The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance (the Alliance) announces its partnership with Planet Happiness, a tourism initiative focused on measuring and strengthening the happiness and wellbeing of host communities in World Heritage sites and beyond.

Planet Happiness enables destinations to advance their competitive edge through more inclusive, responsible, and purposeful tourism planning, using an internationally recognised Happiness Index survey. Survey data directly measures how individual residents and destination communities view their wellbeing and satisfaction with the way tourism is developing. The findings are used to produce one-page destination scorecards and data-rich reports that focus the development agenda on strengthening relationships between tourism, hospitality and resident wellbeing.

The Alliance brings together hospitality industry leaders and strategic partners, such as Planet Happiness, to address tourism challenges affecting the planet and its people. The Alliance, local destinations and communities will work with the non-profit to bring awareness and action within destinations to improve host community-wellbeing.

Measuring and strengthening host community wellbeing within tourist hot spots is one part of the Alliance’s Pathway to Net Positive Hospitality programme which sets ambitious targets to create a prosperous and responsible global hospitality sector that gives back to the destination more than it takes. For example, the programme’s framework outlines how organisations can measure and embed diversity and inclusivity within its value chain, with the aim to go beyond this and advocate for inclusivity beyond the value chain.

This agreement is perhaps our most important partnership to date. The Alliance’s recent work with Net Positive Hospitality is truly inspiring. Our team is excited by the opportunity to work with the Alliance and its members to apply our collective approach in new projects in new destinations. Paul Rogers, Co-Founder of Planet Happiness
Community and people is a major part of our Pathway to Net Positive Hospitality, which sets out frameworks to create a sector that gives back more than it takes. This announcement is an important and unique step forward in promoting happiness and wellbeing for residents in visitor destinations and I am looking forward to collaborating over the coming years. Glenn Mandziuk, Chief Executive Officer, Sustainable Hospitality Alliance

The Alliance has 14 affiliate donor members and 28 hotel donor members which have a reach of 7 million rooms and include world-leading hotel companies including Choice Hotels, Marriott International, Hilton, IHG, Hyatt and Radisson Hotel Group as well as regional brands and other stakeholders in the hospitality value chain.

For further information about the work of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance, please visit https://sustainablehospitalityalliance.org.

About Planet Happiness

Planet Happiness is a project of the Happiness Alliance, a 501(c)3 non-profit registered in the USA, to advocate happiness and wellbeing science, policy and practice among local communities, governments and businesses of all sizes at all levels. Its target audiences and collaborators are national tourism boards, destination management organisations, governments and tourism business associations. Dr Paul Rogers is the co-founder and director of Planet Happiness. He has over 25 years’ experience as a tourism advisor to national and local governments and has worked in more than a dozen countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Australia. For more information, please visit: www.OurHeritageOurHappiness.org

About the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance

The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance brings together engaged hospitality companies and the wider hospitality value chain, along with strategic partners, to address key challenges affecting the planet, people and places around the world.

Through their strategic initiatives and global networks, they develop practical programmes and resources to create a prosperous and responsible hospitality sector that gives back to the destination more than it takes.

Their members represent over 50,000 hotels spanning 270 brands – totalling over 7 million rooms – and include world-leading companies including Accor, Choice Hotels International, Hilton Hotels & Resorts, IHG Hotels & Resorts, Marriott International, and Wyndham Hotels & Resorts, as well as regional brands. Their network also includes other parts of the hospitality value chain, including owners, investors, suppliers, and other partners to further drive joined up action on sustainability, and accelerate the industry on the path to Net Positive Hospitality.