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Sustainable tourism: the choices of male and female travelers
According to a recent study by the World Resources Institute, we know that among the activities with the highest impact of CO₂ emissions is the transportation sector, which impacts 16.2 percent.
Conscious consumers, especially younger ones, say they are willing to spend even more than average to have environmentally friendly services. The combination of these two data confirms the importance of a new type of tourism, more sustainable and responsible, which keeps the magic of travel alive, but without negatively impacting the environment.
For this reason, we at Up2You have created a series of sustainable tourism solutions that travel and hospitality companies can implement, integrating simple actions into their operations, which can have a positive impact in terms of sustainability and visibility.
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What is sustainable tourism?
The World Tourism Organization (UNWTO) proposes a definition of the concept of sustainable tourism:
"it's about tourism that is conscious of its present and future social, economic and environmental impact, meeting the needs of visitors, local communities, the environment and businesses."
There are several researches confirming that this concept is increasingly present in the industry, precisely because of its high environmental and social impact. According to a research by Junker which surveyed more than 40,000 Italian travelers, nearly 63 percent of the people surveyed take into account the sustainability of a trip when planning it.
This figure aligns with everything we know about younger consumers, particularly Millennials and Gen Z, but for the first time the survey also looked at more mature travelers. What it highlighted, along with another McKinsey signature survey, is that many consider travel to be a pleasure that should not be tainted by guilt. That's why they are willing to fly on carbon neutral planes and stay with sustainable hospitality companies.
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Sustainable tourism ideas for businesses
In the case of a travel company, the most immediate way to reduce its carbon footprint would be to optimize transportation, replacing it with electric vehicles as much as possible, ensure that seats are all filled to dilute costs (economic and environmental) among passengers, and offset the CO₂ emitted by supporting certified emission capture projects.
Hotels and accommodations can also find ways to promote sustainability: the easiest action to take is to reduce or completely eliminate single-use products and the use of plastic packaging, or entire meals (including breakfasts) can be made 0 km, or donate a portion of each reservation to offsetting projects that offset emissions.
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The benefits of sustainable tourism
The benefits of embarking on a sustainability journey if you work in tourism are numerous: it is an opportunity to reduce your company's carbon footprint, but also to respond to the demands of travelers and their concerns about the carbon emissions of travel and stays. Travel thus becomes once again just a pleasure, a desire shared by companies and consumers who together choose the most sustainable route.
In addition, large multinational corporations will soon also have to report on the CO₂ emissions of partners and employees. A company that organizes travel under the banner of sustainable tourism thus gains a competitive advantage in potential partnerships.
But how does one actually become a company that fits the definition of sustainable tourism? By starting with the basics: avoiding unnecessary travel, greater investment in offsetting, conscious choices by both the guest and those running the facility so as to reduce the impact of the stay and services offered, including transportation.
