IHG Hotels & Resorts Promotes Low-Carbon and Sustainable Travel Philosophy in China
Leveraging Earth Day and their ongoing partnership with an immersive green art exhibition
Shanghai, China, 2023-Apr-28 — /Travel PR News/ — IHG Hotels & Resorts has adopted a green, low-carbon, and environmentally friendly travel philosophy in line with China’s “dual carbon” development strategy. The company reinforced its long-term sustainability commitments for its operations while shaping the future of responsible travel for guests. Following the ‘Responsible Travel Project’ launch by IHG One Rewards and Ant Forest last year, IHG and Ant Forest deepened their cooperation through sustainable membership activities to promote a low-carbon and environmentally friendly travel philosophy for guests through exciting activities and green travel experiences.
Florence Hu, Chief Marketing Officer, IHG Greater China, said: “IHG Hotels & Resorts continuously pursues sustainable development through an ‘In China, for China’ business by actively responding to the country’s environmental goals, including the dual carbon’ goals and low-carbon urban development strategy laid out in the ’14th Five-Year Plan’. Meanwhile, IHG’s ‘Journey to Tomorrow’ commitment aims to make a positive difference for our people, communities and planet over the next decade. We are very pleased to deepen our cooperation with Ant Forest and call on our members to practice green travel while providing more possibilities for the sustainable development of cultural tourism.”
Green Journey | Promoting the ‘Responsible Travel’ Project
In 2022, IHG One Rewards and Ant Forest launched the “‘Responsible Travel’ project, which guests and IHG hotels across mainland China enthusiastically received. As the first hotel management group to cooperate with Ant Forest, IHG Hotels & Resorts continues its “responsible travel” commitments by making the concept of low-carbon accommodation a reality. The project aims to raise environmental protection awareness and encourage guests to forgo 4 single-use toiletries (toothbrush, toothpaste, comb, soap) to earn 92g of green energy points. Over 200 hotels in Greater China have joined the program to promote sustainable development in more regions and among other consumer groups.
Zhang Xiao, Marketing Director, CSR & Sustainability Marketing Department of Ant Group, said: “As the world faces the tremendous shared challenge of tackling climate change, every company has a responsibility to reduce its own carbon emissions while encouraging others to pursue more environmentally-friendly lifestyles, driving a low-carbon transition across all sectors of society. We are delighted that IHG One Rewards and Ant Group are working together to continue developing the ‘Responsible Travel’ project, advocating for consumers to embrace green and low-carbon lifestyles. To strengthen our connection between people and planet, Ant Forest is also hosting ‘Forest to Go’, an art exhibition that enables the public to explore environmental protection and biodiversity through a giant suitcase concept. This marks our first foray into curating an art exhibition in a hotel, and we plan to bring the exhibition on tour through more IHG hotels in Greater China.”
Green Rise | “Packing” sustainable concepts in suitcases
To celebrate the 54th Earth Day, IHG One Rewards and Ant Forest held a sustainable membership day event at the InterContinental Shanghai Harbour City. Members and partners unlocked the new method of green travel with a series of low-carbon and environmentally friendly interactive experiences. The event included a suitcase-inspired immersive art exhibition entitled “Forest to Go,” presenting guests with various forms of nature that sparked further interest in the environment, conservation, and pursuing a better, more sustainable life. The exhibition opened at InterContinental Shanghai Harbour City for one month, with plans to take the exhibition on a tour of IHG hotels across Greater China.
Green Choice | Enjoying the new trend of sustainable vacations
IHG Hotels & Resorts supports China’s carbon peaking in 2030 and carbon neutrality in 2060 by aiding hotels to track, analyse, and achieve zero-carbon goals. InterContinental Shanghai Harbour City also adheres to sustainability by using old structures, optimising layout, increasing natural light, and improving heating and cooling efficiency, reducing energy consumption and emissions. The hotel integrates an Eden-like aesthetic throughout its design and preserves the character of the surrounding mountain and river landscape through integrated architectural design.
Ivan Chen, Vice President of Hotel Lifecycle & Growth, IHG Greater China, said:” IHG One Rewards and Ant Forest’s partnership demonstrates IHG’s Greater China’s active pursuit of environmentally sustainable initiatives. We have also incorporated sustainability into more aspects of our operations – from future hotel designs and green renovations to monitoring and reducing emissions – ultimately aiming to achieve carbon neutral hotels. We are solely focused on developing new hotels with low or zero carbon emissions and incorporating regional energy saving and carbon reduction practices into brand standards.”
IHG One Rewards will continue focusing on the personalised travel needs of guests and creating colourful experiences with diverse brand cooperation and activities that lead the trend of sustainable travel.
About IHG
IHG Hotels & Resorts [LON:IHG, NYSE:IHG (ADRs)] is a global hospitality company, with a purpose to provide True Hospitality for Good.
With a family of 18 hotel brands and IHG One Rewards, one of the world’s largest hotel loyalty programmes, IHG has over 6,000 open hotels in over 100 countries, and more than 1,800 in the development pipeline.
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Media Contact:
Eric Jiang
Eric.Jiang2@ihg.com
Source: IHG
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