Food waste has emerged as a critical sustainability focus for the tourism industry, with experts at Arabian Travel Market (ATM) 2025 identifying it as a catalyst for developing circular economy practices. During the “What a Waste! How to Better Manage Food Waste in Tourism” session, industry leaders highlighted how addressing food waste offers both environmental benefits and operational efficiencies.
The discussions revealed how hospitality businesses face sustainability challenges arising from operational inefficiencies, changing consumer expectations, and growing demand for responsible business practices. Experts positioned food waste reduction and energy management as immediate opportunities for achieving significant environmental impact.
“I believe that one of the key challenges facing the hospitality industry is the disconnection between operation and impact,” noted Enas Sobhy Ali, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility at Tadweer. “As the priority for the hospitality industry is customer satisfaction, this can lead to overproduction and significant food waste from hotels. One of the most effective and simplest ways to address this is to start introducing waste auditing and enhancing the system for recycling bins.”
Scale of food waste in hospitality
According to the UNEP Food Waste Index Report 2024 cited during the session, approximately 1.05 billion tonnes of food were wasted globally across retail, food service, and household sectors. Food services accounted for 28% of this waste, highlighting the significant opportunity for improvement within the hospitality sector.
The hospitality industry’s focus on customer satisfaction often leads to overproduction, contributing substantially to this waste. Speakers emphasized that implementing food waste reduction strategies could drive broader circular economy adoption throughout the tourism value chain.
Dr. Amal Albedwawi, Senior Food Safety Specialist at UAE Food Bank, addressed the structural challenges in implementing food rescue programs across hospitality businesses.
“The main challenge we face when it comes to rescuing and recycling food from hotels and hospitality entities is the many different management approaches within the industry,” Dr. Albedwawi explained. “Each hotel operates separately from one another, so we need to explain the merits of recycling food waste to each manager individually. We try to make them understand that we work closely with the Food Safety Department to ensure that the participating hotels will not undertake any risk by participating in our food bank programmes.”
This fragmentation highlights the need for industry-wide standards and collaborative approaches to food waste management in hospitality.
Connecting to broader sustainability goals
The discussions positioned food waste reduction as part of a larger sustainability framework that includes energy generation and carbon footprint reduction. Speakers presented practical solutions for hotel owners, operators, and investors looking to incorporate environmental stewardship into their core business strategies.
These conversations aligned with ATM 2025’s broader theme of enhanced connectivity and innovation, with the Future Stage hosting additional discussions on technology advancements in travel. The exhibition attracted more than 55,000 travel professionals from 166 countries to Dubai World Trade Centre for its 32nd edition.
As the tourism industry continues to navigate post-pandemic recovery, sustainability initiatives like food waste reduction represent opportunities to rebuild with greater resilience and environmental responsibility.
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