Hoteliers want British tourists to be more eco-friendly

HOTELIERS are caught in a costly catch-22 situation, trying to adopt expensive eco-friendly management policies while also trying to keep prices to a minimum The secretary general of the Confederation of Spanish Resort Hotels and Apartments, Ramón Estalella, said yesterday that while on the one hand, hoteliers are trying to comply with government regulations over eco-friendly management policies, “clients are more concerned about prices than whether the hotel is eco-friendly or not, and that is where we have a problem, installing costly green policies and products while trying to maintain competitive prices.” Ramón Estalella said that what attracts clients is price but he claimed that while few British visitors to Spain are concerned about the country's environmental issues, “one in six British holidaymakers come to Spain, it's a market we have to nurture while also trying to educate it.” Ramón Estalella also called on the government to help hotels cover the costs of going green in order to keep prices down. “We've got one of the best cared for environments in Europe,” he said “that's one of the reasons 50 million people come here every year,” he added.