About the key sustainability initiatives of the Mitsis Hotels Group, the largest privately owned hotel company in Greece
This article is part of the “Sustainable tourism insights” interview series with speakers and participants of the Green Destinations Conference in Athens, Greece held in September 2022.
Apollonia Karampatsou is the CSR Manager at Mitsis Hotels Group. Anula Galewska, Travindy’s Managing Director, asked Apollonia about sustainability initiatives st the Mitsis Hotels Group.
Mitsis Hotels Group is the largest privately owned hotel company in Greece with 19 hotels and resorts across 5 destinations. The company is committed to sustainability and has already implemented a number of projects.
First, Mitsis Hotels has developed a holistic CSR program “A story of change”. The programme is built upon 5 key thematic pillars that exemplify the Group’s values and aspiration to act as sustainability leader in the country, contributing 5% of its annual net profit to social and philanthropic initiatives. The first pillar “Committed to our surrounding” focuses on local community empowerment and, in particular, local recruitment, aiming for 75% of employees to be residents of the destinations where hotels are located”.
The second pillar “Enchanted with our local history” aims to support Mediterranean life, culture and history. “Enriched by everyone” focuses on diversity and inclusion as well as providing employee care. “Amazed with new opportunities’ supports the young talents of the destinations including sponsoring over 20 sport teams and athletes. And the last pillar “Concerned about the planet” focuses on minimising environmental footprint and protecting the biodiversity of the destinations.
According to Apollonia Karampatsou, sustainability in general was not a top priority for the Greek tourism industry for a long time, however, nowadays both businesses and individuals evaluate the importance of sustainable tourism development. “Working together should be worth focusing on rather than competing because at the end of the day we all benefit from this collaboration” – Apollonia says.
Watch the interview with Apollonia Karampatsou:
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