Accor joins sustainable drive launched by Crown Prince of Dubai

The ‘Dubai Can’ initiative encourages residents and visitors to ‘Refill for Life’

Accor is joining the ‘Dubai Can’ sustainability initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid, Crown Prince of Dubai.

Despite many of Dubai restaurants only offering premium imported waters on their menus, the initiative encourages residents and visitors alike to ‘Refill for Life’ using the Dubai Can.

Driven by Dubai Sustainable Tourism (DST), the initiative in part aims to improve the sustainability of the tourism sector, with the long-term objective of a more sustainable economy.

However, until all Dubai’s restaurants offer the option of local water in line with consumer demand, the region’s hospitality sector is lagging behind in the global sustainability drive

“We are proud and happy to join and support the Dubai Can initiative launched by His Highness Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid, Crown Prince of Dubai,” said Mark Willis, CEO of Accor, India, Middle East, Africa & Turkey. “As one of the leading hospitality groups in the region, we want to lead by example and show our hotels and colleagues in the industry that it has become essential to adopt sustainable practices, including the eradication of plastic in our hotels, to improve and meet the growing expectation of guests travelling to Dubai and staying in our hotels.”

In addition, Accor will be sponsoring its first fountain in the city in the Dubai World Trade centre area, which will be providing access to free and safe drinking water for all, in a bid to minimise the consumption of single-use plastics prevalent in the buying of bottled water.

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In 2020, Accor also announced its commitment to join the UN Global Tourism Plastics Initiative to remove all single-use plastic items in guest experiences from its hotels by the end of 2022. This action is aimed towards reducing environmental impact and strengthening efforts to combat plastic pollution of the world’s oceans and other natural environments. It is a significant step forward for the global hospitality industry and for the group, which has been committed to sustainability for many years.

Mark Willis added: “We’re already witnessing change across our hotels through the implementation of water filtration and in-house bottling technology, and we hope that the Dubai Can initiative combined with our efforts in our hotels will consolidate our efforts, while contributing to a more sustainable industry.”

Accor already has two properties in Dubai, using in-house water filtration systems, that have eradicated plastic from their operation – Sofitel The Obelisk Dubai and Swissotel Al Ghurair

By the end of 2022, Accor aims to eliminate all single use plastic from guest-facing areas, and the properties participating in the Dubai Can campaign will have shifted away from single use plastic bottled water.

Accor currently operates 59 properties (17,486 keys) in Dubai, with 15 properties (3,803 keys) in the pipeline. Accor currently has over 420 hotels across India, Middle East, Africa and Turkey.