Communicating Sustainability

As consumers, regulators and partners place greater emphasis on responsible and sustainable travel, businesses have a valuable opportunity to communicate their environmental credentials with clarity, transparency and credibility.

ABTA’s Communicating Sustainability training day is designed to help travel companies maximise the impact of their sustainability efforts. This event will explore how to share your organisation’s environmental and social progress authentically, avoid the pitfalls of greenwashing, and address the growing risk of greenhushing, where businesses reduce sustainability updates for fear of scrutiny.

Since April 2025, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) has had the power to directly enforce consumer protection law, including imposing fines of up to 10% of global annual turnover for serious breaches such as misleading environmental claims. The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) also continues to scrutinise sustainability messaging, highlighting the need for claims to be accurate, transparent and evidence based.

However, greater scrutiny should not be seen as a reason to avoid communicating sustainability altogether. Customers, partners and other stakeholders increasingly expect businesses to be open about both their progress and their challenges. Organisations that respond by reducing or avoiding sustainability communications risk falling into greenhushing – potentially undermining trust, limiting transparency and missing opportunities to demonstrate genuine action and accountability.

This training will help you strike the right balance: communicating transparently, responsibly and with purpose. You’ll gain practical insight into building internal processes that support credible external messaging, from gathering the right data to preparing spokespeople for media and public engagement. You’ll also explore how storytelling can bring your sustainability work to life and connect with today’s environmentally conscious traveller.

Through expert guidance and industry case studies, you’ll leave equipped to present your sustainability credentials with integrity, creativity and impact, and with the confidence to meet both stakeholder expectations and regulatory requirements.

Benefits of attending

• Learn how to communicate your organisation’s sustainability credentials clearly, confidently and in line with the latest legal, regulatory and industry standards
• Understand the internal data, processes and cross-team collaboration needed to support credible external messaging
• Build confidence in responding to sustainability-related questions from the media, customers and other stakeholders
• Hear industry case studies from peers on how they approach sustainability communications across different business models
• Be inspired by examples of best-in-class marketing and PR campaigns that bring sustainability stories to life
• Network with industry peers and communications experts to share insights, challenges and practical solutions.

Who should attend

This training day is ideal for those interested in sustainability, marketing and PR for travel agents, tour operators and the wider travel industry including:

• Marketing, communications and PR professionals
• Sustainability and CSR teams
• Product and sales teams
• Directors and senior managers from travel companies of all sizes.