Sustainability Should Be More Than Just a CSR Statement

André Russ, vice president of sales, EC3 Global

It’s been 21 years since the Rio Earth Summit. The first major global call to address sustainable development.

In 2013, we have a clear understanding of the sustainability challenges facing tourism. We also have the tools, know-how and technology to make a difference. The issue the spa industry faces, however, is its inability to take comprehensive and collective action.

We need to keep the sustainability message simple and achievable and not over complicate what is a straightforward concept. Keeping it simple means taking incremental steps to reduce the amount of energy, water and waste we create and learning to protect and respect the social settings in which we operate. The outcome is about delivering clean, safe, prosperous and healthy destinations to visit, live, work and play.

Sustainability must underpin everything we do as an industry. It should be more than just a marketing initiative or corporate social responsibility (CSR) statement. It should be a core part of a business where we move from treating it as a reporting requirement to a core part of our brand message.

To address sustainability, it’s important to focus on sound measurement and metrics. If you can’t measure it, you can’t track your performance overtime or manage it.

I urge spa operators and owners to commit to a plan of action with bold statements and stretch targets. Simply committing to the current state of play is not good enough. 

The InterContinental Moorea resort in French Polynesia has achieved an EC3 gold certification for sustainability

BABTAC Strongly Opposes Habia Therapist Register

Carolyne Cross, chairman, BABTAC & CIBTAC

The British Association of Beauty Therapy and Cosmetology (BABTAC) read about Habia’s plans to launch a professional register for the spa, nails and beauty industries (see SB13/2 p14) with dissatisfaction and distrust.

The register, which involves therapists paying an annual fee of £35 (US$56, €41), has the potential to undermine the industry and could be viewed as a simple money-making scheme.

Our association has identified a number of concerns including a conflict of interest with existing services offered by Habia which, as the UK’s sector skills body, is responsible for the standard-setting of UK qualifications and training, as well as maintaining its national occupational standards.

Introducing a fee-paying register has the potential to negatively impact on standards – in the worst case scenario there’s a small risk that Habia could reduce standards so more people are eligible for the register and so it earns more money. At this stage, no outlines have been given for the policing of either the standards or the registers, and this is where our concerns lie.

Another worry is that the registers have been established with little or no consultation from the wider industry. This suggests a vested interest in the financial status of the registers and not in the development of a sustainable and progressive industry standard.

Finally, we feel the registers lack credibility – the checks advocated are actually less than those carried out by other major membership organisations including BABTAC – and add nothing to the industry.
We are not against a register in principle and actively encourage a form of regulation, but the body which oversees it should be 100 per cent independent and transparent, neither of which Habia is in this instance.

BABTAC