Green Food Program Initiative for Sustainable Development in the Hospitality and Tourism Industry

This report discusses the implementation of a green food program initiative in the hospitality and tourism industry, focusing on the case of Fairmont hotels and resorts in Singapore. It explores the background of the industry, the concept of locally produced food initiatives, the advantages and challenges of the initiative, and provides recommendations for future sustainable development. The report highlights the importance of the green food program initiative in the environmental, economical, and social contexts.

Running head: ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
Environmental Management for Sustainable Development
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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Introduction
The Fairmont hotels and resorts refer to a highly popular chain of luxury hotel
headquartered at Toronto. The hotel chain is owned by AccorHotel since the year 2016. Fairmont
operates in more than 24 countries and Singapore is one of the most mention worthy locations.
Considering the fact that the residents of majority of the residents in the developed countries like
Singapore are more inclined towards healthy lifestyle, the mentioned hotel chain has launched a
brand wide commitment in order to offer menus which are focused on sustainable, locally
sourced and organically grown products. In order to understand the impact of this green culinary
revolution, Fairmount is continuously assessing the impact of the initiative taken on the
consumers of Singapore. The management continuously works on identifying the sectors where
difference can be made through responsible food purchasing practices as well as menus across
the chain in order to reflect their focus on clean and fresh cuisine. The chief reason behind this
Green Cuisine Programme includes enhancing the sustainability as well as eradicating the health
issues of the consumers. In this report, the background concept of the hospitality and tourism
industry and the concept of locally produced food initiatives will be identified and analyzed.
Along with this, critical evolution of green food programmes as a form of sustainability
development will also be conducted in this paper. The advantages as well as challenges of the
mentioned initiative will be discussed in this report.
Discussion:
Background:
Hospitality and tourism industry is a broad category of a field within the service industry
that involves lodging, event planning, transportations, and cruise line (Fong, Luke and Law

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2014). Due to an immense amount of business involved in the hospitality and tourism, it is one
of the large revenue makers for many countries (Kim et al. 2015). In this context, one of the
biggest revenue makers is hotels of Singapore. The Fairmont hotel and resort situated in the
prestigious part of Singapore. In Singapore, the hospitality industry covers a diverse business
chain which includes travelling, hotels, food and beverages, and entertainment. However, due to
the presence of several zoos, museum and Buddhist temple, the hospitality and tourism industry
of Singapore solely focused on the hotels and tourist attraction. Unique hospitality business such
as medical tourism is one of the biggest revenue makers for Singapore since people overseas
come to Singapore for cheap and effective services. According to Fang and Law (2016), the
country had over 400 hotels and the largest supporter of this hospitality and tourism industry is
international visitors in search of medical procedures, business meeting or gambling.
The concept of locally produced food initiatives:
According to the United Nations world tourism organization, 5% percent id the world’s carbon
oxide is produced by international tourism business (Kim, Hlee and Joun 2016). Therefore, for
the environmentally conscious customers recommended a hotel which offers locally produced
food in order to resolve the environmental issue. The concept of the locally produces food
initiatives defined as a supply of the locally produced food in hotels or other hospitality industry
in order to promote the business and retain customers (Ho and Law 2017). Therefore, the locally
produced food initiates were taken by Singapore for incorporating it into the hospital and tourism
industry in order to retain the customers from the different end of the world. There are
advantages of the locally produced food initiatives in the context of increasing economic
performance and promoting healthy life. Buying local foods increase community health since
eating foods free from pesticides reduced the rate of mortality and obesity. Moreover, the

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initiates also promote agriculture of the specific county as well as promote local wealth. The
initiatives reduce the use of fossil fuels, food contamination which otherwise found in the food
which is imported from different countries. Tham (2015) also suggested that local food product
also support the gut health and boost immune response. Therefore, the initiatives implemented
in the business industry retain customers who are environmentally conscious. Hence, Fairmont’s
hostel and resort initiate a greenery cuisine as a part of the local food product. The hotel focuses
on the fresh and clean cuisine and reviews its food sources and menus across the chain in the
corporate level in order to encourage the guests to think about the green while travelling. It is a
useful strategy to retain the consumers who are health conscious and also promote public health
through as well as improve the economic performance of the country.
Importance of the green food program initiative
environmental context:
Considering the fact that consumers are becoming more and more sensitive to the environmental
issue, the demand for green services as well as products are continuously growing. The green
food program initiative will not only enhance the good will and the consumer loyalty for the
company but it will also enhance the revenue of the mentioned hotel chain in the long run. The
need for eco-friendly hotels had begun as a smaller niche in the travel industry. However, the
demand for eco friendly lodging and fooding is increasing highly in the travelers. Several
negative impact of the hotel industry can be pointed out. Noor, Don and Cassidy (2016) stated
that that the average energy consumption per bed per night in Singaporean hotel is approximately
130 Mega Joule. Hotels, due to their intense facilities like bar, pools and restaurants are found to
be spending more electricity compared to the local residents. According to a recent survey, in

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Singapore Hotel emits an average of 20.6 kg of Carbon dioxides per night. Since the green
initiative taken by the Fairmont hotels and resorts company involves usage of solar light, this
wastage of excessive energy can be reduced drastically. With the help of the green food initiative
generation of the above mentioned wastes can be prevented
Economical context:
In the current context, since excessive energy is excessively costly, implementation of green
energy has helped the company to reduce their investment cost to a great extent.Another issue
associated with the unsustainable hotel is the huge amount of waste they generate at a daily
basis. It has been found that an Average hotel produces in excess of one kilogram of waste per
guest per day. According to survey, more than 25-30 percent of the total wastes generated are the
contribution of the hotels in Singapore. Majority of the wastes are generated from the kitchen
that includes food wastes, aluminum cans, packaging, glass bottles, corks and cooking oils.
Commendable amount of wastes are also generated through housekeeping services that includes
cleaning materials and plastic packaging.
Social context:
Considering the fact that the mentioned organization is only using local organic food
items, health related issues faced by consumer after consuming unhygienic and inorganic food
items can be prevented (Liu et al. 2017). The green food initiative taken by the mentioned
organization will be beneficial for the consumers as well as for the organization in the long run.
Advantages of the green food program initiatives
Some of the major advantages of the green food initiatives are as follows:

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The green food program possesses the potential of enhancing the local economy.
Considering the fact that the Fairmont has partnership with the local organic suppliers, the
business is enhancing the revenue of the later. The ,local supply chain is also beneficial for the
organization since this process enable the company to reduce the cost of exporting food items
from foreign market and thus the money that would have been invested for shipping can be saved
(Grandhi, and Appaiah Singh 2016).
Green and organic food is also beneficial for the consumers since it prevents food
poisoning and other digestive issues. Thus the quality of the food items gets increased which in
turn enhances the loyalty of the consumers towards the organization.
Considering the fact that majority of the residents as well as tourists arriving at Singapore
ar inclined towards leading a healthy lifestyle, implementation of the green food item possess the
potential to enhance the revenue of the organization by attracting more and more consumers.
Besides that this factor will also enhance the competitive advantage of the company in the long
run.
The green food initiative enhances the financial condition of the local community by
using the local supply chain.
Challenges of the green food program initiative
The major challenges that are faced by the organization are as follows;
Limited resource: Considering the fact that the company is using the local supply chain
for raw material delivery, the company may suffer from lack of raw material in case the demand
for organic food gets increased (Abu-Hussin et al. 2017).

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Lack of acceptability: Since the implementation of the green food program initiative is new for
the local consumers, they may not accept the lack of acceptability.
Huge and recurring License fees: An estimated INR 0.5-0.6 crore (USD 0.10-0.12 million) is
required to fulfill all licensing requirements, which is a huge impediment for growth when
considering a restaurant’s finances.
Recommendations for future sustainable development/management
Recommendations:
In the current context, since the majority of the customers are choosing to engage
themselves in the eco-conscious lifestyle at home, it is not surprising fact that they seek green
services in the hotels and travel destinations (Fraj, Matute and Melero, 2015). Even customers
how are roaming around the globe for business purpose prefer green services. Therefore, in order
to retain the consumer who prefers greenery as well as for the sustainability of business in the
hospitality and tourism industry certain services can be implemented in the policy. The
recommendations are the following:
• In the environmental context, conserving energy and reducing unnecessary use of the energy
in the hotel chain enhance the customer experience (Fong, Luke and Law 2014). How a hotel
uses the energy influences the customer experience for being loyal to the services. Therefore,
switching to the LED lights in the hotel for reducing unnecessary waste of the electrics can be
implemented in the Fairmont hotel and resort for retaining more customers (Fang and Law
2016). Moreover, it should be recommended to use the solar panel for reducing unnecessary use
of electric consumption for retaining the customer and sustainability in the hospitality and

7ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT
tourism market (Kim et al. 2015). The solar water heating system can be installed for retaining
more customers.
• For the hotel which has numerous guests throughout the year, conserving water is an effective
strategy to retain customers since excessive use of water leads to the groundwater
contaminations that further reduce the reputation of the hotel (Fang and Law 2016). Rainwater
can be conserved for the guests for sustainability.
• In the economical and environmental context, Tham (2015), stated that many hotels and
resort are now composting their food waste for diverting the food from the land field. Therefore,
instead of throwing the food in the hamsters, composting the organic matter reduces the carting
expenses (Fraj, Matute and Melero, 2015). Therefore, it should be recommended to implement in
the hotel serves for sustainability.
• It should be recommended to use eco-friendly cleaning supplies such as bio-based cleaning
product for the services for retaining the customers(Fraj, Matute and Melero, 2015).
Conclusion:
Thus it can be concluded that The Fairmont hotels and resorts operate in more than 24
countries and Singapore is one of the most mention-worthy locations. Being an established hotel
chain in Singapore, it is continuously assessing the impact of the initiative taken on the
consumers of Singapore. In order retain customers green food programme initiatives were taken
by the hotel for promoting the public health and improve the economic performance. Therefore,
in terms of hospitality and tourism, the hotel is making huge revenue in the business market.
however, in order to retain more customers, few services can be implemented in the hotel policy
that involves Conserving energy and reducing unnecessary use of the energy, limiting water use

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and implementing the use of rainwater for reducing the possibility for the ground
contaminations, eco-friendly cleaning supplies and composting food waste.

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