104 hotel establishments applied for the second edition of the award programme

Judging panel included experts from Dubai Municipality, DEWA, WWF and EEG

The Dubai Department of Tourism and Commerce Marketing (DTCM) presented Dubai Green Tourism Awards designed to encourage the hospitality sector adopt environment-friendly practices. The winners were chosen from 104 hotels and hotel apartments which applied for the second edition of award scheme last year.

Mr. Khalid A bin Sulayem, DTCM Director General, presented the awards to the winning hotels and hotel apartments at a ceremony held on Tuesday on the sidelines of the Arabian Travel Market (ATM-2012). It was attended among others by DTCM Executive Director for Business Development and Media Relations and Chairman of Dubai Green Tourism Award programme, Mr. Hamad bin Mejren, DTCM Executive Director of Business Tourism, Mr. Ibrahim Yaqoot, DTCM Executive Director for Corporate Support, Mr.Majid Al Marri, DTCM Director of Classification, and Ms. Shaikha Al Mutawa, DTCM Director of Business Development and Chairperson of Dubai Green Tourism Award Organising Committee. More than 300 hotel industry decision-makers and professionals attended the ceremony.

The winners are:

5-star Hotel

• Jebel Ali Golf Resort Spa (first prize)
• InterContinental Festival City (second prize)
• Hyatt Regency Dubai (third prize)

4-Star Hotel

• Novotel Deira City Centre (first prize)
• Al Manzil and Qamardeen (second prize)
• Media One Dubai Hotel (third prize)

3-Star Hotel

• Ibis Al Barsha (First prize)
• Arabian Park Hotel (second prize)
• Regal Plaza Hotel (third prize)

2-Star Hotel

• Holiday Inn Express Airport (first prize)
• Holiday Inn Jumeirah (second prize)
• Hotel Ibis Al Rigga (third prize)

Deluxe Hotel Apartment

• Savoy Suites (first prize)
• Grand Hyatt Hotel Apartment (second prize)
• Savoy Crest (third prize)

Standard Hotel Apartment

• Savoy Park (first prize)
• Al Jawhara Hotel Apartment (second prize)
• Hyatt Galleria Hotel Apartment (third prize)

The judging panel selected 19 winners after evaluating about 1000 initiatives within the 104 applications received from hotels from two to five stars as well as hotel apartments.

The judges panel was comprised of Mr. Majid Al Marri, Director of Hotel classification, Mr. Satish Bhaskaran, DTCM Executive Director, Administration Division, Dr. Waleed Hamza, Professor at the Biology Department, Faculty of Science, UAE-University, Dr. Radhiya Al Hashimi, Advisor-Environment & Infrastructure-Policy & Strategy, UAE Prime Minister’s Office, Mr. Hamdan Al Shaer, Director Of Environment at Dubai Municipality, Amal Koshak, Senior Manager, Demand & Tariff Management at DEWA, Ms. Ida Tillisch, Acting Director General WWF and Ms. Habiba Al Marashi, Chairperson of EEG.
Launched in 2009, Dubai Green Tourism Award is aimed to reduce hotel carbon emissions by 20 per cent. For the year 2011 programme, the award submissions were extended to include two-star hotels and standard hotel apartments. Hotels and hotel apartments are assessed for a wide range of environmental, economic and social issues, including energy saving, nature conservation and community involvement.
For the 2011 awards programme, assessors from Dubai Municipality and Dubai Electricity and Water Authority (DEWA) were brought on board for the site visits to the shortlisted properties in the emirate to personally examine various features of these properties’ in terms of reducing the CO2 emissions through various initiatives.

As against the target of 70 hotel establishments in the top-end of the star rating system, the programme in the launch year attracted 79 establishments. The programme helped reduce the consumption of electricity by 10 per cent in these establishments as against the targeted 7 percent. As for water consumption, the programme’s target was 12 per cent but the hotels managed to reach 17 per cent, which is fairly good results.