This year programming of the Americas Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) will focus on educating the industry’s leaders on best practices and the importance of environmentally-friendly green hotels with a new green hotels track that includes a series of sessions discussing how to develop, convert, operate, and design a green hotel.

“While a small number of people in the hotel industry have been promoting the logic and merits of ‘green/sustainable’ development and operations for decades, the interest in the past few years has shot up like a rocket, not unlike the global population growth chart in Al Gore’s award winning movie, An Inconvenient Truth,” said Jim Burba, BHN president and ALIS chair. “Green is now being embraced by developers and owners and is being discussed in the boardrooms of the largest companies in the travel industry.”

One of the highlights of the ALIS convention is always the presentation of the International Society of Hospitality Consultants (ISHC) Pioneer Award. The Pioneer Award was established in 1996 to recognize an individual or organization for making an outstanding contribution, achievement, or improvement to the hospitality industry. This year’s winner is a pioneer of the green movement—developer and civil engineer Stanley Selengut, one of the fathers of “ecotourism.”

Selengut is the founder and owner of four ground-breaking eco-friendly beach resorts on the island of St. John, and was a partner with the U.S. National Parks Service in developing models and designs for future ecotourism resorts. His work has transformed the concept of sustainability, using waste and recycled products from the resorts to develop saleable arts and crafts. His latest project is a 51-acre resort community focusing on self-sufficient cottages and other green building processes. In addition, the resort will address the needs of people with physical disabilities.

“The lodging industry can no longer ignore green issues as the pressure mounts from customers and shareholders. By placing environmental issues center stage, ALIS has raised the bar for all key stakeholders and decision makers in the industry. Its significance can not be underestimated,” said Lyndall De Marco, executive director of the International Tourism Partnership, a program founded by The Prince of Wales.