The United Nations World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) and its partners in the Nearly Zero Energy Hotels (neZEH) initiative have presented a new tool aimed at lowering energy use in hotels.

The neZEH toolkit was presented at the FITUR, an international tourism trade fair which is currently being held in the Spanish capital of Madrid. It is a range of measures that allow hotel owners to assess energy use and identify where energy savings can be made.

It is co-funded with the European Commission, which aims to speed up the rate of renovating hotels into zero energy buildings.

The neZEH toolkit will be available from March 2016 and complies with European Union regulations for nearly zero energy buildings, which will be in force by 2020.

UNWTO have long highlighted sustainability as one of its stated goals.

"As tourism is a force for good, we need to ensure the promotion and development of sustainable, resilient and responsible tourism, which requires vision, innovation, correct planning, good management, sound monitoring and the inclusion of all the relevant stakeholders, including consumers." said Marcio Favilla, UNWTO's Executive Director for Operational Programs and Institutional Relations.