The Sofitel Sharm El Sheikh Sofitel, Novotel & Mercure hotels Egypt celebrated Sunday “Planet 21”day as Part of Accor’s new sustainable development programme “PLANET 21”. The name is taken from Agenda 21, a programme of goals signed in Rio in 1992, and reminds people of the urgent concern to be addressed in the 21st century: the need to change methods of production and consumption to preserve human beings and eco-systems. PLANET 21 consists of 21 commitments and the same number of quantified goals adopted by Accor looking to 2015, including: employees training in the prevention of diseases in 95 percent of hotels, the promotion of balanced dishes in 80 percent of establishments, the use of eco-labelled products in 85 percent of hotels or the reduction in water and energy use of respectively 15 percent and 10 percent in owned and leased hotels
This year, Accor Egypt’s events  aimed to raise awareness about recycling and encourage team members and guest involvement of 17 hotels throughout Egypt in Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah, Novotel Cairo Airport, Novotel Cairo 6th of October, Novotel Cairo El Borg, Novotel Sharm El Sheikh, Sofitel Cairo Maadi Towers, Sofitel Karnak Luxor, Sofitel Winter Palace Luxor, Sofitel Taba Heights, Sofitel Cecil Alexandria, Sofitel Legend Old Cataract Aswan, Mercure Cairo Le Sphinx, Mercure Dahab Bay View, Mercure Hurghada, Mercure Romance Alexandria, Mercure Ismailia and Coralia Club Dahab.
Events were celebrated in cooperation with \"Al Warsha\" Foundation; a group of artists aiming to revive local identity and handmade crafts by using simple recyclable items. Being the first charitable art assembly in Egypt, they shared with the hotels employees and guests their talent to craft their own art pieces and souvenirs from simple items like old magazines, empty bottles and used paper.
Hisham Zaazou, senior assistant to the minister of Tourism attended the event at Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah and was welcomed by Philippe Trapp, vice president of operations, Accor Egypt and Laurent Betourne Sofitel, area manager Egypt and general manager Sofitel Cairo El Gezirah.
With PLANET 21, Accor confirms its ambition to reinvent the hotel industry on a sustainable basis by increasing the mobilisation of its employees, guests and partners.