Sustainability Practices Of Star Bangalore â€Myassignmenthelp.Com

Question: Discuss About The Sustainability Practices Of Star Bangalore? Answer: Introduction Tourism is one of the worlds fastest growing industries. In many developing countries, it is the prime source of foreign currency inflow and employment. Sustainable tourism refers to the processes and ways that develops the tourism industry of a country while maintaining a balance in the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of the industry. Sustainable tourism plays an important role in conserving the biodiversity of a country. The prime purpose of sustainable tourism is to generate employment, income and conserve local ecosystem while minimalising the impact on local environment and culture so that those could be made available to the future generations (Kaur, 2016). Sustainable tourism enhances the positive impacts of the tourism industry on biodiversity as well as reducing poverty, thus effectively promoting overall sustainable development of the country. The revenues that are generated by the tourism are often used in the protection and conservation of the biodivers ity and making sure that the natural habitat is not altered. Sustainable tourism also acts as an awareness raising program that advocates changing behaviour that would result in environmental development. The Taj Mahal Palace Hotel is a five-star hotel in Colaba, Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The hotel is considered to be the flagship property among the Taj Hotels Resorts and Palaces. In 2017, the hotel became the first building in the country to have intellectual property rights on its architectural design (Shah, 2014). The Taj Mahal has won numerous national and international awards for their services and performance in the hospitality sector and the group as a whole is considered to be one of the finest luxury hotel chains in the world, which only burdens them with more responsibility to take care of the environment. CSR and the Taj Mahal Hotel and communicating the stakeholders The Taj group of hotels understand that the activities of the hotels have significant impact on the local communities where the hotels are situated. The group has very explicit policies that advocated caring for the local communities. The brands slogan We sincerely care for you is an ideology that is adhered to in every activity of the hotel and also is believed by every employee of the hotel. The Taj has a number of stakeholders that the hotel has to serve, which include everyone from the customers, the employees and the shareholders. The stakeholders are notified about the CSR activities, the key projects and the impact s they have on the society and the environment through the annual reports, Taj web platforms and other relevant ways (Kaur, 2016). The Taj Mahal Palace has been internationally recognised for their CSR activities and the proposed new projects that are to be launched and undertaken over the next few years. These projects are expected to set new benchmarks across the planet for global sustainability and social responsibility. Implementation of the CSR policies is a commitment of an organization to fulfill their corporate social responsibilities. In the context of Hotel Taj, the CSR responsibilities are based on their legacy in order to giving back to the society. This organization is associated with the Tata group to bring improvement in the quality of life. This organization focuses on the socio-cultural development of its operational regions. However, in India this organisation intends to become a significant contributor to CSR activities by establishing the social improvement projects. Such projects aim to improve the life of unprivileged communities in Indian village and towns (Ferus-Comelo, 2014). According to the Company Act 2013, the CSR program includes vocational skill development program, promotion of indigenous culture and disaster relief and rehabilitation campaign. These CSR activities are carried out by this organization. In order to carry out the CSR activities, such organization needs to ensure that they have to spend more in every financial year to carry out the CSR activities (Tajhotels.com, 2017). In order to develop the CSR responsibilities, such organization has a CSR committee with three or more directors in this committee. The CSR activities are categorized under the section 135 of the Company Act. 2% of the total profit of per year is spent by this organization to implement the CSR activities. On the other hand, any surplus from the CSR program should not be added to the company benefit. CSR policies of Taj Hotel in social aspects The CSR policies of the Taj hotel are associated with the social development. In order to develop the social life of the people this organization follows the Company Act 2013. Based on this Act, disaster relief, vocational skill development and promotion of indigenous culture are included as the CSR policies of such organization (Fatma, 2016). The CSR activities include the development social projects to improve the life style of the unprivileged community. However, community development is a big part of the CSR policy in context of social aspect. The target community of their CSR policies is less privileged and marginalized women and youth. Therefore, school dropout youth, disaster victims and people from the rural areas are also categorized under the target group (Kumar, 2014). Hence, hotel Taj tries to bring improvement in their quality of life by adoption the above CSR policies. Improvement of the social life is a crucial CSR activity. Providing funding to the disaster victim is a vital social responsibility that can be categorized under the CSR activities. Hotel Taj has a project monitoring team that ensures the implementation of the CSR policies based on the Act. Stakeholder communication is an important part to implement the CSR policies within an organization (Hsieh, 2012). However, in order to make an association with Tata web stakeholder communication is necessary for the Taj hotel. Development of the vocational skill focuses on the social development of the indigenous people. The supporter partners of Taj hotel in this activity are NGOs and Tata Company. Such stakeholder association establishes CSR programs and provides skill training to the hospitality industries skill training to rural people, less privileged people and schedule cast people. This is an effective CSR policy of Taj hotel to bring the lifestyle of such people who are discriminated by the society. Therefore, 30 skill-training programs are in progress all over the country, which will be improved further to develop the indigenous youth more efficient (Tajhotels.com, 2017). In order to develop the personality and building the character of the indigenous youth vocational skill development program is a significant CSR activity for Hotel Taj. Development of the indigenous culture and the heritage is another CSR policy that is associated with the social development (Dodds Joppe, 2017). Providing support and improve the destination of the areas where the IHCL hotels are situated is crucial. For this purpose, it is important for the Taj hotel to extend support to the sites where the touristic interest occurs. On the other hand, preservation of heritage is another step f the CSR activity. In order to maximize the sustainable development associated with the social development, it is vital to provide training to the guides as well as the tourism department of Taj hotel. Apart from these clean India campaign in the hotel areas, villages, gardens and other public places is a beneficial approach of Taj hotel that is included in their CSR activities. However, such policy is helpful to enhance the social development by improving the lifestyle of the people (Coulson-Thomas, 2015). Neighborhood improvement and the initiative to impro ve the maintenance are the big components of the social development. It is mandatory for the hospitality sectors to carry out the clean campaign to make awareness among the staffs and the customers of their organization. Promotion of the indigenous culture and the art is an effective CSR policy to maximize the social development program. Such promotion can be done by displaying handicrafts and the social arts. The strategic partnership will be helpful for an organization to maintain their CSR activities (Shanti, 2016). In the context of hotel Taj, they have made a strategic partnership with the NGOs and the Tata Company, which enables them to carry out their social development project by meeting the needs of the indigenous people. Livelihood enhancement program is also undertaken by this hotel to figure out their social development activities. In order to carry out this program, it is essential to develop a responsible supply chain partnership. The purchase managers of the hotel should be conscious of the society and the environment. Training is required for the development of the supply chain partnership. This will allows the staffs to control the quality of the raw materials, design and the financi al management. Apart from these, the disaster relief program is another effective CSR activity of Taj hotel to improve the social life. They often provide funding for the disaster relief, which ensures their social responsibilities (Ferus-Comelo, 2014). Hence, the above CSR policies of such organization highlight on their different CSR policies in social aspects. These policies focus on their social development projects to improve the life of the unprivileged people in the society. Environmental sustainability The Taj Mahal Palace is heavily focused upon conserving the environment in which it operates and understands the needs for preserving environmental biodiversity in order to achieve sustainability. The main emphasis is given upon Resource Efficiency, which advocate water, energy and waste management programs, that are inclined towards making sure the non-renewable sources of energy are preserved for the future generations. The hotel understands that the environment is not only comprised of vegetation and wildlife diversity, but humans are also very much part of it (Ferus-Comelo, 2014). This has led the hotel to undertake projects that strive to protect the indigenous heritage, culture, art and handicraft to maintain the unique characteristics of the local communities. The hotel aims to support and improve the local destinations where the hotel is located. The Taj has various programs and initiatives that promote environmental safeguarding. Taj safaris are one of the most important and popular projects and tourism plans of the hotel that is committed towards preserving the countrys diverse and rich natural treasures. This initiative is driven by some basic social and conservation principles. The safari plans of the hotel adopts sustainable ecotourism models while providing the guests with the ultimate wildlife experience. The Taj has collaborated with Beyond to make sure that sustainable methods are adopted that promote responsible tourism. Controlling and reducing the food wastage quantity is another key aspect that is given a lot of focus by the hotel. Food wastage is one of the biggest issues on the planet at the moment and it has significant negative impacts on the environment (Verma, 2017). The Taj aims to resolve this or at least reduce the amount of wasted food as much as possible. Economic sustainability aspects of the hotel The hotel management understands that without a firm economic planning and a strong economy, no social or environmental causes can be fought for and hence the countrys and local economies must be boosted as much as possible (Mukherjee Ghosh, 2014). With this aim in mind, the Taj offers internships to numerous management and hotel industry students every year and also accepts voluntary work that does entail payment of different sorts (Kaur, 2016). The employees of the hotel are involved in every step of every activity so that the hotel can grow with everyone. This is the very way which helps to achieve sustainable development, where inclusive growth is prioritised every stakeholder is given much importance. Awards and market position Nine of the Taj Hotels have been accredited with EarthCheck, Gold, which is the global benchmark for environmental conservation certification. This organisation has its focus highlighted upon the tourism and hotel industry. This award was given to the hotels because of their remarkable feat of successfully conserving a huge amount of energy, that helped to bring electricity to 53,490 homes and reducing both a huge amount of waste as well as CO2 emissions. The stunning success of the Taj EARTH program has led the hotels to be internationally recognized as a global leader in the hospitality industry with a focus on sustainable development and promoting sustainable tourism. Conclusion From the above discussion it can be inferred that the Taj Mahal Palace is focused upon trying to create a tourism package that promotes tourism and ushers in a lot of foreign currency in the country, all the while keeping the social, environmental and socio-economic aspects in mind. the hotel is dedicated to achieving sustainable growth by maintaining a balance in the tourism operations of the hotel and the environment where the hotel is located. The hotel aims to, in the years to come, to rise and be recognised as one of the most hard working hotels in the planet that has the best interests of the planet at the core of its operations. References Coulson-Thomas, C. (2015). CSR Strategy: Width or Depth.Corporate Social Responsibility: An Actionable Business Agenda, New Delhi, IOD Publishing, 19th January, 54-59. Dodds, R., Joppe, M. (2017). 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