“Within 12 months of signing up operators must come up with a timetable for implementing the designated core values, otherwise they will lose their membership,” she said.
BAH managing director Roger Heape explained the initiative was an important first step towards minimising environmental damage caused by tourism.
He said:”This is the closest thing that we have to an industry code of conduct to ensure that tourism continues without killing the goose that lays the golden eggs,” he said.
nÊThe initiative is open to all tour operators. Fourteen companies have already signed up and Thomson Travel Group is shortly to become a member.
For more information call UNEPDivision of Technology, Industry and Economics on 00 33 1 4437 1450, or visit the Web site on www.toinitiative.org.
BRITISH Airways Holidays is the first major UK tour operator to sign up to an initiative to make the travel industry more environmentally friendly.
The Tour Operators’ Initiative for Sustainable Tourism Development was unveiled at the ITBin Germany earlier this month.
It is a joint project between major international tour operators such as BAH, Germany’s TUI Group, Scandinavian Leisure Group and Japan Travel Bureau and is supported by the United Nations Environment Programme, UNESCO, and the World Tourism Organisation.
The initiative aims to help tour operators improve their green track record by sharing information on best practice in environmental management and auditing; making more efficient use of energy and other resources; and creating tours which make less of an environmental and social impact.
The idea is that as well as making a contribution to the economic and social well being of local communities, the tour operators will also benefit from cost savings through increased efficiency and can offer consumers better quality tours thus enhancing their own image.
UNEP executive director Klaus Toepfer said:”Amore sustainable approach to the business of tourism is widely acknowledged as the principal way to maintain or increase revenue in the longer term.
“Sustainability should not be considered a threat to tourism but a means of securing its future prosperity.”
Practical help will be offered in the form of workshops and conferences, regional working groups on key issues, training and supply of guides and manuals.
UNEP associate programme officer Giulia Carbone said the scheme would do more than pay lip service to green issues. Tour operators would have to start by addressing their own supply chain and weeding out bad practice. “Within 12 months of signing up operators must come up with a timetable for implementing the designated core values, otherwise they will lose their membership,” she said.
BAH managing director Roger Heape explained the initiative was an important first step towards minimising environmental damage caused by tourism.
He said:”This is the closest thing that we have to an industry code of conduct to ensure that tourism continues without killing the goose that lays the golden eggs,” he said.
nÊThe initiative is open to all tour operators. Fourteen companies have already signed up and Thomson Travel Group is shortly to become a member.
For more information call UNEPDivision of Technology, Industry and Economics on 00 33 1 4437 1450, or visit the Web site on www.toinitiative.org.
l A trekking tourist in Nepal consumes 6kg of wood per day in a country already short of fuel
l A big hotel in Egypt uses the same amount ofelectricity in a year as 3,600 middle-income Egyptian households.
l Caribbean cruise ships generate 70,000 tonnes of waste each year.
lÊThree-quarters of the sand dunes on the Mediterranean coastline between Spain and Sicily have disappeared, mainly as a result of urbanisation linked to touristdevelopment.
¥ Source:United Nations Environment Programme