Sounding Off: Travel brands must speak up - or others will assume the worst

Roman Townsend, Belvera Partners

“If a company can’t demonstrate its sustainability credentials, then stakeholders will quite reasonably assume the worst.”

Quote from Roman Townsend, managing director at Belvera Partners, in an article on PhocusWire this week on B2B travel brands' sustainability efforts.

Each Friday, PhocusWire dissects and debates an industry trend or new development covered by PhocusWire that week.

It seems nearly every day there is a new climate crisis making the news.

Consumers are becoming more aware of not just what is happening environmentally, but also economically and socially. As a result, they’re adapting their travel preferences, with 46% of travelers saying the pandemic has made them want to travel more sustainably in the future.

Consumer-focused travel brands have started to take note and are introducing new sustainability initiatives, but the case is not the same for B2B travel brands.

As Townsend says, that reasonably makes stakeholders in these companies “assume the worst.” And “the worst” is a poor position to be in for a B2B travel company.

Sustainability, now more than ever, must be a priority for every individual, government and business, and for the latter two, efforts around it must be made public.

Data shows that 83% of B2B travel companies “don’t produce something that can be vaguely called a sustainability ‘report.’”

The bare minimum is not being met among this sector of the travel industry, and the consequences – if not evident yet – will begin show up.

The Belvera Partners report cites a “lack of awareness on how to respond,” but awareness around the business case for sustainability has likely been known by many of these brands for some time.

The action of responding is what’s needed now. We may be far away from a “best case” scenario for travel brands, but any and all publicized efforts are required to begin moving away from the worst.