‘When tourism returns, it needs to be environmentally friendly’

On Tuesday UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on world governments to “rebuild the tourism sector”, which creates 100 million jobs globally, in an ecologically minded way.

By HAGAY HACOHEN
ReSalt, created by Hadas Cohen, uses salt waste in an innovative way to create ecological benches that can be used to promote eco-tourism around the Dead Sea. Cohen is a graduate student of the Holon Institute of Technology. (photo credit: Courtesy)
ReSalt, created by Hadas Cohen, uses salt waste in an innovative way to create ecological benches that can be used to promote eco-tourism around the Dead Sea. Cohen is a graduate student of the Holon Institute of Technology.
(photo credit: Courtesy)
While tourism to the Holy Land has suffered a terrible blow due to the novel coronavirus, hotels that are seeing local tourism are searching for ways to maintain new health standards in an environmentally friendly way, while also trying to save their bottom line. This often goes against the wish to work in an environmentally friendly way.
Between March and mid-June, incoming tourism came to a sharp halt, while flights stopped and health concerns led many people to stay home. Some businesses were able to transform themselves into coronavirus hotels and kept open during that time. Others benefited from a summer without outgoing flights, as 2.1 million Israelis had to cancel their summer plans and booked a local hotel instead.
“Israel passed some very progressive environmental legislation that applies to hotels before COVID-19 struck,” head of hospitality and leisure practice at Meitar law firm Carmit Bar-On said. “It includes changing the chlorine used in swimming pools to salt-based purification systems and disposing used cooking oil in a way that doesn’t damage underground water reserves.”
Bar-On explained that when COVID-19 struck, hotels had to take on more expenses. This included using more cleaning materials to sanitize rooms between guests and purchasing large amounts of plasticware for meals.
“We also witnessed the trend of international hotel chains actually promoting a tougher policy than the one needed to get a Purple Certificate [issued by the Health Ministry] to encourage guests to feel safe,” she said.
Israeli media reported that hotels in the North and South have upped their prices this summer despite the national recession. To help the hotel industry survive, the government announced a rescue package of up to NIS 300 million in early August.
Israel isn’t alone. On Tuesday UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres called on world governments to “rebuild the tourism sector,” which creates 100 million jobs globally, in an ecologically minded way.
Gidi Frishtik, a partner at Meitar and an expert on environmental policy, said that even now, sewage produced by the hotel industry is monitored to detect the presence of 30 harmful substances, among them detergents.
“To make sewage usable, you need good bacteria and oxygen to break it down,” he said. “Detergents destroy the good bacteria. This is why hotels must pay a hefty fee if they violate these regulations.” Such purified wastewater is used in the Arava to water palm trees that yield dates.
Frishtik said that the UN declaration is good, but that he expects that a few years will have to pass to get the tourist industry back on its feet before it can afford novel solutions.
For Bar-On, the future of sustainable, ecological Israeli tourism is mainly tied to two sectors: millennials and high-end tourism seeking a unique tourism experience. Millennials, she said, love “glamping,” which is a glamorous style of camping.
“They are much more eco-aware than my generation ever was,” she said, “and are willing to pay more for sustainability.”
The other trend is expected to take place in the Negev region, where established hotels such as Beresheet and the recently opened Six Senses Shaharut offer unique desert tourism vacations with the environment in mind.
Industrial designer Hadas Cohen took such challenges head-on when she created ReSalt for her graduation project at the Holon Institute of Technology. Using Dead Sea factories’ salt waste, she was able to create innovative “green” benches. Overlooking the Dead Sea, the benches can serve local and incoming tourists. When the benches decompose with time, their salt can be returned to the sea, improving the harmony between humanity and its natural surroundings.
Cohen presented the project to the Dead Sea Preservation Government Company, which said it’s “a good and promising concept.”