MMH733 Trimester 2: Sustainable Development Goals Analysis

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the implementation and feasibility of United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) within the travel and leisure industry. It begins with an abstract that highlights the major concerns identified, including food and water wastage, climate change, and overutilization of energy. These concerns are then aligned with specific SDGs: Clean Water and Sanitation, Climate Action, Zero Hunger, and Affordable Clean Energy. The report outlines strategies for achieving these goals, such as implementing auditing teams, providing training, raising awareness, and replacing existing appliances with energy-efficient alternatives. The analysis delves into the sector's growth and its environmental impact, emphasizing the need for sustainable practices. It identifies key issues like water wastage, food wastage, and carbon footprints, linking them to the relevant SDGs. The report suggests actionable strategies, including water audits, setting water usage targets, and promoting responsible water practices among travelers. It also addresses food waste by suggesting partnerships with organizations that transport food to those in need. Furthermore, the report emphasizes the importance of training employees and stakeholders on climate change and implementing energy-efficient practices. Finally, the conclusion reinforces the necessity of adopting structured SDGs within the travel and leisure industry, highlighting the potential for sustainable management through the implementation of the suggested strategies.

Running head: SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE
INDUSTRY
SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
Abstract
The purpose of the paper is to understand the implementation plan and feasibility of United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals in travel and leisure industry. The paper presented
an understanding regarding the major concerns identified in the travel and leisure industry.
The paper aligned the identified concerns with the Sustainable Development Goals. The
concerns identified for the selected sector are food and water wastage, climatic changes and
over utilization of electricity and energy. The goals synced with the identified concerns are,
clear water and sanitation, climatic action, zero hunger and affordable clean energy. The
strategies associated with the implementation of Sustainable Development Goals includes,
appointing auditing team, training, creating awareness and replacing existing appliances and
energy sources with energy efficient and cost effective alternatives.
Keywords: Sustainable Development Goals, Climatic changes, travel and leisure industry

2SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
Table of Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Analysis of Sector:.....................................................................................................................3
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8

3SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
Introduction
The blueprint that aims at accomplishing the strategies directed towards sustainable
practices for a better future is known as Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The world
has become a prey of the concerns like inequality; poverty, injustice, environmental
degradation and climatic changes, for the purpose of responding to the increasing concerns
United Nations have introduced Sustainable Development Goals for uniting the activities and
practices of sustainability. The strategy of implementing a set of 17 Sustainable Development
Goals was established in the year 2015 with an agenda of 2030 in regards with experiencing
outcomes of the sustainable practices. The rising global climatic changes and increasing
temperature was addressed by the agreement of Paris in the year 2016 (Robinson et al. 2016).
The purpose of the paper is to understand the applicability and implementation of the United
Nations Sustainable Development Goals in the Travel and Leisure industry. This study will
aim at the development of the understanding regarding the most effective Sustainable
Development Goals that can be efficient and productive for the travel and leisure sector. The
objective of the study is to construct strategies regarding the proposed Sustainable
Development Goals. The main objectives of the study are:
 To understand the issues that the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
addresses
 To identify three Sustainable Development Goals most effective for travel and leisure
industry.
 To construct strategies for contributing towards the deduced optimum goals
Analysis of Sector:
Travel and leisure industry is growing at a faster rate across the globe due to its
contribution to the global economy and employment opportunities. The sector is flourishing

4SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
with the increasing rate of tourism inflow in the designated tourism regions. However, with
the presence of positive contributions, the sector/industry is also playing a major role in
causing carbon footprints in the environment, in creating non-biodegradable wastes,
responsible for water waste and consuming energy more than requirement. The concerns of
the travel and leisure industry can be addressed by the implementation of the United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The main issues that needs to be considered for
applying Sustainable Development Goals in travel and leisure sector are:
 Water wastage
 Food wastage
 Climatic changes and Over utilization of energy and electricity (Camilleri 2018)
These concerns can be addressed through the implementation of strategic United Nations
Sustainable Development Goals in the travel and leisure industry. The goals that will be
effective for addressing the major problems deduced from the travel and leisure sector are:
Clean water and sanitation- Avoid wasting water: This goal under United Nations
SDGs can efficiently address the concern of water wastage from the sector. This
SDGs will be targeted towards the aim of saving water from the operational activities
for addressing the concern of water shortage. The goal of saving water can result in
the application of clean and easily accessible water for creating water sufficiency
(Assembly 2015). The concern of water wastage is linked to the food security,
through the implication of water scarcity, inadequate sanitation and poor quality of
water. Incorporation of the goal of avoiding water wastage in the travel and leisure
industry can lead to the outcome of responsible business and increase brand value for
attracting customers for the business in this sector. The world is facing a major risk
regarding availability of fresh water resources (Poff et al. 2016). The projection for

5SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
the year 2050 depicted that every one in around 4 people will be at risk regarding
serious water shortages for a specific country. Wastage of water can lead to the state
of drought, harming the farming and operational activities of the affected countries.
Zero hunger- Avoid throwing away food: This Sustainable Development Goal will
aim at responding to the concern of hunger. The concern is increasing with the
application of climatic changes in the environment. The freshwater, soil, forests,
biodiversity and ocean are being sacrificed by the changing climatic conditions.
Travel and Leisure sector is majorly responsible for causing carbon footprint in
environment (Hák, Janoušková and Moldan 2016). The organizations operating in the
travel and leisure sector tend to waste food on a regular basis, which can cause the
concern of hunger and waste of resources. The wastage of food from this sector leads
to the introduction of alternative options, which causes significant sacrifice on the
food security in world, thereby leading to malnutrition. It is being projected that
around 2 billion people will be subjected to undernourishment by the year 2050.
Climatic Action- educating people on climatic changes for incorporating sustainable
development activities in the day-to-day life: Climatic changes have been one of the
main concerns in numerous country of the world. The reason of concern with the
changing climatic conditions is the destruction of local and national economic state,
affects countries, communities and resources. The weather patterns and sea levels are
changing with the altering temperature of climate (Kraxner et al. 2017). The
environment is also experiencing an extreme situation of greenhouse emissions. The
industry selected for this study, travel and leisure is considered as a major contributor
for enhancing the level of atmospheric pressure and changes. The response for
handling the concern of climatic changes leads to the direction of renewable and
biodegradable resource usage. The travel and leisure, which causes changing climatic

6SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
condition are the medium of travelling (air, road and waterways), it releases carbon
dioxide. The accommodation sector is responsible for contributing negatively to the
environment by causing an emission of greenhouse gases and carbon dioxide
(Welford 2016). The optimum energy utilization can be ensured by the strategy of
affordable and clean energy by using energy efficient light bulbs and appliances,
which will address issue of overutilization of energy and resources for the operational
purposes of travel and leisure industry. In today’s world, energy is considered to be
one of the major opportunities and tasks (un.org 2019). Travel and leisure industry is
majorly responsible for contributing the ineffective utilization of energy and resources
in the areas like transportation, hospitality. Optimum utilization of energy and
resources can lead to the positive outcome regarding Sustainable Development Goals
(Bringezu and Bleischwitz 2017). The increased utilization of renewable energy and
energy efficiency may lead to the goal of sustainability and inclusivity of
communities and environmental management in the travel and leisure sector. Around
3 billion population of the world do not have the provision of clean-cooking resources
with the exposure to heavy air pollution.
Strategies for planning the implementation function of the three Sustainable Development
Goals are:
1. Clean water and sanitation- Avoid wasting water: There are various strategies that can
lead to the goal of saving overutilization of water, clean water and sanitation. The
strategies includes, water audit on a regular basis for assessing the level of water
utilized during an operational actions. Auditing will help in the identification of
saving water and costs in the growth and development of travel and leisure industry
(Lu et al. 2015). Setting a fixed target in accordance with the ideal water usage

7SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
capacity for the organization operating under travel and leisure industry. Comparing
departmental consumption rate of water with the standard set by the officials of
organizations will allow the accomplishment of Sustainable Development Goals.
Encouraging customers/travellers for acting responsible for the utilization of water as
like a local in the hospitality segment of the industry can be an effective strategy.
Setting aims and objectives for the workforce engaging e in the industry can portray a
positive impact on the environment and society.
2. Zero hunger- Avoid throwing away food: One of the effective strategies of responding
to the concern of wastage of food by the travel and leisure industry can be associating
with organizations, which are responsible for transporting food from parties and
events to the people without the provision of secure food. Auditing water usage by
appointing an outsourced team for monitoring the rate of utilization (Nilsson, Griggs
and Visbeck 2016).
3. Climatic Action- educating people on climatic changes for incorporating sustainable
development activities in the day to day life: The strategies like training employees
and stakeholders working for travel and leisure industry will positively contribute
towards the accomplishment of Sustainable Development Goals. Setting individual
and team standards in regards with reducing carbon footprint (Wackernagel, Hanscom
and Lin 2017). Using energy efficient light bulbs and appliances: The strategies of
replacing light bulbs and light sources to an energy efficient technology like, CFLs
and LEDs consumes less energy in comparison to normal lights. Replacing the
appliances in the organizations operating in travel and leisure industry with energy
efficient practices.
Appropriate indicators for evaluations of the strategies are:
 Alignment of standards with the actual practices

8SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
 Support from government and communities
 Minimized carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emission
 Improved customer/traveller experience and feedback
 Improved customer attraction
 Reduced cost of operations
 Profit maximization
Conclusion
Therefore, it can be concluded by stating that travel and leisure industry should set
structured Sustainable Development Goals under United Nations for becoming a responsible
and accountable for operating activities. The United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
are set for the purpose of responding to the concerns like, overutilization of energy, water
wastage, food wastage and climatic changes. The strategies like appointing auditing team,
implementing training programmes and switching to energy efficient techniques can
effectively implement the Goals selected for sustainable management in travel and leisure
industry.

9SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
References:
Assembly, G., 2015. Sustainable Development goals. SDGs), Transforming our world: the,
2030.
Bringezu, S. and Bleischwitz, R., 2017. Sustainable resource management: global trends,
visions and policies. Routledge.
Camilleri, M.A., 2018. the tourism industry: An overview. In Travel marketing, tourism
economics and the airline product (pp. 3-27). Springer, Cham.
Hák, T., Janoušková, S. and Moldan, B., 2016. Sustainable Development Goals: A need for
relevant indicators. Ecological Indicators, 60, pp.565-573.
Kraxner, F., Schepaschenko, D., Fuss, S., Lunnan, A., Kindermann, G., Aoki, K., Dürauer,
M., Shvidenko, A. and See, L., 2017. Mapping certified forests for sustainable management-
A global tool for information improvement through participatory and collaborative mapping.
Forest Policy and Economics, 83, pp.10-18.
Lu, Y., Nakicenovic, N., Visbeck, M. and Stevance, A.S., 2015. Policy: Five priorities for the
UN sustainable development goals. Nature News, 520(7548), p.432.
Nilsson, M., Griggs, D. and Visbeck, M., 2016. Policy: map the interactions between
Sustainable Development Goals. Nature News, 534(7607), p.320.
Poff, N.L., Brown, C.M., Grantham, T.E., Matthews, J.H., Palmer, M.A., Spence, C.M.,
Wilby, R.L., Haasnoot, M., Mendoza, G.F., Dominique, K.C. and Baeza, A., 2016.
Sustainable water management under future uncertainty with eco-engineering decision
scaling. Nature Climate Change, 6(1), p.25.
Robinson, P., Fallon, P., Cameron, H. and Crotts, J.C. eds., 2016. Operations management in
the travel industry. Cabi.

10SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT GOALS FOR TRAVEL AND LEISURE INDUSTRY
un.org 2019. The Sustainable Development Agenda - United Nations Sustainable
Development. [Online] Available at:
https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/development-agenda/
Wackernagel, M., Hanscom, L. and Lin, D., 2017. Making the sustainable development goals
consistent with sustainability. Frontiers in Energy Research, 5, p.18.
Welford, R., 2016. Corporate environmental management 3: Towards sustainable
development. Routledge.