Circular Tourism

Albania

Hotel Saint-Clair and Camping l’Espiguette

SECTION 1: BASIC INFORMATION

SECTION 2: PRACTICE OVERVIEW

  • Short Description of the Practice :

This practice actually brings together two complementary forms of communication that are both essential and worth highlighting. The practice involves examples of successful communication about sustainability and circular economy measures in tourism businesses to customers. The communication is concise and user-friendly and can be implemented in different ways, for example info cards, posters, charters and short guides that are placed in rooms, receptions and common areas. The communication can also be made available on the website. These documents mainly serve two purposes: to inform visitors about a business’ actions linked to sustainability, and also to explain how guests can help and contribute to these actions.The main objectives are to close the knowledge and agency gap between businesses and visitors, translate complex sustainability measures into simple daily actions like towel reuse, a smarter use of lights and air conditioners, water-saving, waste sorting or refillable containers. Communicating about actions helps improve the overall compliance of businesses with today's sustainability and circular economy expectations in the sector. These communication initiatives most often involve hospitality businesses like hotels, campsites or guest houses but could easily be extended and adapted to other businesses like restaurants, shops, cafés, etc. By making good practices visible and actionable, the communication measures presented here aim to reduce waste and resource use, boost the business’ credibility as a sustainable one, as well as enhance guest understanding, empowering them to implement simple and concrete actions.

  • Implementation Period: Ongoing
  • Status:

[   ] Planned [   ] Pilot phase [   ] Fully implemented [X] Ongoing and evolving

  • Thematic Areas Addressed:

[X] Farm to Fork / Sustainable Food Systems
[X] Waste Management
[X] Resource Efficiency
[ ] Other: ___________

  • Describe how the practice aligns with the selected Thematic Areas.

These informative documents are inherently linked to all thematic areas as they translate a broad range of technical aspects, green action and circular practices into communication measures that are easy to follow and to understand any type of clients, customers or visitors. By explaining what the business already does (installing LED lights and low-flow faucets, buying from local producers, composting, recycling etc.) and showing visitors exactly how to help (shorter showers, switching off lights and / or air conditioners, sorting waste, using refillable containers, etc.), these materials aim to close the gap between policy and practice. These documents are targeting resource efficiency through reducing unnecessary water and energy consumption as well as and single-use materials through simple actions visitors can implement.

  • Explain how this activity fits within the tourism sector.

These types of communication measures that stem from the tourism sector are created by hospitality businesses to shape the guest experience while advancing sustainability and circular economy goals. Placed in rooms, at reception, on booking confirmations, shared via QR codes, or on the business website, these short guides explain what the business is doing. The businesses make sustainability part of the service offering rather than an afterthought, embedding it into the business core identity. For hospitality businesses, it can help reduce costs and increase efficiency, as more clients and visitors will tend to follow the guidelines. Additionally,communication initiatives can also support and back the business’ storytelling and branding regarding the circular economy and sustainability that some segments of eco-conscious travellers’ value. These communication measures can thus be an opportunity to turn every guest interaction into an opportunity to teach and reinforce circular practices. These measures can also become learning and training aids for VET students, teaching them how to communicate about sustainability and how to manage customers’ expectations and provide evidence for the business’ sustainability claims.

  • What learning value for VET training, curriculum development or capacity-building of professionals does the practice offer ?

These communication measures can offer rich, practical learning value for VET training and vocational schools’ curricula. Example documents, charters, websites, guidelines etc. turn abstract sustainability goals into concrete communication, operational and measurement tasks, thus making the production of these documents a holistic exercise, from making them practice the development of business communication linked to sustainability and familiarise them with technical measures to making them learn about the value of the circular economy and sustainability in tourism and the challenges that hospitality businesses face. On the communication side, students learn to translate technical measures into clear and simple instructions, thus developing communication, multilingual phrasing and basic graphic design. The production of these documents will necessarily lead students to research and learn about circular economy principles and sustainability as well as how both are practically implemented in hospitality businesses. Working with such examples will be very beneficial for both educators and students since one of the main challenges of tourism businesses in the area of sustainability is to adequately communicate about the work they do.

SECTION 3: CHALLENGES AND ALIGNMENT WITH CIRCULAR ECONOMY PRINCIPLES

  • What challenges or barriers were addressed (based on the report findings)?

[   ] Waste management and disposal
[   ] Energy/resource use
[   ] Infrastructure limitations
[   ] Seasonality
[X] Skills and capacity gaps
[X] Low awareness of CE
[X] Behavioural resistance
[X] Financial or funding constraints
[   ] Other : ________________________________

  • How were these challenges overcome?

Raising awareness about the circular economy and sustainability is at the very heart of this practice and it can be tailored to the level of existing knowledge of the main target groups of the business in question. Concerning visitors and clients, making various communication measures visible and easily accessible via room cards, posters or QR codes helps explain how this business implements circular economy principles and how guests can participate, thereby both informing and empowering visitors. For students or professionals, practical workshops can help in their education and training about the circular economy. To ease financial constraints, the production of these documents is low-cost, and the printing cost can even be lowered by favouring digital distribution through QR codes or digital documents accessible online.

  • Which circular economy strategies does this practice address?

[X] Waste reduction / reuse / recycling
[X] Renewable energy / energy efficiency
[X] Water conservation
[X] Circular product/service design
[   ] Sustainable food systems / short food chains
[X] Eco-certifications or green standards
[   ] Repair, refurbishment, or reuse of infrastructure/furnishings
[   ] Digital tools for circularity or sustainability

  • Describe why this practice can be considered as a ‘best practice’ and how it contributes to one or more circular economy principles:

The development of such documents or communication measures can qualify as a best practice because it turns what can be seen as abstract theory and somehow complex operations into practical, visible, low-cost learning and promotional tools. These documents and communication measures make circular practices legible and usable for clients and guests, and they promote the business using them as an eco-conscious and caring one, which not only wants to act but inform and educate. The proposed measures are easily replicable across all types of hospitality business like hotels, guest houses, campsites, or even restaurants, cafés, etc. The documents accelerate several circular economy strategies. They prevent waste at source by avoiding unnecessary purchases and opting for refillable containers. They close loops by explaining how the business is working on several circular economy principles and how they implement them in practice. They also work on resource efficiency by clarifying simple energy and water behaviours like, switching off lights and air conditioners, shorter showers etc. Overall, these measures and documents are good educational and promotional tools, allowing visitors to learn and take action toward a more circular economy while at the same time promoting a conscious business.

  • Describe why this practice can be considered as innovative. What new, creative or underused approach brings added value to circular tourism development ?

This practice can be innovative as it treats guest communication not as passive information but as an active, co-creative tool for behavioural change. The documents can be developed beyond static signs by integrating technological levels, as simple room cards and posters can be combined with QR codes or short videos explaining the actions taken towards sustainability. The information could be integrated into a companion mobile app that could contain interactive guides, local supplier maps or push reminders like turning off lights and air conditioners, sort waste, etc. This app would also help the business to brand themselves as a dynamic and conscious establishment. Ultimately the innovativeness lies in finding ways to successfully reach customers by speaking “their language” in order to raise their awareness and nudge them into making changes that they are willing to make while they are away from home. Successful communication about sustainability can also attract business travel customers who are looking at sustainable options in line with the sustainability requirements of their companies.

SECTION 4: COLLABORATION

  • Describe any collaboration that were involved in the development of this practice ? Did this practice involve local authorities or other groups?

Although communication measures and documents can be produced by the businesses alone, the practice has the potential to be collaborative and can be scaled through partnerships with vocational schools, local producers or even local authorities. Vocational schools can co-design materials as student projects, test messages with real guests and carry out the exercise as part of assessments. It is possible to deepen the partnership with local producers by producing content about them in the form of maps and supplier profiles that can enrich the business’ storytelling, strengthening their image and strengthening local communities. Local authorities and tourism offices can lend legitimacy to communication measures documents by providing financial support, distributing templates and promoting these businesses and their good practices as part of their promotion to tourists and visitors at the destination.

SECTION 5: RESULTS AND REPLICABILITY

  • What measurable results or outcomes were achieved?

In the case of the businesses used as examples in this practice, they have a Green Key certification. Therefore, in compliance with the criteria for certification, the businesses are implementing very concrete measures across their operations to become more sustainable. The certification, among other things, requires that the use of resources is measured and documented and that the business communicates about sustainability and encourages its customers to take action. However, it is not possible to identify in which way the communication measures have contributed to the final results. Customer surveys can provide some indication of how clients perceive the sustainability efforts of the business but cannot show in what way this contributed to the reduction of the consumption of water or energy for example.

  • Why is this practice relevant to the Albanian tourism context?

Producing these types of documents and communication measures is directly applicable to the Albanian tourism context because of current expectations and needs in the market. Developing these measures and documents is low-cost, easy to implement and the communication is easily adaptable to the business needs depending on sustainability measures implemented, ways it wants to involve its customers in sustainability actions and channels it uses to reach its clients. Hotels, guesthouses and campsites can produce simple room cards, posters or QR-guides in different languages with minimal budget yet immediately signal an eco-conscious identity that helps them stand out to environmentally minded visitors. In a relatively saturated market such as hospitality, visible sustainability measures become a clear marketing asset and helps them stand out to guests. Communication measures also close practical gaps as they teach visitors how to support on-site measures (towel reuse, waste sorting, water saving), reducing operational burdens and waste, helping the business save money in the process. However, it is essential that the staff of the hospitality business are trained and fully understand the measures that are being taken in order for them to be implemented and communicated in a smooth and consistent manner to customers.

  • What is the practice’s potential for further expansion ? How can it be applied or adapted to other Albanian tourism destinations or businesses ?

Because the practice is modular and low-cost, potential expansions can easily be imagined. This practice can be adapted to different scales and contexts across Albanian tourism, from simple documents (a room card or poster + QR guide) produced for a single site that can evolve into templates that destination management organisations or tourism offices distribute to hotels, campsites, restaurants and tour operators that are part of a global network mindful of sustainability and dedicated to circular economy principles. This practice, stemming from a single site, can thus be replicated citywide or regionally with minimal investment and potential public–private partnerships.

  • What advice would you give others looking to implement a similar initiative?

Businesses can start with small and low-cost documents and still make them impactful and visible to guests and clients as long as they catch the customers attention and are adapted in terms of content and the objectives are clear. It can be as simple as a single room card or poster coupled to a QR guide. It is important to use clear icons and short phrases like the Hôtel Saint-Clair in La Grande Motte, and multilingual text like the campsite in Le Grau du Roi. To implement digital distribution (QR codes, online guides and documents, emails) could be a good idea to cut printing costs, but keeping printed copies of the documents is important for low-tech guests like elderly people. If strategically positioned in the room such documents can attract the necessary attention without annoying the customers. It is essential to not make the customer feel guilty but encourage them to support the business in their efforts to make positive changes. It is also important to have front office staff and personnel trained and ready to explain the different actions taken by the business and handle any questions customers might have linked to sustainability.