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Do you think that CSR is a new con-
cept in Vietnam’s tourism industry?
Corporate social responsibility (CSR)
is not a new concept in Vietnam’s tour-
ism industry, but only in recent years
have we seen CSR activities being sys-
tematically implemented and communi-
cated. International NGOs and multina-
tional companies like Accor have made
CSR a key part of the agenda and are
engaging suppliers, business partners,
employees and customers to make trav-
el and tourism more sustainable.
Today’s clients are very concerned
about sustainability and this is encour-
aging businesses to integrate CSR into
their practices. Globally, we estimate
that over half of our leisure guests and
nearly 85 per cent of our key corporate
accounts take some form of sustainabil-
ity criteria into consideration when they
choose where to stay.
Accor itself has two decades of ex-
perience in CSR having set up our first
department to manage our environ-
mental impacts in 1994. Over the years
we gradually expanded the scope of our
environmental and social responsibility
actions with pioneering commitments.
For example, in 2001 we became the
first international hotel group to sign
The Code of Conduct for the Protection
of Children from Sexual Exploitation in
Travel and Tourism.
Accor is also the only international
hotel operator to be listed on four inter-
nationally-recognised socially respon-
sible investment indices or standards.
And in 2009, we launched Plant for the
Planet, our innovative towel reuse and
reforestation program, through which
guests have financed the planting of
over 3 million trees simply by reusing
their towels.
To consolidate our efforts and in-
crease visibility, in 2012, Accor launched
PLANET 21 as a worldwide sustainable
development program. With PLANET
21, Accor is making 21 commitments
with concrete, measurable targets for
environmental and social responsibility
toward the year 2015.
How would you evaluate CSR in Viet-
nam today?
Accor believes that measurement is
important to making progress, and we
have tools in place to measure progress
among our 3,600 hotels worldwide, in-
cluding our 16 hotels in Vietnam. Ho-
tels report annually in OPEN – our sus-
tainable development tool – against 65
actions design to help them operate
more sustainably or more responsibly.
These actions range from the basics
– knowing the environmental regula-
tions applicable to the hotel, training
employees on environmental best prac-
tice, monitoring water and energy con-
sumption – to more advanced actions,
like investing in renewable energy or
achieving an environmental manage-
ment certification like ISO 14001.
At the end of the year, each hotel
is graded with a system of colour-coded
medals, ranging from bronze to plati-
num. In Vietnam today, 33 per cent of
hotels perform at the gold level, 33 per
cent are silver and 7 per cent are bronze.
We also measure our progress
against our targets set for 2015 and
in many cases already meet or exceed
these goals. In Vietnam, for example,
100 per cent of hotels now offer healthy
menu options (global target 80 per
cent), 93 per cent promote local pro-
curement of produce (global target: 70
per cent), and 13 per cent of hotels are
using some form of renewable energy
(global target: 10 per cent).
We’re on track to achieve other
targets such as a 100 per cent ban
on endangered seafood like shark’s fin
(Vietnam: 93 per cent); 85 per cent of
hotels recycling their waste (Vietnam:
80 per cent); and a 10 per cent reduc-
tion in energy consumption (Vietnam:
5.5 per cent).
Many people think that CSR in tour-
ism is simply taking tourists to char-
ity centers or orphanages to help the
needy. Is that correct?
It is still the norm for companies to
engage tourists or clients in activities at
charity centers or orphanages to help
the underprivileged, and we can’t deny
that doing something for the better-
ment of people in need is better than
doing nothing at all. However, often it
is the case that these well-meaning acts
do more harm than good – for example,
creating dependence on charity or tak-
ing children away from their families
and putting them at risk of abuse.
The more essential question should
be “How can we support those in need
in a more sustainable and meaning-
ful way?” Oftentimes, we treat only the
symptoms of poverty, while overlooking
the causes; it takes a longer-term strat-
egy and commitment to ensure that we
not only give them a fish to feed them
for a day, but to teach them how to fish
to feed them for a lifetime. At Accor, we
increasingly focus on partnerships that
create long-term social benefit rather
than one-off donations.
52
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CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Accor has gained a reputation in
the industry as an innovator in
sustainable and responsible busi-
ness practices.
Patrick Basset
,
chief operating officer of Accor
Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea,
Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and
the Philippines, talks to
Timeout
about the group’s
corporate social responsibility ethos.
LEADING BY EXAMPLE