Sustainable Travel: Re-imagining the the world of travel & tourism

The World Tourism Organization defines sustainable travel as “tourism that takes full account of its current and future economic, social and environmental impacts, addressing the needs of its visitors, the industry, the environment and host communities”.

Sadly, so much of the travel industry isn’t sustainable from cruises to flights, to all-inclusive resorts, over tourism and pollution. In fact, tourism is responsible for about 5% of global CO2 emissions and now with climate change, a very real threat to the survival of the planet as we know it, this needs to change.

Surveys indicate a silver lining to the pandemic is a heightened commitment to “sustainable” travel by consumers. According to a recent study by travel company Virtuoso, four in five people (82%) said the pandemic has made them want to travel more responsibly in the future. 

How do we rediscover the joy of travelling?

The Covid-19 pandemic upended the travel and hospitality business like none other. Despite vaccine passports allowing travel, the hospitality industry needs to incentivize leisure travel and ensure sustainable demand. Enterprises must adapt to the new reality and innovate their product and service offering in a challenging business environment.

Against this backdrop, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Climate Change 2021 report provides a sobering reality check: ‘“It is indisputable that human activities are causing climate change, making extreme climate events including heat waves, heavy rainfall, and droughts more frequent and severe.”

The travel and hospitality industry has an outsized environmental footprint, from carbon emissions of air travel to energy and water consumption at hotels and waste generation in the entire process. Enterprises need to evaluate their operations from a sustainability lens and engage with a growing cohort of consumers making brand choices influenced by a green quotient.

This customer demography is pivoting to renewable sources of energy, electric vehicles and circular economy. Travel and hospitality enterprises need to recognize this consumer shift and design a guest experience that fosters a lifestyle of responsible behaviour and action.

Digital smarts for travel as usual

Digital technology can be a catalyst for this business transformation. Global hotel chains and airports can adopt smart technology to measure / monitor their carbon emissions and resource consumption to drive energy efficiency. In addition, a shift from fossil fuels to solar power, use of electric buggy cars to transport guests within the facility, and use of motion sensors to illuminate rooms can rationalize the spend on power consumption. Similarly, recycling water to maintain the garden landscape and using motion sensor taps and hand dryers rationalize the use of a precious resource. Incentivizing guests to reduce their waste footprint can be a tool too.

Airlines inducting aircraft made of composite materials, incorporating fuel efficient engines and using sustainable aviation fuel can reduce operational expenditure as well as minimize carbon emissions. United Airlines, the first US airline to become a member of the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), adopts environment-friendly policies such as operating a lighter aircraft fleet, using aviation biofuel, and ensuring less thrust at lower altitudes in the air. The airline uses electric and alternative fuels for ground service equipment and has Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certified facilities on the ground.

The travel industry needs to reimagine the guest experience with a contactless end-to-end journey. From booking a flight to boarding the aircraft, from a bespoke in-flight experience to receiving baggage conveniently on the carousel at the destination, airlines and airports need to innovate. Digital technology can maximize safety and convenience by developing DIY functionalities for checking in at the airport and hotel, weighing and screening checked baggage, issuing baggage tags and room access keys, among other functional features.

Sustainability for memorable travel

Hospitality enterprises should engage with customers by offering local and immersive journeys that match with interests of seasoned travelers. Hotels can develop a category of purposeful holidays focused on ecotourism and sustainability such as rewilding projects in South America, midsummer birding in the Arctic region, and foraging for produce in Provence and Tuscany.

Of course, there are trailblazing leaders emerging in this space.

A pioneer in sustainable travel is Six Senses Hotels Resorts Spa, part of the InterContinental Hotels Group. Six Senses Laamu, its luxury spa resort in Maldives, founded Earth Lab to reduce emissions from transportation and grow microgreens, mushrooms and vegetable produce rather than import ingredients. The resort has provided safe, drinking water to 18,573 community members and donated 97 water purification systems. The Manta Trust NGO and a marine team protect 500+ resident sea turtles and 135 resident manta rays. The hotel has initiated a seagrass campaign to protect 10 million+ square feet (933,000+ square meters) of seagrass meadows. The resort engages with budding conservationists aged 6 to 16 years with a Junior Marine Biology Program. It organizes boat rides around coral blocks 20-meters below the surface teeming with clean wrasse for Laamu’s resident manta rays. The educative and adventure trip is also available online.

Technology enables new product (and service) development by driving digital marketing, customer segmentation, better insights into customer behavior and loyalty management. Perhaps, the silver lining in the cloud is technology making the skies more friendly to fly, hotels more inviting, and the whole travel experience more memorable for everyone.

After all, travel should be a joy for the entire ecosystem.