ABTA and Travel Weekly lead the travel industry green debate

The time for talking about the environment and sustainable tourism is over for the travel industry.

Representatives of leading travel companies and organisations met this week to begin to thrash out a strategy for tackling environmental issues in a debate initiated by ABTA and Travel Weekly.

Simpson Travel managing director Simon Beeching, who chaired the Green Debate, said: “The industry has moved on from fluffy talk about the environment. Company boards are waking up. But we’re in danger of losing the debate before we’ve engaged in it.”

ABTA head of consumer affairs Keith Richards warned: “Leadership on this is coming from the planet, in a series of disasters showing things are changing. We need to raise public awareness without putting people off travel.”

Mike Mason, managing director of carbon offsetting trust Climatecare.org, challenged the industry to recognise the scale of the task. “Board rooms are 10-20 years behind the debate. Climate change is the central issue and we run the risk of tinkering around the edges.”

First Choice mainstream holidays managing director Dermot Blastland argued for separating the impact of aviation from what happens in destinations, and warned against pretending to be concerned about the environment without committing to initiatives.

“There is a danger of  ‘greenwash’ when companies rush in and there is no substance. We don¹t just need lovely intentions, we need tracking and auditing.” He added: “Government leadership on this has been appalling.”

Leeds Co-operative Travel general manager Paul Daley said the Co-op’s experience as a retail pioneer of fairtrade products could be useful. “Customers did not want to pay more initially, but now the Co-op offers 100 fairtrade lines. We should be informing people without making them feel guilty.”

Travel Foundation chief executive Sue Hurdle agreed: “Retailers have a great opportunity to educate the public.” The next stage will be at the ABTA Travel Convention in November, including a guide to sustainable tourism for agents from the Travel Foundation.

Proposals from this week’s summit will be aired to the wider industry. Industry representatives welcomed news that a sustainable tourism working group has been created across four Government departments.

Victoria Turner, of the Foreign and Commenwealth Office’s sustainable tourism development team, said: “We recognise you need the Government to speak with one voice.”

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