Sustainability is crucial to the future of the travel and tourism industry. But how can it be achieved and do customers really care? TUI UK head of sustainable development Jane Ashton reports
At TUI UK, and previously at First Choice Holidays, we’ve been pursuing environmental and community initiatives for a number of years.
While sustainability in a sector as carbon and water-dependent as leisure travel remains challenging, there is a lot that operators can do to minimise their negative impacts and maximise the positives.
A focus on addressing our contribution to climate change has reaped particular dividends.
By stepping up operational measures to fly even more efficiently – through increased direct routing, minimising onboard waste and reducing aircraft speed by a fraction – the combined Thomsonfly and First Choice Airways fleet saved 34,000 tonnes of CO2 over the past year.
That’s the equivalent of taking 10,000 cars off the road.
Environmental diagnostic audits of our flagship accommodation revealed £100,000 of potential savings by implementing energy and water efficiency measures – validated for instance by one of our Holiday Villages that has reduced both electricity and water consumption by an amazing 40% per guest night within a year.
Working with communities in destinations has helped develop excursions and holiday experiences that are not only authentic and memorable for our customers, but also increase economic opportunities for the local people who need it most.
For instance, 550 Gambian farmers have been trained on a demonstration farm to supply quality produce for hotels, while our customers visit the farm and surrounding villages on an excursion. Such projects have enabled us to develop volunteering opportunities for our employees.
But how much does the customer care?
There is doubtless a disconnect between how much our customers profess to care and their willingness to pay extra for their holiday.
Our strategy has therefore been to keep the customer proposition simple: Thomson and First Choice’s World Care Fund asks customers to pay £1 and as an added incentive TUI UK matches it. One-third of our customers choose to pay.
This simple mechanism has enabled us to raise £2 million over the past few years, with monies raised going to destination projects run by the Travel Foundation, and to ClimateCare which sources Gold Standard renewable energy projects in countries where we operate.
The fact that sustainable development is not a primary factor in their holiday purchase does not mean our customers don’t value knowing that they are making a difference in the world.
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