The business case for hotel eco-certifications in Egypt

🛎️🌳 Sustainable hospitality has become a two-birds-with-one-stone kind of strategy for hotels and resorts — an obvious upside for more eco-friendly operations, but also an increasingly valuable marketing advantage for driving guest loyalty and attracting business.

💡 EnterpriseAM Weekend’s The Spend: You already know where to eat, what to wear, and where to stay. The Spend tells you what’s behind all of it — the market dynamics, the business models, and the economics that determine what lands on your plate, in your wardrobe, and on your household budget. This week, we look at what it actually takes for Egypt’s hotels and resorts to go green and what that’s worth.

Let’s look at the numbers: Some 36% of travelers say they choose eco-certified accommodations, according to a 2026 report from Booking.com, and 41% say clearer communication around sustainable choices would make them more likely to choose a sustainable option. The report also shows that 83% of travelers believe sustainable travel is essential. In 2025 alone, more than 100 mn rooms globally were booked at eco-certified properties, with the supply for sustainable stays growing y-o-y by 22% on the platform.

While individual travelers increasingly seek sustainable stays, global distribution markets are turning certifications into a baseline expectation. “Now, tour operators worldwide, like TUI, for example, this is a big name, request from hotels that they be certified as a Green Hotel. This incentivizes hotels to take the certificate so that they can [accomplish] resource efficiency and reduction, in addition to making more savings,” Green Star Hotel (GSH) Program Manager Ahmed Khaled (LinkedIn) tells EnterpriseAM.

That being the case, Green Star ratings can be an invaluable asset for hospitality businesses. A sustainability or green certificate provides a clear indication of credible practices and sustainable performance. It is “something tangible, visible and measurable,” according to leading French hospitality company Accor, helping build trust and improve demand.

While Egypt’s primary tourism governance framework — Law No. 8 of 2022 on Hotel and Tourism Establishments — sets baseline requirements around areas like health, safety, civil defense, and environmental impact for licensing, Green Star ratings have become an increasingly important business consideration. So, where do Egypt’s hotels stand?

Getting certified is cheaper than most hotels think

In Om El Donia, the Tourism Ministry, in collaboration with the Egyptian Hotel Association, promotes the GSH program, Egypt’s national certification framework for sustainable hospitality. But as European ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) requirements increasingly shape the expectations of international businesses and tourism partners, sustainability credentials can carry weight well beyond our borders.

For Egyptian resorts and hotels looking to maintain relationships with European institutional tour operators, a GSH certification can serve as a valuable signal of their eco-friendly standards — and a useful mark of credibility in a sustainability-conscious market.

We’re doing quite well on that front: The GSH currently awards Green Stars to 200+ hospitality companies across Egypt, with a significant concentration in El Gouna and Hurghada. Some hotels also hold dual accreditation from other sustainability programs, including Travelife, Green Globe, EarthCheck, and Green Key.

What are the criteria for being under GSH? The core standards are 11, including:

• Energy management: transition to LED lighting, automated HVAC controls, and regular equipment servicing;
• Water conservation: smart sub-metering, low-flow fixtures, and graywater treatment for landscaping;
• Waste reduction & recycling: on-site waste sorting, composting, and single-use plastic elimination;
• Health, safety, & occupational welfare: emergency response systems and staff protective measures;
• Social responsibility: community engagement, charitable partnerships, and local hiring priorities;
• Environmental impact assessment: continuous monitoring and guest/employee awareness campaigns;
• Sustainable human resource management (SHRM): embedding sustainability into job descriptions, hiring, training, performance appraisals, and rewards.

“Under each one of these criteria, there are sub-criteria. Some are mandatory, others are optional for a hotel to obtain our certificate. In addition, a hotel can take at least 30 points from the optional criteria to be able to reach the 3 Green Stars, which is the lowest level,” Khaled explains.

Certification also comes in different levels, depending on the level of compliance with GSH and ESG criteria. Silver status, or 3 Green Stars, recognizes hotels that apply fundamental environmental standards alongside good performance; Gold status, or 4 Green Stars, indicates an advanced level of compliance with sustainable tourism standards, and Diamond status, 5 Green Stars, is awarded to hotels that actively comply with all standards and are innovators within the field of sustainability.

The global payoff: Obtaining a Green Star certificate aligns businesses with the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) — which recognizes GSH — a connection that can make way for greater international visibility and support their positioning with partners and travelers.

Achieving certification doesn’t require an immediate significant upfront investment; instead, the financial reality of compliance allows for flexibility. “The cost depends on what the hotel wants to invest in and how much. There are things that are low-cost actions, which a hotel can reach 3 stars with. But if a hotel wants to reach 5 stars, it can invest up to mns, through the installation of solar panels, solar water heaters, and so on,” Khaled explains.

This is also the case around the world: In Malta, eco certification criteria — supported by the Malta Tourism Authority and the Global Sustainable Tourism Council — require little to no investment for some measures such as creating a sustainability policy, setting environmental goals, appointing an ECO coordinator, attending training seminars, and informing guests about the hotel’s environmental management program.

What’s the ROI — for the bottom line, brand, and employees?

Besides the marketing edge, does adopting sustainability practices actually bear fruit for businesses? Yes — and some of the returns can come within just a few years. In the US, a study by Just Capital found that companies that outperform their competitors in environmental performance see a 3% higher median return on equity than their peers.

Prioritizing efficiency can also cut costs. While some certification criteria require varying levels of financial investment, many of these measures eventually pay for themselves over time. Small investments in LED lighting, motion-sensor controls, and automated energy management systems, for example, can reduce operating costs, while larger upgrades like improved insulation, smart HVAC systems, and renewable energy sources can deliver longer-term efficiency gains.

Energy management can generate average savings of up to 20% as a start, while water conservation can deliver savings of 20 to 25%, according to Khaled. For guests, these operational savings can help keep booking prices competitive — a plus for travelers who are already after businesses that prioritize energy efficiency.

A resort in Sharm El Sheikh, as cited by OSS Middle East Certification, offers a more concrete example of this in practice: Within five months of implementing GSH standards and working toward a green certification, it cut energy consumption by 18% and water consumption by 20%, thanks to measures like graywater recycling and LED retrofits. The resort also saw customer ratings on booking sites rise by 0.7 points, while its summer bookings increased by 12%.

Employees are part of the equation too. Empirical data from a 2022 study published in the journal Sustainability underscores the importance of sustainable human resource management (SHRM). The study surveyed 26 hotels across El Gouna and Hurghada and more than 240 green-certified hotel managers, finding that sustainable HR practices and environmental strategies were significantly associated with lower operational costs and more positive business outcomes — including improved waste management and fewer guest complaints — in 83.4% of the cases examined.

The takeaway: Going green costs Egyptian hotels less than what is generally assumed, pays back faster than most expect, and is increasingly becoming a baseline expectation. For guests, this means the hotel with the green certification isn’t necessarily the one charging more; it may just be the one that can afford to charge less. So next time you’re booking, do keep that in mind.