Abta’s Travelife for Hotels and Accommodations sustainability initiative has clocked up its 1,000th member.
The milestone was reached with the involvement of the Side Star Park Hotel in Side, Antalya in Turkey.
The hotel joins a range of properties across 45 countries that are already using the sustainability system to improve the way they manage their environmental and social impacts.
The number of hotels becoming part of the scheme has more than doubled in the past year.
Abta has also launched a sustainability workshop for agents and operators covering key issues around sustainability, how the Travelife initiative works and outlining what role travel companies can play.
Travelife remains the supply chain tool of choice for operators such as Thomas Cook and Tui in the UK, Germany, Holland, Scandinavia and other countries, who use it to manage the sustainability performance of their suppliers. Many operators have made Travelife membership a mandatory part of their supplier contracts.
Abta head of destinations and sustainability Nikki White said: “This is an important milestone for Travelife for Hotels and Accommodations. We now have members all over the world, from popular European destinations like Spain and Turkey, to those further afield like the Caribbean, Brazil and Thailand.
“This marks an exciting achievement in Travelife’s development, particularly as consumer awareness of social and environmental issues is becoming increasingly mainstream.
“We look forward to a busy year, with more tour operators, hotels and accommodations using Travelife to manage and improve their sustainability performance.”
Cook’s government and external affairs director Andy Cooper said: “Thomas Cook is delighted that Travelife have reached the key milestone of 1,000 hotel members, and pleased that this is a hotel used by our German Neckermann customers.
“We recognise the importance of the Travelife sustainability system in promoting good practices and behaviours on the part of hoteliers and will continue to encourage our hotel partners to sign up to Travelife – a mark which is being increasingly recognised by our customers.”
Tui Travel mainstream purchasing managing director Garry Wilson said: “With 1,000 hotels now subscribed to Travelife and working to improve their environmental and social impacts, Travelife has initiated sustainability change at scale. Tui brands around the world look forward to continuing to promote Travelife as it goes from strength to strength.”