World Economic Forum (November 2022)
As COP27 kicks off, the urgency and scale of addressing the global climate and environmental challenges are once again taking centre stage. Accounting for an estimated 11% of global emissions, a share that is expected to grow, the Travel and Tourism (T&T) sector will play a critical role in meeting global climate goals.
In this context, governments and investors have mounting pressure on the sector to reduce emissions and increase sustainability through more stringent emissions standards, green tax incentives, and growing ESG-linked investments. Moreover, an increasing number of consumers are indicating a preference for more sustainable travel options.
In response, many travel companies, such as airlines, have made improving sustainability and minimizing greenhouse gas emissions key business goals. However, to achieve these goals and transition into a more sustainable future, T&T companies must successfully develop products that enable more sustainable travel choices.
However, while travellers seem to indicate an increased willingness and demand for environmentally-friendly and sustainable products, the uptake of sustainable travel products anecdotally does not show the same accelerated trend just yet. As sustainable offerings are relatively in their infancy, there is limited research on actual purchasing behaviour. Furthermore, recent surveys revealed that travellers prefer companies’ sustainability practices and offerings to be more transparent, intuitive, and easy to access.
Roadblocks to sustainable consumer behaviour (of course, for travel, there’s us :))
1) Limited availability – Always google the product you’re searching for sustainable labels
2) Lack of awareness – Believe that someone somewhere is working on this solution
3) Low credibility – Consider learning in a small quantity about what credibility you like to see
4) Price premium- Give yourself a premium percentage you will pay for sustainable products ($10 or 1% whichever lower for example)
5) Cumbersome purchase experience – We’ve been trying to get a portal like B Corp to add ecommerce to their site
6) Lack of rewards/acknowledgment – Same thing, B Corp would be an amazing site for sustainable purchase and loyalty
**
We donate $5 from every transaction to a range of causes around travel, ask us how and why.
