Which travel companies are going green?

Climate change is driving customer perception, increasing legislation and increasing costs. Travel bosses should be plotting hard or actively trying to create a business that will work in this era of climate change. But who is paying lip service? Which travel companies are actually doing something and who are sticking their heads in the sand?
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Climate change is driving customer perception, increasing legislation and increasing costs. Travel bosses should be plotting hard or actively trying to create a business that will work in this era of climate change. But who is paying lip service? Which travel companies are actually doing something and who are sticking their heads in the sand?

There is little doubt that climate change will have a huge influence on consumer choices in the 21st century. It’s already forcing top travel executives to turn their heads and assess how they will do business in the near future. The travel industry and especially airlines are under attack and could very easily have to pick up a huge share of the bill for the world’s environmental woes. The industry needs to do something but the question is what?

Move first to reap rewards or… really XXXX up

A few travel companies have started to move on this vital issue. But their steps are cautious. The fear of doing nothing and the fear of doing the wrong thing is finely balanced. The trouble is that the problem is so vast and with so many variables that firm action is just damn scary! Smaller companies (possibly with less to lose and more to gain) are as ever moving first, but it won’t be long until the big boys also step in.

For the last few months I have been talking to a lot of industry leaders and there does seem to be three environmentally led issues/challenges that are common to those of you who make their money by selling travel products.

Carbon offsetting – Sometimes seen as a green life line for the travel business, the offsetting industry is also vulnerable to adverse media coverage. For a travel company that’s spent thousands carefully promoting their travel brand, a Sunday Paper exclusive damning their chosen scheme could wreck green sales and possibly share values. Whilst many offsetting organisations are truly committed to what they do, they are easily tarred with the “what a great way to make cash” brush. The only truly independent judge of the offsetting schemes seems to be www.cdmgoldstandard.org. They are backed by 37 non-governmental organisations worldwide that are driving the climate change debate. UK travel associations have set up the Tourism Industry Carbon Offset Service. Its developer, a Dick Sisman, is particularly caustic about some of the other offsetting schemes out there.

Carbon auditing - Currently 225 institutional investors have put their names on the Carbon Disclosure Project Report and a massive 91% of the FTSE 500 companies have responded. It is important, when being open, that people like what you are revealing. So how should you approach this tricky area? Surely governments like audits as it means more tax - why help them? What are the right and wrong ways to report your emissions? When will this become a legal responsibility? What could go wrong if you just continue to keep schtum?

Assessing who will buy green products and How do you get your travel products on the environmental shopping list?- It’s all very well the media and government saying we have to turn green but in order to stay in the black you have to be successfully targeting and selling your new product. Long-lived travel players take advantage of the often changing market to get ahead, so what are the opportunities out there for the green travel company? Exactly how big is the green market? How fast is that market growing? How do you recognise your customer and communicate with customers and share holders in an era of climate change? In short, how the hell do you sell to the fast growing numbers of Mr and Mrs Green?

Producing the travel products that actually are greener! Once you get past the PR and communications guys it’s this topic that really keeps the bosses awake. Trends are emerging. Longer and less frequent holidays seem like they are making a comeback. Big businesses trying to go carbon neutral are really challenging their corporate travel partners. Hotels are now doing more than cleaning their towels less often and airlines are talking about greener planes, routes and just as importantly how to make this complex idea green common sense to the consumer?

So you read this far to get to a list of travel companies who are going green. Well, a lot are talking about it but few are happy to get up in a conference and explain why and what they are doing in the name of climate change. Check out this link to see who is and who isn’t up there http://www.eyefortravel.com/futures/agenda.asp