… and ditch single-use plastics (SUPs) for good!

Of course, sustainability is necessary for the planet - but in order to thrive the travel industry needs to rapidly create and promote a world where exploration does not equal damage, sustainable initiatives, single-use plastic free accommodation and travel experiences are the norm.

Plastic pollution is one of the biggest challenges facing the planet and the travel industry right now; plastic waste, especially microplastics, decreases the visual appeal of destinations, pollutes the natural environment, and can contribute to poor human and loss of biodiversity.

As travel agents you’re at the forefront of being able to change travel even before it happens, with access to travellers when they are most open to inspiration and influence - the ‘dreaming’ phase of the traveller journey.

So, it’s time to leave the single-use plastic out of your customers’ itinerary to keep business coming in! Here’s why.

Appeal To A High-Spend Segment: Sustainable Travellers

Every travel agency wants to be front and centre of their clients’ mind when they’re dreaming up the perfect trip, right? 

Having a portfolio of and promoting hotels and destinations with sustainability at the forefront of their ethos is a sure-fire way to attract the high-value, sustainable traveller segment. 

Plus, ensuring that more sustainable hotels and travel opportunities are front and center for travellers at the beginning of their booking journey encourages and enables more sustainable choices – allowing the industry to work together to transform the ‘traditional’ traveller into a sustainable traveller!

Our CEO Nicolas Huss suggests that ‘travellers are much more conscious of their carbon footprint and impact on the environment than ever before’, and research supports this notion, with around 43% of global travellers willing to spend more for the knowledge that their stay has a reduced impact on the environment. 

So, naturally, you want to go where the opportunities are and for the foreseeable future the highest value segment for travel agencies is the sustainable traveller. 

But who is this type of traveller? 

We looked at the 4 travellers of tomorrow that all travel agencies should be catering for, but when it comes to sustainable travellers, Millennials, Gen Z and the up and coming influential Gen Alpha (children of Millennial families) are the people who you want to impress, attract, and retain as customers. 

Why?

• The majority of Gen Z wants to travel sustainably and are three times more likely than older travellers to get involved with volunteering or regenerative travel projects when visiting another country.
• 82% of Millennials suggest they want trips that have minimal impact on the environment in 2023.
• Gen Z are the travellers spending the most on travel out of all demographics - suggesting that even despite inflation, that travel is one of the key factors in their lives. So, providing sustainable travel options will keep these high spending customers around!

Millennials also represent the largest generation to date, with a massive $200 billion in spending power - so if anything, that’s a huge financial reason to pay attention to the needs of this travel segment. 

Add to this the fact that the global sustainable tourism industry is valued at a whopping 181 billion USD, and constantly growing, which means there are great opportunities for companies, organisations, and providers who embrace sustainable tourism and partner with others in the travel industry with a focus on sustainability. 

The ‘Sustainable Hotel’ Filter in our Booking Engine

This rising demand for sustainable hotels and experiences is also something we’ve clearly seen at Bedsonline in the last few years.

As part of our parent company, HBX Group, our Sustainable Hotels Programme started in 2020 and offered 15,000 properties to travel sellers and the eco-conscious traveller. Since then it has grown to around 40,000 hotels, with a huge increase of 84% over 2022 compared to the prior 12 months. 

We also saw a significant 30% growth in the number of travellers booking green and plastic-free hotels on our platform in the 2022-2023 period, and interest shows no sign of slowing down.

What’s more, all these amazing sustainable hotels are visible under our ‘Sustainable Hotels’ filter in our online Booking Engine, which refines searches to highlight hotels who have signed up to our Sustainable Hotels Programme and marked themselves as sustainable.

Hotels are only shown in our ‘Sustainable Hotels’ filter in our travel booking platform, if they have achieved industry-certified sustainability levels such as the Hotel Sustainability Basics certificate by the World Travel and Tourism Council (WTTC) and the GSTC Industry Criteria offered by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).

This, combined with the powerful, data-driven and user-friendly nature of our Booking Engine, which helps streamline daily tasks for travel providers, means it is easier than ever for travel agents to find the most relevant properties for eco-conscious travellers in just a few clicks.

Better For The Planet & Society, Better For Your Reputation

In today’s digital era, the reputation of a business online is just as important as the services it provides. This why it’s so important that to remain successful within the growing audience of eco-conscious travellers, you need to not only be seen promoting green alternatives, but you need to believe in them.

Top tip: practice what you preach - bolster your reputation by embodying the practices that you are promoting online or endorsing. Your audience is one that will quickly catch on to any business that could be accused of ‘greenwashing’, and will avoid it.

• Consistently promote plastic-free and greener alternatives for travellers.
• Be authentic in your approach to going sustainable - today’s traveller won’t tolerate brands who are only taking part to follow a ‘trend’. Sustainability isn’t a trend, it's a necessity!
• Measure your own carbon footprint - and then set goals to reduce it gradually. 
• Commit to reducing your impact, and mean it! - signing pledges like the Glasgow Declaration for Climate Change in Tourism can be an extra incentive, for example.
• Invest in ‘give back’ projects like tree planting - much like our adjoining company Hotelbeds is dedicated to planting tens of thousands of trees in the Hotelbeds Forest!
• Get reusable materials for your office - ditch paper and single-use plastics by using reusable bottles, recyclable water cups, and use digital products to replace paper.

Accor Hotels: A Successful Case Study In Going Single-Use Plastic Free

In fact, major hotel chains have already made a step forward in order to tackle plastic waste, and have benefitted in the eyes of travellers as a result. One good example is Accor Hotels, which joined the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) in 2022 and has since announced two global partnerships with Green Key and Green Globe certifications. 

Going single-use plastic free can be a challenging task for any business in the travel industry, but here's proof that such an aim is not only attainable, but significantly rewarding for businesses that do. In the following video, Jordane de Villaret Bentinck, VP of Sustainability Communications & Change at Accor, explains the actions the chain has implemented so far and how they have been received by customers.

Our Digital Star Brochure

A great way of reducing unnecessary waste in your agency is by replacing the traditional paper travel brochure with our digital Star Brochure! Accessible in just a few clicks, this 100% online travel brochure is one of our flagship products at Bedsonline and is loved by thousands of travel agents all over the world.

Packed with inspiring and interactive content, high quality dynamic image and video galleries and time-saving ‘look-to-book’ buttons, the Star Brochure will quickly become your new best friend as a travel agent.

Plus, you can create 100% customisable brochures to inspire your clients further!

Traveller Need Is High, But Direction Is Uncertain

Around 87% of travellers want to travel sustainably, but 40% of them don’t know where to start! 

This is where you as travel agent are even more key. The demand is definitely out there, so it’s now down to you and other travel providers to develop and offer sustainable opportunities for this audience.

Practical Ways You Can Help Travellers Ditch Single-Use Plastics

• Use our ‘Sustainable Hotel’ filter in the Booking Engine to quickly and easily find hotels that have marked themselves as ‘sustainable’ or ‘single-use plastic free’ and who have achieved the right sustainability accreditation.
• Offer tours that use eco-friendly transportation - such as electric vehicles, public transport or even bicycles! 
• Partner with tour operators that reduce single-use plastic waste on their experiences – from asking travellers to bring their own reusable bottles to ensuring they provide plastic-free cutlery where necessary, there are so many ways that tour operators can offer the same level of quality without plastic. Partner with them!
• Recommend and book travellers on airlines that have removed or reduced single-use plastics - Alaska Airlines remains the leading US airline on the Dow Jones Sustainability Index for the last three years running. 
• All aboard! Offer cruises that have removed or reduced their single-use plastics - Beyond tours, Cunard and P&O had all removed single-use plastics from their ships by the end of 2022.
• Consider setting up a reward scheme - around 42% of recently surveyed travellers said they would be more likely to travel sustainably if offered reward points for making greener choices.

We’re also seeing, according to our booking platform, that of the travel providers out there, travel agencies are at the top of their game when it comes to booking green hotels with us here at Bedsonline, in some of the most popular destinations for sustainable travel right now. 

So when it comes to going plastic-free and offering sustainable alternatives for travellers, it’s in the hands of travel agents like you! 

Tourism Is Going Sustainable - Don’t Get Left Behind!

As travellers are becoming more conscious about their impact, there's a potential risk that popular destinations with high plastic waste will be left behind. However, a recent study in Mallorca shows that it's not only possible but necessary to cater to green travellers in these areas to keep up with their demands and maintain business.

This study was done to see if it's possible to create plastic-free zones and reduce single-use plastics while still retaining valuable tourism revenue, as hotels in the area were generating around 7,720 tons of plastic waste annually and negatively impacting the beautiful natural environments that attract so many visitors. 

Interestingly, 84% of the travellers surveyed during this study said they would be willing to pay more for an experience that's free of single-use plastics. That's a statistic that we can't just brush off!

It's clear that if popular destinations don't start going sustainable and becoming more socially responsible, and if travel experts don't start recommending eco-friendly hotels and activities in those areas, there's a real chance of losing business as customers opt for more sustainable options.

Linking to this, we’ve previously discussed the continuing rise of slow travel and experiential travel, both of which connect to the wider sentiment of responsible travel. This is a travel movement that, according to the Global Sustainable Tourism Council:

‘Refers to the behavior of individual travellers … [which] align with minimising the negative impacts and maximising positive ones when one visits a tourism destination.’

The elimination of single-use plastic waste is one of the things that arguably connects these traveller types together. Whether your clients are traveling slowly through their destination, connecting with local businesses, or engaging in immersive activities or locations for an authentic experience of their destination of choice, it’s important to them that they’re reducing their negative impact on the environment. 

So, saying goodbye to plastic is one of the best ways that you can create better travel plans for your clients, attract a wider variety of eco-conscious travellers, and have a more positive impact on the planet and on communities all over the world! 

What’s the first step? 

Offering sustainable hotels to your clients is the first step of many when it comes to enabling travellers to make more sustainable choices. 

We’ve made this easier than ever by collating a stunning selection of around 40,000 sustainble hotels as part of our parent company Hotelbeds’ Sustainable Hotels Programme, available to you in our Booking Engine using the handy ‘Sustainable Hotel’ filter.

So there’s no excuse, you’ve got the goods! Where will you let your clients travel sustainably next?