Green "Tourism" is the future. Ttraditional all-inclusive, consumeritst torusm without any responsility toward carbon emissions, food waste, envirionment or pollution will be a thing of the past - today. Those resort hotels who do not adopt and adapt sustainable  practices will be marginalized from the market.

The new "Green Tourist" is a highly educated, environmentally conscious, health and wellness-oriented tourist. This tourist is also a "remote worker" and can thus spend long time traveling and staying at resorts, AirBnB, retreats, serviced apartmets and hotels in tourist destinations. Cities and tourism boards need to create new products and services.

How to attract this big spending tourist? How to change the traditional hotel to a green sustainable hotel?

Well, we have already done it and offer practical consultation on steps to take for turning a hotel green - and advise on EU funding.

How we turned a hotel GREEN through Sustainable initiatives and attracted best type of tourists:

• Energy Efficient Lamps and Lights – replaced all lights with LED and Energy Saving Lamps on the resort. This gives up to 4 times energy saving.
• No Plastic Water Bottles – Reduced plastic bottled water use by over 90 percent giving customers refillable Aluminum bottles free of cost. Unlimited free refills of drinking water.
• H2O Stations – Built filtered water stations with drinking water.
• Water Safety: Invested in drinking water treatment and safety to enhance the quality of drinking water from our own wells.
• Air Conditions fitted in must be energy saving meeting latest EU standards. The AC remotes were regulated.
• Remove the need for Air Conditioning – Enhanced windows for natural ventilation. fitted all rooms with fans. Guest use of AC use dropped by over 60% y-o-y
• No wastage of electricity – Training all staff to be “energy officers” and incentivize them as they save energy and care for the environment.
• ZENING team are given a “Staff are also guests” incentive.Those staff members who demonstrate care for nature are invited to stay with families as guests in hotel.
• Farm to Fork in 5 minutes I – ZENING has been developing its own organic Farm which is now a 20 acre field. We aim to grow all our green vegetable needs organically on our own farm.
• Farm to Fork in 5 minutes II Local Food Producers: We procure all possible available foods locally – from co-operatives, small farmers and fishermen.
• No Imported Red Meat – red meat production is one big culprit of climate change. Our menus from 2017 are based on locally available limited meat varieties. We promote the consumption of legumes, beans, fish, and free-range poultry.
• No electric water heaters – Invested in solar heating efficiency to eliminate the need for electric water heaters.
• No Cars in Resort: We ask guests to park their cars outside and walk the resort. Vehicles are not permitted inside the resort area.
• No Motor Water Sports – We do not promote or sell jet skis or motor water sports.
• Kayaks: Guests are provided kayaks at a reasonably low rent.
• Free Bikes – We provide free bikes to all our guests, importing more than 150 bicycles for our guests.
• Use natural earth materials – Where possible we do not use artificial materials.
• Recycling: The installations at ZENING are a testament to innovative recycling. We do not throw or dump wood, metal, plastic into massive trash dumps and instead make use of all possible items through art and innovation .
• Innovation: In each challenge our first instinct is “green innovation” for any solutions.

Green Policies in Human Resources

Giving a green clean sustainable workplace free of chemicals and toxins to our team is a high priority. 

1. ZENING has an incentive program to encourage staff to participate in and improve environmentally friendly practices. Team members are encouraged to take “ownership” of a part of hotel . Energy saving, water conservation, trash recycling efforts win immediate bonus points including invitation to family members to stay in the rooms “owned” by staff members. This encourages each team member to treat the hotel as a “home” with respect
2. We frequently invite staff to be guests at hotel so they may  understand guest experience and facilitate green living.
3. Staff are provide bike loans or free bikes so they exercise and use green transport to and from work
4. Staff accommodation are rented within 20-30 minutes walking distance so avoid dependency on motor transport.

Green Marketing

1. ZENING has a had a strategy of marketing its green credentials to bring climate and environment aware guests. 
2. There is evidence that green policies attract sophisticated millennial clients that ZENING refers to as “green guests” . 
3. Green guests are willing to spend more on authentic sustainable living. This helps raise rates, service standards and puts the business on a growth trajectory.
4. Green Guests, unlike mass tourists do not mind paying extra for organic food, quality nutrition and local produce.
5. Green Guests consume less and waste less.
6. Green Guests are more respectful toward local culture, local team members than mass-all inclusive -tourists. Green Guests appreciate that individuals from remote villages serve with genuine charm and might not be the most sophisticated professionals. Guests are willing to mentor them and enjoy the genuineness and charm of this authentic experience of being connected to local culture.
7. Green Guests are very open and curious to learn about local culture and heritage. There are dozens of instances of guests being invited to churches, weddings, social ceremonies by team members to mingle with village folks and immerse in traditions. This creates a truly cheerful atmosphere of “inclusion” rather than “inclusive”
8. Green Guests often done out and thus contribute to to local economy by supporting small businesses and family owned taverns which desperately depend on tourists for a short season. This in turn creates a positive, harmonious and collaborative atmosphere between ZENING and local community.
9. Green policies are proven to be economically beneficial and contribute toward increasing rates, revenues and profitability.

 Sustainable Tourism

 Tourism