OTA eDreams has been censured over sustainability claims made in two adverts.
The advertising watchdog investigated two paid-for online display adverts which appeared last summer.
The first featured an aerial shot of a jungle and text that stated, “Puerto Rico sustainable destination”, while the second encouraged consumers to “discover our sustainable trips”.
The Advertising Standards Authority challenged whether the sustainability claims were misleading and upheld the view after both issues were investigated.
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The adverts were banned and eDreams was told “to ensure that the basis of future environmental claims, and their meaning, was made clear”.
The ASA added: “We reminded them that absolute environmental claims demanded a high level of substantiation.”
The ruling forms part of a wider piece of work on travel industry advertising and environmental claims, the authority noted.
“The ad was identified for investigation following intelligence gathered by our Active Ad Monitoring system, which uses AI to proactively search for online ads that might break the rules,” the ASA added.
The company confirmed that the adverts were no longer running.
In response to the ASA, eDreams said it assessed whether a destination was “sustainable” based on eight criteria.
It said it believed consumers would interpret the claim “sustainable destination” as taking into account its future economic, social and environmental impact – for example, a destination that promoted environmental conservation and biodiversity, or that implemented eco-friendly practices.
“Consumers would not understand the claim as including the environmental impact of reaching the destination,” the OTA added. “It was a claim about the destination itself.”
It provided examples which showed that a number of UK media outlets had used the phrase in that way.
The company did not limit its sustainable destinations list to those that did not require air travel “since doing so would have excluded all destinations and defeated their goal of encouraging consumers to consider the sustainability of their chosen destination”.
An eDreams spokesperson said: “This relates to an old campaign that has since been withdrawn.
“To support informed travel choices, we evaluated select destinations against eight rigorous criteria and robust sustainability measures, including official certifications by recognised bodies.
“We acknowledge that the ASA required additional considerations to complement our already comprehensive criteria, and we welcome their guidance on this matter.”