Travel is doing a lot for sustainability

The main topic at this year’s Global Travel & Tourism Summit in Dubai was sustainability and what the travel industry is doing to promote it.  I was really quite surprised at the amount of discussion around how “we” collectively can make a difference and do things on a corporate level to reduce our impact on the environment and make travel more sustainable.  The cost of fuel was of particular interest especially with the large airlines that attended the summit.  What many seem to forget is that the travel industry actually only accounts for about 2% of the global carbon emissions and yet travel and tourism accounts for 12% of global GDP.  Most of the attendees of the summit are CEOs or higher level executives with large travel companies or with government tourism organizations and ministries, so the expectation is that these are people who would lead by example in their organizations.  Here are some of my observations while in Dubai as they pertain to sustainability.  Some of them are incredibly small things but cumulatively make a big difference in how we THINK and ACT on sustainability:

1. Look at what you are driving or how you commute and consider the impression that gives to your employees.  I would challenge all the CEOs that showed up to summit to trade in their current vehicles for a Hybrid.  Don’t think about it, just do it.

2. Consider where your company sources its goods, how far they travel, and who produces them. The hotel in Dubai served us strawberries, kiwis, and other fruits that I am sure had to be imported by plane from somewhere else (probably far away). It’s okay to serve local seasonal produce.  In fact, I don’t expect to eat Canadian cuisine in Dubai, I expect to eat Dubanese cuisine.

3. Look at how your employees commute to work and give them incentives to take transit or walk. Provide your employees with a transit subsidy or other benefit if they choose to go green.

My point here is that sustainability is not about the perception of doing the right thing, but rather doing the right things because they matter. A culture of sustainability has been fostered within an organization and has to be endorsed, supported, and integrated by the everyone in the organization including the organization’s leadership.  If you expect your employees to be green then you must set the example.  This is not rocket science folks, this is good old fashion value setting. If the environment is important to you then do the right things and put your feelings into action.  If the environment is not important to you, then admit that and move on, but please don’t claim that the environment is important when it is clearly not.

The result of the summit was that it appears that travel is doing a lot on the sustainability front, thanks in part of organizations like Sustainable Travel International and forward thinkers like Bill Marriott. But, like all industries, we have a lot of work to do.  One interesting thing that came up during discussions was that we, as an industry, need to get more local businesses involved in order to create and foster sustainable tourism projects in developing countries.  This will promote employment and foster entrepreneurialism as well as bring much needed tourism revenue into developing communities.  I love this idea because it means more long tail product will be created and that’s good for Rezgo.

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