Local impact is crucial in our operation. If we want to make tourism truly regenerative, we need to generate a positive impact to local communities. Our framework for this is the Donut Economy: we expect a constantly improving impact on the environment and/or on social welfare.
Currently, we do this in the following ways
- Supporting local projects
- Offering assistance in making lodging more sustainable
- Support hosts in developing socio-ecological networks
We expect this list to grow systematically and are working on a system to make our impact measurable and targeted.
Supporting local projects
Through the booking platform Fairbnb.coop, we donate 50% of the commission to a local project. This, of course, raises all sorts of questions: Which projects? What are the conditions? Are we sure this money will go there?
Initially, we chose regional projects. These are projects located at the Flemish, Brussels or Walloon level. We do that to create volume first and therefore to have the impact on the projects thicken a bit anyway. The more bookings we will make, the more local we can and want to go. The closer to the community where the lodging is located, the better.
The projects must meet a number of conditions, but primarily pursue one or more sustainable development goals in a non-economic setting.
You can find the list of current projects here!
We are looking for a partner to help select and monitor our projects. Ideas always welcome. Mail to info@fairhospitality.coop
Help making lodging supply more sustainable
Currently (spring 2023) there are 32 guest rooms, 22 vacation homes and 44 youth lodgings certified with the Green Key label. The EU Ecolabel for lodging includes only 1 Belgian hotel, but no guest rooms or vacation homes.
Converted into percentages, less than 1% of lodgings now achieve sustainable certification. Our goal is to significantly increase these numbers.
We know from research that tourists are increasingly looking at sustainability when planning their trips. That is not to say that ECO labels are always considered in the process. But achieving it does help lodging operators make more and more sustainable choices. And that is what the conscious traveler also expects.
Through our academy and collaboration with our partners, we aim to help hosts achieve an ECO label.
Socio-ecological networks
As also stated in our charter, we actively participate in creating local networks to promote local communities in general. This is one of the activities that we don’t earn anything from (remember: people before money) but which give us satisfaction. Read <here> the story of Het Rustpunt in Ghent. We look forward to many more such projects.
