Ambassadors Assemble! Revealing TTG's Sustainable Travel Ambassadors
Meet TTG’s trainee Sustainable Travel Ambassadors for 2023! This passionate group of travel agents will be championing selling sustainable travel this year – Madeleine Barber reports and encourages you to be inspired
Earlier this year TTG embarked on a mission to find 20 travel agents with a passion for sustainable travel so great they would actively take steps within their businesses to help our industry move towards a greener and fairer future.
You came forward in droves, sharing inspiring tales of where your passions began, your suggestions for a sustainable holiday package, and how you have been driving customers to travel more responsibly; or how you intend to do so going forwards.
Our team of 20 Ambassadors in training were appointed by TTG and its six Sustainable Travel Heroes – Avis, G Touring, Greek National Tourism Organisation, Hurtigruten, Iberostar and Intrepid – with this group of excited agents now due to take part in a series of six educational workshops. These sessions will cover measuring and reducing carbon emissions, identifying sustainable suppliers, marketing responsible holidays and how to help clients not only reduce their impact while travelling, but how to have a positive impact on the destinations they visit too.
At each workshop, trainee Ambassadors will be tasked with implementing a change either to their business or within their way of working, so the group can realise a positive impact. We’ll be following their journey and sharing their learnings in the pages of TTG, so you too can learn from their experiences.
Here, we’ve picked out a few of our trainee Ambassadors and shared their stories to inspire you to further shift focus to sustainable travel.
ELLIE ADAMO
Director, Purpose Travel
“Since Purpose Travel launched in July 2022, the whole brand has been focused on sustainable travel. The majority of my marketing tends to focus on sustainability and taking small steps such as offsetting flights with my Trees4Travel partnership or booking authentic local experiences. I secured coverage for eco-friendly honeymoons on loveourweddingmag.com, attended sustainability sessions and events, and I do lots of responsible product training.
"I’m currently working on building a partnership with a beauty brand selling reef-safe sunscreen products. I also send out eco-friendly gifts to my customers as a thank you for booking, and take part in events for small businesses in my local area. As a relatively new business, I will be honest, a lot of my customers don’t book hugely sustainable options at the moment... But by taking small steps with them and learning more as an Ambassador, I hope to turn my more-sustainable trip enquiries into bookings.”
LIAM CAFFREY
Assistant manager, Perfect Getaways
“I’ve really started to zone in on sustainable tourism since I took the reins of our eco-friendly page earlier this year. I was lucky enough to visit some Iberostar properties on a fam trip and have since worked on educating my team and customers with weekly tips on how to be eco-friendly while on holiday.
"At Perfect Getaways, we feel strongly about animal rights and don’t sell any SeaWorld products. The world means a lot to us, as do its inhabitants, and sustainable tourism has to be the future. It is our job to protect our wonderful destinations by starting small, educating our customers and helping to guide them towards making greener choices. We need to ensure our magnificent planet is still magnificent for future generations to come.”
RACHEL TREDWELL
Personal travel consultant, Not Just Travel
“I am a green ambassador for Not Just Travel, and so every booking I make contributes to climate hero projects. I utilise the company’s partnership with rewilding organisation Mossy Earth and talk about sustainable travel at all my networking meetings – I’ve even exhibited at an eco-fair. I recently rebranded, and my new website (built by a designer who has won awards for being green) is Tredwell Travel, lending itself to sustainability and my new logo is a pair of feet.
"I have started to have conversations with my clients about alternative hotels, wildlife experiences and the Pack for a Purpose scheme, while I also make sure sustainable travel is mentioned in my bi-weekly newsletter and on my social media platforms. I particularly love the idea of being able to be involved in Hurtigruten’s beach clean-ups and green stay initiatives.”
KEYNA ABANEME
Independent travel professional, InteleTravel
“I recently visited Alentejo in Portugal and it was the most sustainable form of travel I have ever experienced. I felt privileged to visit five leaders in promoting responsible tourism in the region who are working on completely eliminating plastic waste from their toiletries line and serving meals made from locally and responsibly sourced ingredients such as olive oil and wine from their own farms.
"I am promoting slow travel and lesser-known destinations to my clients, however, this is the first step for me and I am looking forward to learning more and putting my knowledge into practice.”
FIND OUT MORE
For further tips and advice on selling sustainable travel, please visit ttgmedia.com/sustainabletravelheroes
Congratulations!
Our TTG Sustainable Travel Ambassadors in training will receive invites to three fam trips in 2023 and, once they complete the workshop course, support from our Heroes with hosting a client event, marketing spend and tailored assets to promote their new TTG Sustainable Travel Ambassador status. The Ambassadors are:
• Keyna Abaneme, InteleTravel
• Ellie Adamo, Purpose Travel
• Helen Bateman, Travel Counsellors
• Julie Breckon, Worldwide Explorer Travel Holidays
• Liam Caffrey, Perfect Getaways
• Clare Collins-Doyle, ITE
• Jessica Emm-Ewan, Distant Destinations
• Jenny Higgins, Travel Village Group
• Jennifer Lynch, ArrangeMY Escape
• Jayne Macdonald, Travel Club Elite
• Jennifer McCartney, Barrhead Travel
• Carla Murdoch, Murray Travel
• Annika Nickson, Not Just Travel
• Suzanna Pinder, Travel Counsellors
• Ashley Quint, TravelTime World
• Marie Rowe, Travel Counsellors
• Catherine Summers, Travel Counsellors
• Melissa Tilling, Charitable Travel
• Rachel Tredwell, Not Just Travel
• Karen Turner, Travel Guru
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