Boston, MA 04/28/2014 (wallstreetpr) - Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) recently collaborated with British Airways and the Institute of Travel and Meetings in order to conduct a travel industry summit geared towards discussing global, social and environmental trends. The event was held on April 4 at the St Pancras Renaissance London Hotel and was attended by more than 120 commercial travel buyers and comprised of several guest speakers.
Ben Page fixed the premise for the day’s dialogue by encouraging companies to evolve beyond rudimentary environmental programs and deal with more intricate and stimulating CSR issues, including the likes of social innovation and long-standing industry alliances.
Page stated that that most global company now acknowledges the importance of corporate social responsibility. However he believes that there is still a protracted way to go and organizations need to ponder upon their involvement with local communities, assessing and working upon standards of living, education and fostering durable micro-economies, at a time when the faith of the masses in business is generally low.
Jonathon Counsell, the Head of Environment for British Airways, gave a presentation on their social and environmental policies, while Barbara Powell and Hemma Varma from Marriott Europe’s CSR Division, represented their group for the same.
Varma mentioned that they were pleased to collaborate with one of their premium business partners and be given the opportunity to showcase their joint commitment towards sustainable operations and supply chain management. The communicative format of the workshop enabled travel buyers to tell them their perceptions of Marriot’s strategies and programs – opinions that would help in molding their future.
AcquisitionsIn The African Continent
According to published information, Marriott International, Inc. (NASDAQ:MAR) became the biggest hotel conglomerate in Africa, earlier this month. It almost doubled its presence in the Middle East and Africa region, to more than 160 hotels and 23,000 rooms as it finalized its acquisition of the 116-hotel, South Africa based Protea Hospitality Group. With its inclusion, Marriott now collectively operates or franchises over 4,000 hotels in 79 countries.
As per reports from the World Bank, Sub-Saharan Africa is likely to experience Economic growth at a rate greater than 5% through 2015.