Hotels have a responsibility to the destination, argues Victor Abou-Ghanem, CEO of STORY Hospitality. For Victor, sustainable hospitality must go further and recognize culture as part of the ecosystem we must protect.
The first thing I notice when I arrive somewhere new is rarely the building; it’s more subtle than that. It might be the way people greet one another in the morning, the aromas drifting from a kitchen, the pattern of a woven textile, or the sound of music carried across a courtyard. Perhaps the warm pride with which someone explains a local custom. Together, these form the living identity of a destination.
In hospitality, we typically speak about sustainability through energy, water, waste, and carbon emissions. Of course, these issues matter deeply, and any responsible hotel operator must take them seriously. But I believe the next stage of sustainable hospitality must go further; it needs to recognize culture as part of the ecosystem we must protect.
For destination hotels, especially, cultural sustainability cannot be considered a “soft” extra. It’s a central tenet of authenticity, guest experience, local economic value, and long-term destination resilience.
A hotel can be beautifully designed, immaculately run, and environmentally conscious, but still fail the place around it if it treats local culture as a theme rather than a relationship. And at STORY Hospitality, we’ve noticed that our guests are becoming more aware of this. They don’t want to travel thousands of miles only to find the same experience they could have had anywhere else. They want – and need – to feel where they are, to understand something of the people, the food, the landscape, the stories, and the traditions that give a destination its soul.
Reckoning with Our Responsibility
I believe destination hotels must move away from the old idea of culture as entertainment. A dance performance, a local menu, or a craft display can be wonderful, but only if it is approached with respect, context, and continuity.
Culture should not be extracted and presented as a backdrop to luxury. Rather, it should be supported as something living and evolving, owned by the communities that carry it.
Culture should not be extracted and presented as a backdrop to luxury. Rather, it should be supported as something living and evolving, owned by the communities that carry it.
Victor Abou-GhanemCollaborating with Local Communities
This is also where cultural sustainability connects with local economic value. If hotels can work with local farmers, artisans, producers, guides, and creative communities, for example, they create a wider circle of benefit. Procurement becomes a way to support livelihoods, preserve skills, and keep value within the destination.
A local-first approach is not always the easiest route. It means understanding seasonality, quality, capacity, and the realities facing smaller producers, but it’s worth the effort to create memorable experiences. Guests can feel the difference between something imported for convenience and something rooted in the place they have come to discover.
Cultural sustainability also matters for the people working within hotels. Hospitality is a human industry, and our teams are often the most powerful storytellers of a destination. When we invest in local talent, training, and career development, we are not only addressing workforce needs, we also strengthen the connection between the hotel and its community.
This is particularly important across the MENA region and the Indian Ocean, where tourism is increasingly linked to economic diversification, national identity, and long-term development. As the sector grows, we must ask what kind of growth we want: More rooms, more arrivals, and more revenue are important, but not enough.
The real measure of success is whether tourism leaves the destination stronger and more capable of sustaining what makes it unique.
Plugging into Technology
Technology has a role to play, but must be handled carefully. Yes, digital tools can help us personalise service and operate more efficiently, but technology should never flatten the human texture of hospitality. Instead, these tools should help us deliver service with more intelligence and care, not replace the local knowledge and warmth that make travel memorable.
The same principle applies to environmental sustainability. The strongest hotels will be those that understand nature, culture, and community as connected. Reducing waste, eliminating single-use plastics, conserving water, and improving energy efficiency are essential – protecting the spirit of a destination is part of that same responsibility. A community cannot be separated from the people and traditions that give it meaning.
“Luxury” Gets a New Definition
For many years, luxury was associated with abundance, distance, and exclusivity. Today, I believe true luxury is becoming more thoughtful.
It’s the privilege of being welcomed into a place with care, and the confidence that your stay has supported, rather than strained, the destination. We want guests to leave with the memory of a conversation, a meal, a sound, a story, or a gesture that could not have happened anywhere else.
For hotel operators, this requires humility. We must listen before we curate, and partner before we programme. Ask yourself whether experiences on offer are genuinely beneficial to local communities, or simply attractive to visitors. We must be willing to measure success not only through occupancy and rate, but through trust and our contribution to a place.
I don’t think cultural sustainability should sit in a CSR report or a marketing campaign. Cultural sustainability should influence the partners we choose, the stories we tell, the menus, the materials we use, and how we train our teams.
A destination hotel has the power to open a door between guest and place. If we get it right, hospitality can help protect heritage, support communities, and create deeper, more memorable journeys. If we get it wrong, we risk turning remarkable places into interchangeable products.
We are not just hosting guests in a location, we’re helping to safeguard the reason they wanted to come in the first place.
