Dr Cris Tarrant, BVA BDRC chairman, has been appointed co-chair of the Sustainable Hospitality Alliance’s Communications and PR Committee alongside Dimitris Manikis, President EMEA at Wyndham Hotels & Resorts. The Sustainable Hospitality Alliance has a purpose to accelerate the path to net positive hospitality and it is supported by around 50 member organisations, including nearly all the leading hotel groups in the world.
The remit of the SHA Communications and Public Relations Committee is to elevate awareness and comprehension of sustainability practices within the hospitality industry and to showcase the industry’s commitment to sustainability.
The appointment of Tarrant to this significant position underscores the valuable role that research, and consumer understanding has to play in moving us all towards a more sustainable future.
BVA BDRC has a long-standing commitment to ESG through its B Corp initiative and commitment to the Market Research Society’s Net Zero Pledge and Inclusion Pledge. The agency is committed to using research and insight to help make sense of the world and contribute to a more sustainable future, so making this appointment a natural extension of its work.
Tarrant, an MRS fellow, said: “I am honoured to have been given this role and look forward to helping the hospitality sector develop its valuable message on sustainability.
“We have already been able to share insights with the SHA from BVA BDRC’s Global Sustainable Hospitality Trends 2023, which reported that there was an opportunity for competitive advantage for hotel businesses with an understanding of consumers’ values and priorities in the area.
“Supporting this critical topic is part of our core belief at BVA BDRC; symbolic of our desire to encourage everyone to ‘be better’ and balance performance with purpose.”
Tarrant will be speaking at the MRS Sustainability Summit on 6th December, on the topic of Evidencing consumer demand for sustainability in hospitality.