Just how worried is travel about its progress on sustainability and DEI?
Ilaria Grasso MacolaTravel is making progress – albeit slowly – on its environmental, social and governance (ESG) goals, with only around a fifth of companies ranking either sustainability or diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) as their number one business priority, according to new TTG report.
Exclusive research by TTG to coincide with TTG Fairer Travel Week reveals that while 82% of businesses say sustainability is high on their agenda, just 22% rank it as their biggest priority.
This shrinks to 66% when considering DEI, with only 20% of respondents to the Fairer Travel Week survey of 40 businesses placing the issue top of their agenda.
A significant proportion of respondents said they hadn’t made sustainability a core focus due to the lingering impact of the pandemic on the sector, with two-fifths still focused on saving their businesses post-Covid.
Meanwhile, 16% of respondents said DEI was not a priority for them. Reasons included it "not being of interest to our customers" (35%) or it taking a backseat owing to efforts to shore up businesses after the pandemic (18%).
The data reflects comments made by Channel 4 customer and commercial leader Amy Jenkins at TTG’s Fairer Travel Diversity Forum, who told travel businesses not to fear a backlash from consumers over their DEI policies.
“If you are doing something that allows people to complain, you’re probably doing the right thing,” she told delegates on Wednesday (5 July).
The data also highlighted how, on average, travel companies are on a much clearer trajectory when it comes to making sustainability improvements compared with taking strides with regards to diversity.
When asked what actions they were taking to ensure environmental sustainability is a top priority, nearly six in 10 businesses (59%) said they were focused on developing and communicating their sustainability targets, while more than half (51%) said they had a clear transition plan.
Fewer business, though, are taking action with regards to matters of DEI. Three in 10 respondents (30%) – the joint-largest proportion – said they weren’t taking any action to ensure it is a top focus, however 30% said they were changing their recruitment methods to diversify their workforce.
Reputation matters
Despite this relative lack of action, companies are more concerned about their reputation when it comes to action on DEI than they are on sustainability.
More than six in 10 respondents (62%) said they were "very concerned" about not being perceived as "welcoming and inclusive" by new recruits, whereas just 38% said they were "very concerned" about not being perceived as trying to make strides on sustainability by new starters.
The figures also reveal companies’ efforts on both sustainability and DEI are being driven by senior leadership figures, although sustainability once again runs ahead of DEI.
When asked who is driving their sustainability strategy, 73% of respondents said the CEO or senior leadership team. However, this falls to 54% with regards to diversity, equity and inclusion.
These findings were brought to life at the TTG Fairer Travel Sustainability Forum, where delegates were strongly advised to ensure their businesses include staff in conversations about sustainability if they are to achieve their goals.
Oriele Frank, co-founder and chief product and sustainability officer at B Corp beauty brand Elemis, urged delegates to “engage your people [and] bring them along with you on the journey to support you".
Her words were echoed by Eminere founder Patrice Gordon, who advocated for companies to explore and introduce reverse mentoring, whereby senior leaders are instructed on certain issues by staff.
According to Gordon, the practice is very useful because it makes it “really difficult” for managers to walk away.
“It requires leaders to sit face-to-face and not shirk responsibility to somebody else,” she said. “It reduces the understanding gap and enlightens leaders to the depths and challenges.”
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