ABTA Members who take the training before 26 September will be entered into a prize draw

ABTA is encouraging its Members to take its free online training – an introduction to sustainability.

The training is designed for people who work in travel but aren’t sustainability experts. It sets out what sustainability means in travel and tourism, why it is important and what action can be taken.

Following on from ABTA’s Tourism for Good report, the aim of the training is to help increase knowledge and understanding across the sector of the sustainability agenda. It will also help people identify the role they can play – however large or small – in developing a more sustainable industry.

The training covers the fundamentals of sustainability in travel, looking particularly at four areas:

1. Managing environmental issues
2. Destination management and local impacts
3. Respecting human rights
4. Managing animal welfare

This training is suitable for people in any role in travel, from marketing and communications to product and sales, across travel agents, tour operators and the wider industry.

Susan Deer, Director of Industry Relations at ABTA – The Travel Association said:

“No matter what your job is in the travel industry – whether you work in customer service or product development, are a travel agent or tour operator – we all need to have an understanding of the industry’s sustainability agenda.

“To truly achieve a sustainable travel industry, sustainability needs to be integrated into all parts of the business and all employees aware of the issues and the action needed. We designed this course to help those with little knowledge on sustainability and travel to become more informed.”

The training is found on the ABTA Knowledge Zone and is free for ABTA Members. Partners and non-Members can purchase digital licenses to enable their employees to complete online training modules. The price for up to 10 users is £275 + VAT.

Any ABTA Member completing the training between 14 July to 26 September 2022 will be entered into a prize draw to win a Patagonia classic MLC™ bag. This 26-litre suitcase converts to a backpack with enough room and organisation for travelling locally and abroad whilst meeting strict carry-on requirements, plus 68% of Patagonia’s fabrics are made with recycled materials.

Notes to editors
ABTA has been a trusted travel brand for over 70 years. Our purpose is to help our Members to grow their businesses successfully and sustainably, and to help their customers travel with confidence. The ABTA brand stands for support, protection and expertise. This means consumers have confidence in ABTA and a strong trust in ABTA Members. These qualities are core to us as they ensure that holidaymakers remain confident in the holiday products that they buy from our Members.

We help our Members and their customers navigate through today's changing travel landscape by raising standards in the industry; offering schemes of financial protection; providing an independent complaints resolution service should something go wrong; giving guidance on issues from sustainability to health and safety and by presenting a united voice to government to ensure the industry and the public get a fair deal.

ABTA has around 4,000 travel brands in Membership, providing a wide range of leisure and business travel services, with a combined pre-pandemic annual UK turnover of £40 billion. For more details about what we do, what being an ABTA Member means and how we help the UK public travel with confidence visit www.abta.com.