Abta has called on travel agents to save fuel by closing their doors in winter as it reports UK retailers could be wasting up to £1 billion a year on fuel by keeping doors open.
The association is working on a package of measures to help agents cut costs and is urging “Don’t heat the high street” after conducting a retail sustainability survey, exclusively revealed in Travel Weekly this week.
The survey suggests unwanted brochures are major additional source of waste. Almost two-thirds of the more than 500 agents surveyed said brochures were the main type of waste they had to dispose of. Almost half complained they received brochures they did not request.
Now Abta is seeking to broker new arrangements with brochure producers and distributors.
Abta sustainable tourism manager Simon Pickup said: “Many retailers are taking responsibility for their waste and recycling brochures. However, there is a clear opportunity to promote efficiency gains in this area for operators and retailers.”
Nikki White, the association’s head of sustainability and destinations, said: “Sustainability has been seen to belong to tour operators, but we need to understand where we can help make a difference for agents too.
“In destinations, we see a direct correlation between hotels and operators with high rates of customer satisfaction and those managing green issues. I have no doubt that is also true for retailers.”
Abta quoted a Cambridge University study from 2009-10 which estimated the total wasted-fuel bill due to retailers keeping doors at up to £1 billion.