The Tourism Ministry will announce a new “Green Hotel” standard later this month in an effort to make the industry more environmentally friendly, senior officials say.

Tourism Minister Thong Khon said on Friday that while it will not be immediately compulsory for all hotel venues to adopt the standard, the government is working towards installing an industry-wide benchmark for energy and water efficiency, recycling and minimum green space.

“The purpose is to encourage accommodation service providers to start thinking about energy and water saving and creating a greener space to cut down pollution from their operation to comply with ASEAN policy towards green tourism destination,” he said, without detailing the cost for operators to attain the government’s new standard.

“More tourists are now well aware of green-friendly and environment protection. They tend to choose a place with green standards to stay at.”

Cambodian Hotel Association president Luu called on all hotels to adhere to the Green Hotel initiative.

“The private sector should look at this standard and participate to turn their hotels into greener spaces, especially new hotels,” Meng said.

“It will cost more money to build a green hotel than a normal hotel, but they have long-term benefits.”

Meng was confident that most hotel operators would adopt the ministry’s new standards, which are expected to come into effect within the next two weeks.