First city outside the U.S. to receive prestigious certification Tourism Toronto has become the first convention and visitors association outside of the United States to reach a new international sustainability standard. The American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM) Certification is awarded to destinations that achieve high standards in environmentally sustainable meetings, trade shows, and conferences. Tourism Toronto has been recognized as achieving Level One certification. “Toronto and our partners in the convention centres and hotel industry place a high…
Green/Sustainable Meetings
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In my expert opinion…
Did that headline encourage your eyebrows to rise ever so slightly…or perhaps cause an eye roll? Are you thinking, “Pfft! How dare she call herself an expert!” An expert is defined as: A person who has a comprehensive and authoritative knowledge of or skill in a particular area. It doesn’t mean that someone is the best, or the most knowledgeable on a specific subject or area; it simply means that they feel (or others feel) that their knowledge base is…
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Green promotions that save water for events (even for little green men)
It appears that green meetings specialist, Judy Kucharuk of Footprint Management Systems, and I are on the same subspace frequency. Her post, Green to the Last Drop: Five Easy Strategies to Reduce Your Water Footprint at Events, discusses some simple ways to reduce water use. I was already working on this post about reducing attendee water use based on my observations while on another planet: The Star Trek Convention. Okay, I confess. I’m a Trekkie! Not the costume wearing, arguing…
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Over 15,000 hotels globally adopt the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative
Over 15,000 hotels around the world have so far adopted the Hotel Carbon Measurement Initiative (HCMI) methodology that allows them, for the first time, to calculate and communicate the carbon footprint of hotel stays and meetings in a consistent and transparent way. This huge achievement is the result of months of hard work by the working group of International Tourism Partnership (ITP), the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and 23 leading global hospitality companies to roll out the methodology…
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Green to the last drop: Five easy strategies to reduce the water footprint of your next event
You might be surprised to learn that my northern British Columbia community suffers from a water shortage almost every single year. Yes folks, it does happen in Canada. In fact, when many of you are enjoying the tender, emerging buds of spring, my friends and neighbours are facing notices outlining how the water restrictions can (and probably will) escalate from “stage one” through “stage four”. Stage four isn’t pretty. Water is always on our minds. We worry about it constantly,…
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Is green the new black… Again?
Has a focus on sustainability diminished as we faced a global recession, lowered budgets, increased expectations with reduced resources being common themes faced through all areas of the industry? Is producing more sustainable events truly more expensive? Is this a cost we need to bear in order to be responsible global citizens as we bring groups together? Or is it possible to actually save money while making sustainable choices? The Green Meetings Industry Council has just finished its annual meeting,…
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Travel intentions survey shows travellers leaning towards “greener” lodging options
Since its launch 15 years ago, the Green Key Eco‐Rating Program has watched the lodging industry gradually embrace and embed a culture of sustainability into its daily operations. This move towards greener practices is resonating with Canadian business and leisure travellers as noted by the Hotel Association of Canada in their annual Travel Intentions Survey released earlier this year. The survey has been tracking the green tendencies of both business and leisure travellers since 2009. This year’s results show an…
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Metro Toronto Convention Centre brings home the prestigious Sustainable Tourism Award
The Metro Toronto Convention Centre is pleased to share their recent announcement as the proud winners of the Ontario Sustainable Tourism Award at the 2012 Ontario Tourism Summit, held in London, Ontario. The summit and ceremony were hosted in partnership by the Tourism Industry Association of Ontario, the Ontario Tourism Marketing Partnership Corporation and the Ontario Culinary Tourism Alliance, and included awards for excellence in advertising, marketing, culinary tourism, and sustainability. This prestigious honour proved to be a culmination of…
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Earth Day promotional product green trends and tips
We’re coming up on another Earth Day celebration. So it’s probably a good idea to do some promotional product trend updates for the green arena, especially those relating to corporate meetings. Recycled materials rule. From my observation of latest promotional item offerings, there seem to be more that are made of recycled materials, either in whole or in part (mostly part). This is particularly the case for plastics and paper, although there are a few recycled leather and cotton goods…
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The name game: What defines a green meeting or event?
“Green, Green, bo-been Banana-fana fo-feen Fee-Fi-mo-meen Green!” One of the biggest challenges facing proponents of the green meeting industry is the idea that a “green” meeting is something completely different from a “traditional” meeting. This misperception is perpetuated by many of us within the industry, where we continue to differentiate them so definitively in every conversation that we have. We cannot resist the urge to label everything, create an acronym, establish a #hashtag and go on a speaking tour. Yes……
