The Ascott Limited is furthering its commitment to a sustainable tourism industry through a strategic partnership with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).
Both parties have signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to jointly train and equip industry leaders and professionals in Singapore on sustainability.
As part of the country’s national roadmap for hotel sustainability, at least 60% of all hotel room stock in Singapore are to achieve internationally recognised sustainability certifications by 2025.
The MOU signing took place at the ACE Learning Festival in Singapore on July 20. The Ascott Centre for Excellence (ACE) is Ascott’s global hospitality training centre and has trained almost 20,000 hospitality professionals to date.
“Within Singapore where the Ascott Centre for Excellence is established, we hope to play our part as an industry stakeholder, to propel local hospitality players towards achieving targets that support the Singapore Hotel Sustainability Roadmap,” said CapitaLand Investment Chief Financial and Sustainability Officer, Lodging, Beh Siew Kim.
“As a global hospitality company, Ascott is well-placed to contribute to capability-building in the industry through this collaboration. Our extended partnership with GSTC marks an important milestone for us in our sustainability journey.
“We are committed to help bridge some of the gaps and challenges that the industry is facing around sustainability by empowering future leaders with the right skills and capabilities in an evolving sustainability landscape in line with the GSTC framework.”
Ascott is one of the first hospitality groups to be conferred the GSTC-Recognised Standard status.
The collaboration will see ACE serve as the first partner to run onsite GSTC Training in Singapore, with the launch of GSTC’s Sustainable Tourism Course (STC) and Sustainable Hotel Course (SHC).
The STC will give trainees with a greater understanding of environmental tools and techniques to address sustainability gaps, regulations and guidelines, while the SHC will be customised by ACE for hotel and accommodation professionals.
“Staff training is essential for operating a hotel more sustainably and for eventually seeking external review and a certification mark,” said GSTC Chief Executive Officer, Randy Durband.
“We are impressed that Ascott is committed to continuous improvement in sustainable practices in all their properties and that they recognise the need to extend and facilitate this training for the broader industry. As such we’re pleased that they chose to base the training on the GSTC Criteria as a pathway to holistic sustainability.”
Ascott also announced that two of its properties, lyf one-north Singapore and Somerset Greenways Chennai in India, are now GSTC-Certified. In Singapore, over 95% of accommodation units across Ascott’s managed properties are slated to be GSTC-Certified by 2024.