23 Feb
2022

ABTA supports travel agents on sustainability through new guidance

ABTA has launched new guidance to help travel agents incorporate sustainability into their business practices.

The guidance was developed in response to feedback from travel agent Members for more support on how to adopt a sustainable approach and in recognition of the growing appetite among consumers for sustainable travel. 

ABTA research finds that almost three times as many people now say that sustainability is important to them when planning their holiday, compared to ten years ago1. But ABTA recognises that how agents can engage in sustainability varies depending on the size of their business and resources available. The new guidance is designed to help agent Members find a sustainability approach that is suitable for their business, whatever their size. 

It focuses on the four areas of sustainability – environment, destination management, animal welfare and human rights – as identified in ABTA’s Tourism for Good report. As well as summarising the different issues within each area, the guidance also includes advice on steps agents can take and case studies on what industry is doing, including from agents, tour operators and other suppliers.

As part of the guidance, ABTA recommends three ways travel agent Members could approach sustainability:

  1. Address your own business operations – identify actions to reduce resource use, look after your staff or support your community
  2. Explore sustainability in your supply chain – find out how your suppliers are addressing sustainability. For example, do you sell any Travelife hotels? Do you know how aviation is reducing its emissions? Are you aware of products that most tour operators won’t sell and why, such as elephant riding or orphanage visits?
  3. Engage your customers - think about how you can profile holidays that benefit communities or nature in your marketing and social media activities, to engage your customers and maximise your sales.

The guidance is free to ABTA Members and is relevant for all types of agents including online travel agents, those with high street stores or individuals working from home. It can be found on the ABTA Member Zone. It also includes links to ABTA’s other resources on sustainability including tips on how to sell sustainability. 

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

“Sustainability is rising up the agenda on all fronts – from customers to politicians, but it can be hard for travel agents to know where to start when it comes to adopting a sustainable approach as well as finding the time and resource to do this.

“We know agents have a lot on their plate in terms of rebuilding from the pandemic, so we want to make it as easy as possible for them to look at how they can incorporate sustainability into their businesses. 

“Through our guidance we hope to help agents see how they can approach sustainability, recognising that even small steps can make a big difference, and that activities could help to save money on overheads and support sales conversations with customers.

“Even if customers aren’t raising sustainability with agents directly – it doesn’t mean that it isn’t on their mind. By being proactive and easing it into sales conversations, agents could help people feel more confident to book, particularly as 41% say they are more likely to book with a travel company with a better sustainability record1.”

ABTA has a range of resources available for Members to support them on sustainability which can be found on the Member Zone.

Members also have the opportunity to attend ABTA’s upcoming hybrid conference - Delivering Sustainable Travel, which is on 2 March 2022. There are discounted rates available for Members and a limited number of free places for travel agents. For more information visit https://www.abta.com/events/hybrid-conference-delivering-sustainable-travel. To apply for a free agent place please email events@abta.com.

 

Notes to editors
1ABTA research from a nationally representative sample of 2,000 consumers related to holiday booking habits and future travel plans. Fieldwork was conducted in the last two weeks of August 2021 by The Nursery Research and Planning (www.the-nursery.net/).

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.