Environmentally friendly facilities will become a core criterion of China's hotel rating system, the China National Tourism Administration (CNTA) announced in Beijing on Monday.

It made the announcement during a briefing on the 2010 rating standards, which will take effect on Jan 1, 2011.

Hotels will no longer be required to provide the usual six disposable toiletries, which include toothbrushes, toothpaste and shampoo. The policy is in line with common practice in many developed countries. "This go-green initiative is about more than capturing attention," Liu Shijun, deputy director of the tourism administration's industry supervision and management department, said.

"It occupies a central position in the six pillars we lay out in the 2010 hotel rating standards."

The country's hotel rating standards were drafted in 1988, and amendments were passed in 1993, 1997 and 2003.

The 2010 version, released on Oct 18, emphasized six points - basic requirements, core products, green measures, emergency management, services and unique features.

Liu said the time had arrived to let the initiative carry substantial weight.

China has been actively endorsing a green hotel industry since 2003, and these calls paved the way for more stringent regulations. CNTA will release a go-green standard handbook with technical assistance and practical recommendations for hotels and individuals in a few months, Liu said.

"Green measures can be reflected in many dimensions, such as hotels' design and architecture, their building materials' selection and their customers' consumption habits, which hotels can influence," China Tourist Hotels Association Vice-Chairman Stephen C. T. Hsu said.

Hsu said East China's Zhejiang province is taking the lead in using such influence to direct customers towards environmentally friendly consumption.

The province's hotels are considering tentative measures to reward customers who do not use disposable toiletries with discounts of their hotel rates or dining fees.

Hsu said the Zhejiang practice provided an effective incentive to encourage hotel-dwellers to cultivate green consumption habits.

The initiative is intended to reduce unnecessary waste, and to use energy and resources as efficiently as possible, Hsu said.

The 2010 hotel rating standard corresponds to people's growing requirements in a rapidly modernizing society. Becoming greener is not a goal to be achieved at the expense of convenience or comfort. Green measures and environmental concerns should go hand-in-hand with quality service, he said.

Beijing International Hotel Vice-President Hao Zhiyong told China Daily the go-green initiative appeared to be the biggest challenge in the 2010 standards.

"Basically, our hotel meets most of the requirements. I think the biggest challenge would be the green part. We face much more concrete requirements than ever before, and they cover various areas," Hao said.

China currently has more than 14,000 hotels, including 572 five-star establishments and 2,149 four-star hotels.

(China Daily December 14, 2010)