What if the customer is not always right?

A quick sustainability quiz:

1. What's the more carbon-friendly way for a couple to get across Australia, flying or driving?

2. In the US which mode of transport produces more carbon dioxide per passenger, train or bus?

3. True or false: A company with a platinum Earthcheck certificate is more sustainable than one with a bronze.

4. True or false: Hotels in water-scarce countries generally consume less water than hotels in water-rich countries.

5. Which nationality of traveller is more concerned about sustainability, Danish or Indian?

Answers:

1. "flying"; not only would clients consume a lot of petrol crossing that continent, they would also add carbon emissions for each hotel night.

2. "Bus." Not true everywhere, but train occupancy in the U.S. is so low that rail's usual advantage over buses is lost.

3. False. Earthcheck's categories are based on a company's longevity in their program, not how green they are.

4. False.

5. Indian. Only 45% of Danes express concern, among the lowest reported in the world.

Do not expect travellers to know better

These are not so much trick questions as ones whose answers are counterintuitive. Collectively, they prove a point. Equator Analytics CEO Edmund Morris, who gave this test to attendees at the Adventure Travel Trade Association's (ATTA) World Summit in Hokkaido, Japan, recently, was making the case that expecting tourists to make informed decisions is not a good bet.

His message was not intended to provide the audience with an excuse for inaction - sustainable travel is "non-negotiable," he said - but rather to drive home that the path to sustainability is hard and complicated.

Onus on travel trade

His presentation also suggests that the onus for activating sustainable travel options falls not to travellers but to hoteliers, tour operators, travel advisors, airlines and the destinations themselves.

Because rolling out effective programmes requires serious effort, there is the temptation to simply look at what others are doing and cut and paste their solutions. But as his quiz demonstrated, approaches are often intensely location-specific.

One size does not fit all

The time, rigor and research required to create an effective programme requires a data-intensive approach, but Morris advised against throwing statistics at consumers. "There's a story in the data," he said, and that is what must be distilled.

For example, he said, a poster promoting travel to Bhutan could show a photo of stunning beauty with the simple caption, "There are three carbon-negative countries in the world. We're one of them."

If there was a sub-theme to the entire conference, it is that the responsibility for sustainable travel falls on the industry rather than travellers. The customer, ATTA CEO Stowell pointed out (and Morris demonstrated), is not always right.

Focus on local conditions

In a subsequent "climate leaders workshop," the notion that action must take local conditions into consideration was re-emphasised. If, for instance, flight-shaming were to result in flight bans, it would be devastating to Greenland, according to Hjortur Smarason, the former head of that island's tourism board. He said that, ironically, flights have become more critical to Greenland because of the effects of global warming; it has dramatically reduced glaciers, impacting transportation to areas whose connectivity has traditionally been dependent on sleds and snowmobiles (there are no roads connecting cities in Greenland).

To minimise the impact of aviation emissions, however, Air Greenland purchased lighter, more fuel-efficient planes and used the resulting fuel savings to purchase sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). (The session was sponsored by Neste, a former oil company that pivoted to SAF production in 2013.)

New ideas

Small-group discussions divided attendees among buyers, destinations and suppliers. I joined the buyers, who wrestled with the topic of what to do and how to message it.

We shape demand, one participant suggested. A tour operator could, for instance, require that all passengers pledge that they will not take more than one long-haul trip per year. Although that suggestion was not met with enthusiasm, it did lead to a discussion around verification, particularly throughout the supply chain.

Ted Martens, sustainability director of Natural Habitat Adventures, said that even though most tour operators do not own anything, they can partner with suppliers. His company, he said, co-invested with lodges in Africa to buy electric safari vehicles.

Doing nothing is no excuse

Ultimately, there was consensus that, broadly speaking, itis better to take incremental steps than do nothing.

During an onstage interview, Intrepid Travel executive chairman, Darrell Wade, said he became a vice chair of the World Travel and Tourism Council because of the serious issues facing the 250 multinational travel companies making up its membership. Picking up on the theme that taking action is better than complaining, Stowell said, "There's no value in doom-and-gloom."

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Source: Travel Weekly