The first major industry-wide attempt to reduce holiday brochure wastage launches next week in a trial involving 100 agents and 25 tour operators.
Brochure distribution company BP Travel Marketing Services is running the three-month pilot. If successful, the charter will become permanent.
The move follows agents’ complaints of receiving too many brochures from operators, which means piles of unused brochures have to be dumped or recycled.
BP Travel Marketing Services managing director Paul Markland hopes the increasing recognition of environmental issues will make the pilot a success.
He said: “This is an attempt to overcome any mismatches of brochure supply to consumer demand. We need the support of agents and operators to prove the worth of the Green Brochure Charter.”
He admitted it could lead to distribution price rises because the number of brochures BP currently distributes could fall.
Travel Weekly will feature updates on the trial, which puts the onus on agents rather than operators to manage brochure stocks through BP’s Trade-Gate online ordering system. Agents can specify for the first time how many brochure packs they want.
Superbreak was the first operator to sign up and expects to send out fewer brochures as a result of the trial. Sales director Ian Mounser said: “We want to make sure there is as little waste as possible.”