InteleTravel UK and Ireland managing director Tricia Handley-Hughes has urged tourist boards to further promote their responsible travel options, claiming “the messaging needs to change”.
Handley-Hughes said travel agents have a key role to play in recommending more responsible trips to their clients, but tourist boards can help the trade with research while also educating consumers.
Referencing advertising on public transport, she said: “I’m not sure I can see anything on sustainability there, so I feel the tourist boards need to push it up the agenda in terms of messaging.”
During Antor’s conference on responsible tourism, Handley-Hughes highlighted the variety of ways in which the travel industry is working to reduce emissions, energy consumption and wastage.
She said travel agents were ideally placed to convert sales for responsible trips.
“Maybe the responsible choice for a travel agent is making sure we’re including responsible options,” she said.
She said InteleTravel agents were “so hungry for education” and encouraged tourist boards to work more closely with the trade on responsible travel.
“I would urge you to share your strategies with all of the travel agent communities,” she said.
InteleTravel is in the early stages of its work on sustainability and responsible travel, she said, but it would like to make significant progress.
“There is far more we can do and we would love to promote more responsible product, so if someone wants to talk to us, come and talk to us,” she added.