'More and more agents are concerned about sustainability in tourism'

Industry case studies include Exodus Adventure Travels, where head of sustainability Rochelle Turner who will be talking about biodiversity loss and how to make travel part of the solution, and Byway Travel, which sees head of partnerships Paul Conroy addressing the mission of making flight free travel mainstream.

While sustainability has moved up the priority list for travellers themselves, there is a say-do gap, in terms of the number of people who said they intend to make a choice about their holiday with sustainability in mind, and those that did.

For example – 44% of people said they would choose one hotel over another if it had a better track record on sustainability. But just 10% of people went on to do so.

We’re keen to use this month’s event to explore this a bit more, to try to understand what might be driving the say-do gap, and what the industry could be going to help close it. 

Collaboration will be a recurring theme throughout the conference – we are keen to stress the importance of all stakeholders moving together towards the same goal of sustainable travel.

The event will help aid that, by providing a platform and opportunity to come together, share best practice and improve collaboration across the sector.

I look forward to seeing you there.

Sulamith Waldmeier is Abta’s head of events.