolivia
- explora - Chile
- Tierra Atacama - Atacama Desert, Chile
- Hotel Bristol - Buenos Aires, Argentina
- Fitzroy Inn - El Chalten, Argentina
- Pestana Convento do Carmo - Salvador, Brazil
- Journey Latin America - London, UK
What happens now
All hotels are now measuring their current water usage through the use of meters and bills, or simple manual calculations if they have their own water supply. To report on savings we need to know how much is currently used.
As soon as a hotel makes a change to their practice or implements a water saving measure, we will post an update on this site so check back to see how they are getting on.
In March, the end of the 1st quarter, we hope to detail measures taken and water savings for every hotel taking part - so check back to see what has been achieved in just a short space of time, and how.
If you have any questions or comments, or indeed if you are a hotel in Latin America and would like to take part please email our RT Manager sarah.beard@journeylatinamerica.co.uk
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