Reducing Energy Consumption And Co2 Emmissions In The Chilean Tourism Industry

The Federation of Tourism Companies of Chile, FEDETUR, through its Centre for Technological Advancement in Tourism (CETT), developed during 2017 a pilot project in three Southern regions of the country with high tourist activity, the main purpose of which was to promote energy efficiency in the tourism private sector. The objectives were to: a) reduce energy consumption of each individaul Company; b) help them to switch to renewable energy sources; c) give them the opportunity to become self sufficient in energy; and d) reduce the carbón footprint of the torusim sector. A total of 165 tourism companies, including hotels of all sizes and some tour operators, were offered different technological options for reducing their energy consumption or for achieving self sufficiency in energy. A five-month long individual coaching was given to each company participating in the programme so as to ensure they made the right technological energy choice according to each company’s particular characteristics. Preliminary results show that many of the companies covered in the project are already making investments to replace high-consumption and/or polluting energy systems, switching to renewable energy, and/or becoming self sufficient, and thus reduce their carbon footprint. FEDETUR - CETT intend to mainstream the project to tourism companies in other regions of Chile in the coming years.