“Sustainability is part of our ethos at Aitken Spence Hotels in line with the Group’s strategy,” she says. “Since our foray into the hospitality industry, we have been committed to sustaining growth metrics centred around sustainability – be it sustainability of the planet, people or profit. Our hotels and resorts across four destinations and their operational models stand testament to this, as do the many accolades we received over the years from local and global awarding platforms”.
In this interview, Stasshani discusses why sustainability matters.
Since 2019, the tourism industry has experienced some difficult times. First came the Easter bombings and then the pandemic. In that context, what drives you to focus on sustainability?
The black swan events that affected the nation only propelled us to be firm in our sustainable path. We believe our ability to stand firm amidst turmoil was precisely due to our sustainable practices ingrained in the system. Our drive towards sustainability is based on our realization early on that this is an essential element in our business towards uplifting the environment where we work and the people that we work with – be it through our supplier network, our staff members or by curating lifestyle experiences for our guests.
It is also important to note that the importance placed on sustainability, and consciousness is only increasing in the world – sustainable spending choices have only grown more important to consumers during difficult times. A growing number of consumers say that sustainability is more top of mind now than it was before COVID-19. Concern over environmental degradation and climate change, already at an all-time high in 2019, actually rose in the last two years. We all have a role to play in helping fight climate change as it has a direct impact on businesses. Doing so will enable companies to build a more effective and comprehensive business case.
Sustainability reporting focuses on performance in key economic, environmental, social and governance areas. How does Aitken Spence Hotels incorporate these sustainability principles into its business processes?
Aitken Spence Hotels is a pioneer in the corporate sustainability movement in Sri Lanka. For us, sustainability is the fundamental practice of ensuring our operations can be sustained in the long term. As a member of a conglomerate, our strategy entails operational priorities of all our subsidiaries under one policy framework to guide them on required action.
Accordingly, we have stipulated action points as ‘must do’ (essential action), ‘should do’ (where specific subsidiaries are expected to take action beyond the basics, based on the nature and scale of the impacts), and ‘could do’ (exemplary action to create differentiation for our businesses through sustainability).
As a result of this strategy, we have several environmental management systems and a pool of more than 30 employees trained as internal auditors, Environmental Management Representatives, first -aid officers and fire wardens. Our company maintains over 20 diverse management systems certified under international benchmarks for environmental, quality, product responsibility and social sustainability.
Can you take us through some of your sustainability initiatives, intended outcomes and progress thus far?
At Aitken Spence Hotels, our efforts are ongoing. For example, we focus on reducing, recycling and reusing solid waste through our 7R initiative with the end goal of zero waste in landfills. We have successfully eliminated several single-use plastic waste streams over the last few years, and our objective is to keep improving.
Other examples include reducing the use of harmful chemicals, focusing on stringent standards on quality, environmental and health impacts and quantities used.
Conserving energy and water; Energy efficiency and use of renewable and alternate energies, such as Solar PV, replacing diesel with Grilicidia/ cinnamon wood in biomass gasifiers and innovative technologies.
Improving our local employment (over 40% of associates are from immediate neighbourhoods and villages in which we operate) and increasing opportunities offered to our female associates to enter management through training and skills development.
How difficult is it to be sustainable when you have other pressing demands on the business?
Shifting business practices to be more environmentally – friendly and sustainable can be expensive, at least in up-front costs, which makes businesses averse to making changes. It is relatively easy to calculate the savings from moving to renewable energy, but not all sustainability solutions are as straightforward. Changing an entire business supply chain to use more sustainable raw materials, is likely to require a costly initial investment even if it would pay off years later.
Holistically, however, we believe it is our sustainable business model that helped us manage our business during uncertain and unprecedented times in recent years. Therefore, it is key to understand and appreciate that while investment is required to maintain a company’s sustainability stance, the pay-off is in the long run and the stability it creates as a result of best practices in place.
Sustainability reporting is gradually evolving. Professional bodies are driving businesses to think and act on sustainability reporting. How important is this to a company like Aitken Spence Hotels? How important is it to be recognized by a professional body like ACCA?
One immediate benefit of being recognized by a professional body like ACCA is it builds credibility in our organization, in our various stakeholders including investors and customers. It builds goodwill through transparency. It also helps us as an organization to improve through constructive feedback and raises the industry benchmark. Such accreditations and emphasis placed on sustainable reporting will further encourage other companies and bodies to follow these methods, which will improve overall efficiencies and transparency in business.