Travel industry accelerates action on sustainability – will consumers follow?

The unexpected and unprecedented slowdown – in many cases shutdown – of the travel industry in the last year has spurred an acceleration of activity by some stakeholders in the area of sustainability, in effect brought on by a “perfect storm” of pre-existing momentum around this topic coupled with pandemic-induced time for reflection and innovation.

In recent weeks there have been a flurry of announcements from brands such as CWT, Accor, Singapore Airlines and Intrepid Travel about new initiatives to reduce carbon emissions, support nature conservation, benefit local communities and more.

The latest brand to take action around sustainability is TourRadar, which today is launching a new suite of tools that includes a dedicated page and filters to help customers find tours that incorporate sustainability, for example those that are locally owned or that support community development and environmental projects. The company is also now displaying a carbon offset calculator and contribution widget in partnership with CHOOOSE and providing more content about sustainable travel.

TourRadar is also joining the Future of Tourism Coalition, a collaborative effort of six non-governmental organizations launched last year to create a more sustainable future for tourism.

Jeremy Sampson, CEO of the Travel Foundation – one of the Coalition’s founding organizations – says he expects many more travel companies will be announcing plans to address climate change and other sustainability issues in the coming months, in part related to the United Nations Climate Change Conference, known as COP26, in November in Glasgow.

“We are preparing for the tourism sector to have I think what will be the largest presence it has ever had at an event like this,” Sampson says.

Later this summer, the Travel Foundation in partnership with the United National World Tourism Organization, the U.N. Environment Programme, VisitScotland and Tourism Declares, will ask for signatories to its soon-to-be-released “Glasgow Declaration,” calling for “increased urgency across travel and tourism to accelerate climate action... with a goal of uniting the sector around a shared message and concrete pathways for action.”

Consumer sentiment = action?

Recent surveys support the idea that as travel resumes, consumers will be looking to choose destinations and suppliers that are addressing sustainability. Booking.com’s Sustainable Travel Report 2021, based on surveys of 30,000 people in 30 countries, finds 46% say the pandemic has made them want to travel more sustainably in the future.

But notes Sampson, “It’s hard, because there isn’t so much travel happening right now, to understand if sentiment will really translate to behavior.”

For now, more and more brands are operating under the assumption that interest in communities and the environment will indeed impact consumers’ future travel decisions. 

TourRadar CEO Travis Pittman says as he and his colleagues have reflected on the last 15 months, surveyed customers and studied the industry, it became clear that the company needed to “change for the better as we start to build back,” which is starting with the launch of these new tools and content.

But he also acknowledges there is a question of whether consumer sentiment around sustainability is strong enough to translate in terms of spending.

We believe the more we’ve been investing in responsible travel and the purpose side of our business, the more we have been growing.

Zina Bencheikh - Intrepid Travel

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“There are some operators who lean really into the sustainability side, so their trips are probably more expensive... so I think it’s going to be interesting to see if consumers are willing to pay maybe a bit of a premium to be able to do something that really resonates with their core beliefs,” he says. 

The company’s new carbon offset opportunity will provide a clear indication of consumers’ willingness to spend on this issue: after booking a tour, users can plug in their full trip details (flights, trip length, accommodation, ground transport) into a calculator to determine the cost to offset that trip. Those that want to do so can fund one of three carbon mitigation projects, in Cambodia, Kenya and Peru, that support nature and wildlife. 

Pittman says the company will also analyze user behavior to better understand their level of interest and usage of filters to surface sustainable travel opportunities. 

Bottom line impact

Earlier this month Intrepid Travel, the Australia-based tour operator and the largest travel company certified as B Corporation - a designation based on its “social and environmental performance” - announced a partnership with MEET Network to bring that organization’s ecotourism experiences in Croatia and Crete to some of Intrepid’s tours in those regions, with plans to add MEET experiences in additional locations soon.

Zina Bencheikh, Intrepid Travel managing director EMEA, says it is critical that all sectors of the travel industry take responsibility to protect the planet – and she has no doubt the customers will follow.

“The more we will have stakeholders from the industry being part of the solution, the more we can present to customers options that are only sustainable or mostly sustainable,” Benchiekh says.

“And in the niche that we [Intrepid Travel] work in for 32 years – sustainable travel, immersive experiences, local experiences - we’ve been growing exponentially and much faster than the rest of the industry, especially in the last four or five years. And in fact we believe the more we’ve been investing in responsible travel and the purpose side of our business, the more we have been growing, which shows to me clearly there is a demand and more need for this type of travel.”

Pittman says the 2,500 tour providers TourRadar works with are “very adaptable” and willing to make changes based on customers’ interests, so he’s hopeful progress on sustainability initiatives can be made as companies such as his take action to educate smaller suppliers on what is happening in this space and to surface their efforts to consumers. 

Bencheikh says Intrepid’s work with MEET Network – which is doing the work on the ground in places like Crete and Croatia to partner with the local governments, to train guides and hosts and to develop itineraries based on local expertise – is an example of the type of partnerships that are needed.

“We can’t fix the problems that tourism creates to the planet by ourselves as a company or as a private sector. We always believe a collaboration of private, public and not-for-profit is critical and will make a much bigger difference. Everyone has a role to play,” she says.

Sampson says he wants industry stakeholders to understand there are two parts to that role – first the actions travel companies can take within their businesses to operate more sustainably and second, actions they can take to influence others.

“Do I work closely with the destination itself, am I involved with suppliers, am I communicating with travelers directly? And what is the role we play within each of these connection points to be able to affect change,” he says.

“The more there is this thinking - that it is eco-systemic and that there are good alignments in terms of what we are trying to accomplish - the better we will actually be able to achieve something at a systems level.”