This column was first published in TTG on 11 November 2024.

When your customers come back from their holidays, what do they tell you they enjoyed most?

I imagine the beaches, exploring the local landscape and seeing wildlife are up there as some of their favourite activities, and memories. And that doesn’t surprise me.

Nature is a big part of people’s holiday experiences. In fact, according to UN Tourism over 80% of travel and tourism’s goods and services rely on nature and its biodiversity.

Biodiversity is all living things including plants, animals, organisms and the different habitats they live in – forests and oceans for example. Basically, the things people enjoy about their holidays.

However biodiversity is in decline, and habitats are under threat. Global biodiversity has dropped by 70%.

The amazing beaches, plants and wildlife people see on their holidays aren’t as diverse or robust as they used to be.

This is a problem for the planet and global warming, as nature plays an important role in moderating our atmosphere.

As part of the world’s battle with climate change, scientists are inventing ways to capture carbon, but this is something that nature has always been doing. Plants absorb carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into their food, so essentially nature is the original carbon capturer.

In light of this, it’s important that nature is supported and biodiversity is restored so it can continue its important role on our planet and help tackle global warming.

Given the prevalence and importance of nature in holidays, travel has a really big role to play in supporting this work.

Whether you are a travel agent or tour operator, you can help. You would be amazed at the opportunities open to travel to help support nature - even the most simple of things, like a beach clean, will make a difference.

Some practices you can adopt now include promoting the use of low-impact transport when on holiday such as biking, electric vehicles, and public transport, as they can help reduce pollution, which is damaging to plants and water systems, amongst other things.

Offering accommodation and resorts that prioritise renewable energy, water conservation, and the use of sustainable building materials, will also help. Robust sustainability certification schemes, like ABTA’s Travelife, are a really valuable resource for agents looking to identify this type of accommodation.

ABTA’s sustainability message emphasises nature and biodiversity, by prioritising these elements, they provide the overarching framework that connect all aspects of sustainability, including climate action (reducing your carbon footprint), community development, human rights, and animal welfare.

To help ABTA members understand more about biodiversity and travel, and what you can do to support it, we are offering a series of free workshops across November and December. They will be delivered by experts ANIMONDIAL.

Many ABTA members are already involved in biodiversity projects, and we’re pleased that some of them will be involved in the workshops. Travelopia will presenting on their ‘Nature First plan’, which includes supporting projects which conserve and restore marine ecosystems.

To find out more about our work in this area and the biodiversity workshops, visit www.abta.com/events/biodiversity-workshops

Carol Rose, Head of Sustainability, ABTA