How to be a more responsible and sustainable travel agent

Increasingly agents are taking the initiative and nudging their clients towards sustainable travel, but for those making the shift, a clear plan is important.

Nathan Stubbs, founder of responsible agency The Conscious Travel Shop, says while he’s noticed many suppliers have “taken great strides” in becoming more sustainable, agents lag behind, “although from discussions with my peers there’s an eagerness to improve”.

He believes consumers need travel companies to take the lead: “There’s no gold standard that tells a client if a holiday is responsible or not. The supply chains are often complicated, there’s a lot of information and misinformation, and the idea of a responsible holiday is subjective.”

This view is backed by a Virtuoso survey, which this year revealed 70% of affluent travellers thought sustainability enhanced their experience, 75% would pay more to travel responsibly, but 40% were more likely to do so if they had professional guidance.

Code of conduct

The Conscious Travel Shop is committed to doing such legwork. It has developed a supplier sourcing policy covering community development, sustainable business practices and environment stewardship. Stubbs explains: “We use our three pillars as our code of conduct and expect all our suppliers to continue making improvements in these areas.”

The agency asks for examples of sustainability in action and expects suppliers to have some key accreditation, with Travelife, Earthcheck, Green Flag and Blue Flag among its favoured schemes. It also takes guidance from the Travel Foundation. The agency doesn’t wait for clients to request sustainable holidays, instead highlighting positive initiatives like charity partnerships and conservation to them.

“We aim to bridge the gap between eco-warriors and mainstream travellers,” says Stubbs. “We often find that for the clients using our services it’s usually their first experience of travelling more responsibly or it’s something that recently became important for them.”

Wide-ranging issues

Swords Travel is hoping to become a B Corp, the gold standard for sustainable companies, but luxury travel associate Ian Weir, who is leading the application, admits it’s a long, detailed process.

“It’s not just about environmental issues, it’s about personnel… like how do we make sure we’re working with companies that aren’t involved in modern slavery?”

He adds: “If you’re working in countries around the world that haven’t got such good human rights records how does that feed into this?” The sheer size and opaqueness of some suppliers, such as cruise companies, also complicates the issue of accountability.

Weir says the B Corp process is prompting a series of supply chain discussions among the Swords team. Meanwhile, the agency is already getting its own house in order, having launched a sustainability pledge 18 months ago.

Taking action

Elsewhere, Designer Travel this summer created a Little Steps, Big Impact sustainability working group involving six staff members. Mindful of avoiding greenwashing, director Karen Pocock stresses, “everything will be action-based.”

The group’s most recent meeting resulted in nine action points, which include highlighting sustainable hotel groups on the website and encouraging customers to move fully to electronic documentation. The latter, Pocock acknowledges, is trickier for luxury agents as physical copies suggest quality and personal service.

In its weekly training webinars the agency is meanwhile incorporating five-minute slots for suppliers to talk about their sustainability initiatives. Customer-facing plans include a responsible travel-themed Facebook presentation from Iberostar and sustainable changes to Designer Travel’s January sales promotion.

“We want to encourage people so that when they’re on holiday they think about sustainability, but in a nice way, not having it forced down their throats,” Pocock explains. She adds: “I think it’s probably more exciting than we ever thought it would be now you can see what a difference we can make in small steps. Once its gathers a bit of momentum it’s not just something you feel you’ve got to do but something you want to do.”