For many during Covid-19, it was a time to be angry.

Angry at the world, at governments, and at being shut in and away from loved ones for months on end. And yet, there was a bright light at the end of the tunnel for the dark times many had endured.

That bright light came as a result of ‘forced savings’ during lockdown, along with many of the world’s governments’ willingness to provide welfare payments to individuals during those challenging times.

The combination of accrued savings, the additional income “free” from the government, and the fact that absence makes the heart grow fonder culminated in what we have been experiencing in the travel and tourism industry as “revenge travel”.

And what a revenge it is, with recent reports showing that Dubai International Airport eclipsed the 2019 figures of passenger traffic by the halfway point of 2023.

Saudi Arabia launched its new airline to improve airlift to the country, as the country explodes with rapid growth and an aggressive target of receiving 100 million visitors by 2030.

The GCC is the world’s hottest of hotspots, having been one of the first to open to international travel, and hold early exhibitions while many countries were still confined to Zoom calls.

The power of face-to-face meetings showed itself through ATM, the Hotel Show and many other events held in this amazing city since 2021, which clearly demonstrated that humans desperately desire physical interaction.

But before this mad rush of “revenge travel”, there was a moment when the world was at peace, when air travel was severely constrained, road traffic did not have any peak hours, and on social media we were entertained by random videos of deer, bears and other wildlife meandering through city streets as they were abandoned by human life during the Covid -19 lockdowns.

It was also reported at that time, that it seemed nature was healing. Of many areas that were once well-trodden by tourists, nature was reclaiming what it had lost in previous years.

But look back even further, to 2018, when Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte closed Boracay Island to tourism for 6 months in an effort to clean up the island and save it from tourist and capitalistic ruin. The example of Boracay, and that there are capped visitor numbers to help mitigate a recurrence of the environment being destroyed by tourism, is a great example of ensuring tourism is sustainable.

But ‘sustainability’ has rapidly morphed into a buzzword, widely used by brands and organisations alike. Just listen to the news, and you’ll notice how often it gets mentioned.

So that leads me to the question: how sustainable is revenge travel?

As the Department of Economy and Tourism released the Q1 travel figures in early May this year, it showed that Dubai had reached over 5 million visitors, an 11% increase year-on-year for the same period, so there is clearly still a strong appetite for travel.

Thankfully the government is also embracing and rolling out a number of initiatives to help bring our industry not only in-line with global standards, but in some cases be a leader of these standards.

More importantly, to take the stress off the local environment and wildlife (on land and in sea).

This is by no means an easy task, especially as there are already roadblocks such as the lack of natural resources, and only 2 seasons instead of 4 per year.

As a hotelier having personally seen the epic growth of tourism and hospitality in Dubai since 2006, it is deeply encouraging to see the initiatives such as the reduction of single-use plastics, the Dubai Can programme, the rise of the reusable water bottle and public filtered water facilities, the management, tracking and reporting of energy and water consumption, encouragement for more recycling and reducing food waste and so much more.

So in tandem with these initiatives, an important part of sustainability that always needs to be considered is the financial sustainability of introduced activities and systems.

I strongly believe that the way forward for all hotels to move faster in a more sustainable manner is with the help of government regulation (including fines for non-compliance), partnered with government subsidies or credits when the company implements certain systems that can demonstrate clear positive change in the key sustainability KPIs.

At the end of the day, we should all be working towards a cleaner environment regardless, but take a look at the beach or a park on a Saturday evening – there is still a huge cultural shift required from the waste left behind. And there is no hiding the fact that money plays a huge role in the success of the implementation of new technologies and systems.

For example, to implement a system to sanitise your own reusable bottles, plus filtration system and all the related equipment, could cost anywhere upwards of AED 200,000.

Add to this a composter, or system to manage food waste, and you are heading towards or over the half-million dirhams mark. These are expenses that a lot of owners and operators will see as ‘nice to have’ instead of a mandatory, and therefore may never be introduced. However, these might feel more achievable with support and guidance from the government.

I also believe that there needs to be much more work done on education on what being “sustainable” means for not only the industry, but the general public too.

It is wonderful to participate in a clean-up campaign in your local neighbourhood, but ask yourself, do those participating truly understand why they are doing it, and what else should be done to prevent having to go back and do it again?

Similarly, we can also ask ourselves the same about Earth Hour in March, and what steps are being taken to make changes to have an actual impact for the year(s) ahead with managing and reducing energy consumption.

Being sustainable in tourism, hospitality, and life in general runs far deeper than slick marketing campaigns. I know that many organisations have already made serious inroads, and many others are already on the path, for which I commend them. Just look at the response from the inaugural Dubai Sustainable Tourism Awards where 70 properties were officially recognised for their efforts.

I really look forward to the next 5 years (and beyond) of tourism development here in Dubai, and across the greater UAE, as I can see that there are already so many major steps – nay leaps – in the right direction, and that sustainability practices are becoming more and more important.

Providing hope that the ongoing desire for the world audience to spread their wings and travel even further can be done without so much of an impact we made on the earth in the past. I am sure that this country has bright, efficiently fueled days ahead.