Travelife is helping to boost satisfaction rates among holidaymakers, and agents are adding to customers’ enjoyment in destinations by encouraging engagement with local projects.
Both trends are a boost for companies that are acting on sustainability, after a survey for Tui of 3,000 holidaymakers found 53% rate companies that invest in sustainability higher than those that don’t.
Tui Group sustainable development director Jane Ashton said: “You can match a Travelife hotel to satisfaction in resort and to a more satisfying holiday. The research has prompted us to bring sustainability messages [more] to the fore.”
She reported a separate study of cruise clients that found: “People’s enjoyment of a holiday increases with the number of encounters they have with local people.”
Ashton said shop staff are driving contributions to sustainability projects in destinations, saying: “About 50% of shop customers make donations. Online it’s one-third.”
Abta-run sustainability scheme Travelife now has more than 1,450 member hotels and 1,000 certified against a checklist of 160-plus criteria in environmental management and other sustainability measures. All undergo an independent audit every two years.
Travelife recently expanded to city hotels. Business manager Soren Stuber reported hotels in New York, Miami, Bangkok, Colombo, Ho Chi Minh City, Rio de Janeiro, La Paz, Berlin, Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Lisbon and Ljubljana had joined, noting: “Previously, Travelife was only in resorts.”
The number of certified Tui properties, including those approved by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council, which oversees certification worldwide, grew by 23% to 1,170 last year, catering to 6.3 million holidaymakers. Tui aims to reach 10 million by 2020.