The number of Travelife-certified hotels will pass 1,000 this year despite the sustainability scheme requiring properties meet toughened criteria.
The Abta scheme has more than 1,300 overseas hotels registered and 850 certified as meeting Travelife sustainability standards following independent audits.
But Travelife business manager Soren Stober aims to have 3,000 Travelife-certified hotels within three years – one in 10 of the overseas properties sold by UK travel firms.
Stober said: “The UK market contracts with about 30,000 properties. Our target in the mid-term is to have 3,000 properties subscribed and certified. So our aim is to reach at least 10% over the next two to three years.”
The Travelife sustainability system was set up by the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) – now part of Abta – in 2007. But the criteria the scheme now uses were introduced this year.
Stober told Travel Weekly: “We realised it was time to update the criteria to make sure what we check is in line with current sustainable thinking.
“When Travelife was set up, there were elements not in the criteria – such as biodiversity and animal welfare. Now we also have a stronger emphasis on labour rights and greater scrutiny by an outside organisation.
“We reviewed the standards and achieved recognition from the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) last year.” The GSTC certifies sustainable tourism initiatives around the world.
Stober said: “We stopped using the old checklist last December and started to audit properties against the new checklist in April.
“There are now more criteria. Originally there were 99, some mandatory and some not. Now there are 163 and they are all mandatory. We’ve strengthened the area of labour and human rights, and added animal welfare.
“We’ve also changed the way we prepare hotels for on-site assessment. Previously, hotels could just make a self-assessment [ahead of an audit]; now they have to submit mandatory documents.”