The Travel Corporation has launched a five-year sustainability strategy for a ‘regenerative return to travel’ post Covid-19.
The company’s five-year How We Tread Right strategy includes 11 goals including carbon neutrality by 2030 or sooner; reducing printed brochures, food waste and single-use plastics; and boosting biodiversity.
TTC, which is behind brands including Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Contiki and Uniworld, has also vowed to have at least one Make Travel Matter experience on 750 tours, or 50% of the TTC portfolio, by 2025.
Experiences include a refugee tour of Berlin, a foraging and cooking trip in Ireland and a visit to a café which supports female acid attack survivors in India. Each has been assessed using the United Nations’ sustainable development goals.
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The 11 goals is has incorporated into its How We Tread Right strategy are:
- Goal 1: Achieve carbon neutrality by 2030 or sooner
- Goal 2: Source 50% of our electricity from renewable sources by 2025
- Goal 3: Reduce food waste by 50% across all hotels and ships by 2025
- Goal 4: Increase use of local and organic products in our supply chain by 2025
- Goal 5: Reduce printed brochures by 50% by 2025
- Goal 6: Eliminate as many unnecessary single use plastics from our operations and itineraries by 2022
- Goal 7: Include at least one Make Travel Matter Experience on 50% of all itineraries by 2025
- Goal 8: Achieve a 20% increase of itineraries visiting developing regions by specialist brands by 2025
- Goal 9: Increase employee and market sentiment regarding diversity and inclusion across our brands
- Goal 10: Complete 30,000 volunteer hours by 2025
- Goal 11: Ensure all wildlife experiences across TTC brands adhere to our Animal Welfare Policy by 2021
Each Make Travel Matter (MTM) experience will be identified using a proprietary assessment tool, measuring the tour against the United Nations’ sustainable development goals in a bid to give travellers assurance that it has a positive impact. The tool has been endorsed by the World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC).
To achieve its carbon neutrality goal by 2030 or sooner, TTC intends to invest in clean energy, low-emissions transportation and innovation. Xigera Safari Lodge, part of the Red Carnation Hotel Collection, which will open in Botswana in December 2020 will run on nearly 100% solar power; and escorted touring brands Contiki and Trafalgar have measured the carbon footprint of their trips which will be published later in the year.
TTC’s TreadRight Foundation ambassadors – activist and filmmaker Céline Cousteau, indigenous storyteller and activist Sarain Fox and National Geographic photographer Ami Vitale shared how travel has impacted their lives on a video.
Chief executive Brett Tollman said: “Our comprehensive How We Tread Right strategy is the progressive commitment to sustainability and the planet that TTC and our travel brands must make right now to achieve our 11 goals and be accountable for our impact.
“Never before has our industry been faced with so many challenges, many of which are directly tied to the heavy environmental footprint on the planet. At TTC, we believe that sustainability is critical to the return of our business post-COVID-19.”
In an interview with Travel Weekly, chief TreadRight and sustainability officer, Shannon Guihan, said: “We made our targets as a way to improve the many woes of the world.”