How to be a responsible tourist with Pabisa Hotels

The tourist is the main ally of the hotel industry with regards to the ambitious aim to achieve sustainability. By working together, the client and the accommodation can achieve minimal impact by their activity on the natural and social environment that welcomes them. Pabisa Hotels provides its guests with a series of suggestions to make it easy to be a responsible tourist. Do you accept the challenge?

WATER

• When in the shower, please remember that water is a scarce resource. Less is more in this instance. The average hotel guest uses some 300 litres of water a day; up to 1800 litres in luxury accommodation!
• Turn off the tap whenever you’re not using water.
• If you detect a drip or leak from a tap or the cistern, please advise reception so that we can fix it as soon as possible.
• Use the bath towels several times before sending them to be washed. If you hang them on the towel rail, we know that you will use them again.
• When you go to swim in the sea, try and use sun cream that doesn’t harm the marine ecosystem.

ENERGY

A European citizen uses, on average, 14 times more energy than a person living in India. That means that there’s a lot of room for improvement. As travellers there are several ways that we can reduce our carbon footprint without affecting our enjoyment of the holiday:

• Choose a moderate temperature for the air-conditioning: 24 degrees in the summer provides sufficient comfort in the room and means that we can avoid any negative effects of the change of temperature between indoors and outdoors.
• Switch lights off when not needed.
• Keep the terrace door closed when the air-conditioning is on.
• Unplug mobile or laptop chargers when they are not in use.
• Use public transport whenever possible.
• If you hire a car, use a hybrid or electric one if available.

WASTE

The best waste is the one that isn’t created in the first place and so we should work together to produce less waste as much in the rooms as in communal areas: dining room, bar, pool… Wherever possible, we avoid using non-recyclable plastic bottles and products with excessive packaging.

When out and about or during visits to natural areas, remember to take a small bag where you can collect all the rubbish to later put in the correct disposal container. Never leave your rubbish behind.

Did you know that one of the least sustainable things that tourists do is to consume veal or beef? This is because every kilo of meat produced requires a high level of natural resources. Try other delicious local alternatives, we’re sure you won’t regret it.

Also, if you choose to buy local products when you’re on holiday, you are also contributing to protecting the environment and local society as there are fewer emissions of the contaminating gases produced by transport.

LOCAL ENVIRONMENT

On the first page of any good travel guide you should read “respect local traditions” almost as a mantra. Tourists are incredibly valuable for the development of a destination, but to ensure that any impact is positive, they should aim to be considerate towards the local community and environment of wherever they are visiting.

As a visitor it’s possible that you will find cultural differences that surprise you: observe, respect and, if you can, enjoy and learn from them. If an image captures your attention and you want to photograph it, try to ask permission beforehand, especially if people appear in the shot.

Abstain from supporting the illegal drug trade or people trafficking. If you want to spend your money in a responsible manner whilst on holiday, it’s a good idea to spend it on local and seasonal food, authentic local restaurants or souvenirs made by local artisans.

SUSTAINABILITY WITHIN THE CSR POLICY

Choosing a hotel chain like Pabisa Hotels for your holiday is also a sustainable choice, as the Corporate Social Responsibility policy at the company has an ambitious environmental policy, respects employee rights, gender equality and contributes to society with actions to support people at risk of social exclusion and to promote a healthy lifestyle.

Pabisa Hotels renews its Travelife Sustainability Certificate this June, backed by the Eco-innovation initiative of the European Union and approved by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council. All the hotels in the chain have held this award since the end of 2017.

The commitment to environmental, social and economic sustainability has allowed the Pabisa Bali, Pabisa Orlando, Pabisa Sofía and Pabisa Chico hotels in Playa de Palma to be included in the online Travelife Collection catalogue with the Travelife Gold insignia.