Occasionally, a huge market trend collides with a powerful social movement in a way that benefits everyone – not just the industry.

This is certainly the case for the emergence of sustainable tourism.

Not only is greener travel great for the environment, the creatures living on our planet, and the way we generally perceive life; it can also function as a real cash cow for travel marketers – one that’s 100% ethical to milk.

In a world currently affected by the biggest drop in international arrivals ever recorded, sustainable tourism is having a moment. One we hope will spread like pollen (and not like wildfires).

This article breaks down everything you need to know about sustainable tourism: what it is, why it matters, its impact on the travel industry, and how to apply it to your marketing strategy.

If you aren’t already informed about sustainable tourism, or you wish to further your education, this is the guide for you.

Sound good?

Let’s dive in.

This blog about sustainable tourism will explain:

What sustainable tourism means
- Why sustainable tourism matters in 2021
- How sustainable tourism can benefit travel companies
How travel companies are integrating sustainable tourism in 2021
- Sustainable tourism in the airline industry
- Sustainable tourism in the hospitality industry
- Sustainable tourism in the tour industry
5 ways to apply sustainable tourism to your digital travel marketing strategy
How to get started with sustainable tourism

What is Sustainable Tourism?

Sustainable tourism is an overarching concept that covers everything that can and is being done to make the travel industry a viable resource for a very long time.

Travel offers many benefits to the socio-cultural aspects of humanity.

It connects people and places. It unites and inspires us. It washes away all our silly prejudices and ignorant beliefs.

Sustainable tourism seeks to build upon these benefits, while at the same time eliminating all the irresponsible practices that exist within the current systems we use for travel.

For tourism to be sustainable, it needs to do the following five things:

Use environmental resources wisely, in an evergreen way that will help preserve natural biodiversity.
Strengthen cultural authenticity and reach of local communities, conserving heritage that is either physical or spiritual.
Create long-lasting solutions to global travel that have a positive or neutral effect on the planet and its residents.
Ensure stable employment opportunities to local communities and directly lower the number of people living in poverty.
Promote non-violence and social acceptance between human beings on an international scale.

By using these points as guidelines for your sustainable tourism strategy, you’ll be on the right track towards a healthy and ethical business.

If you aren’t sure why sustainability is so important for businesses in the travel industry, this next section will explain just that.

Why Sustainable Tourism Matters

The tourism industry, despite having a quiet moment in 2020 and 2021, is on an upward trajectory as it becomes easier and easier to reach more destinations with relative speed and affordability.

As tourism increases, so does the damage done to our social systems and the natural environment.

To list all the ways in which tourism has negatively impacted the health and longevity of our planet would take days – possibly weeks.

These statistics summarise many of the major environmental concerns surrounding travel:

Cruise ships can emit as much particulate matter as one million cars.
Hotels create an estimated 1.9 billion lbs of waste every year.
2% of all human-produced carbon dioxide emissions come from the global aviation industry.

Why should you (we) care about sustainable tourism? I’ll give you a hint… It’s in the name:

Sustain.

If you want people, including yourself, to continue travelling, things need to change.

For a traveller to see the world, there needs to be a world still there to see. And if cultures and environments are squashed to make room for tourists, there will be very little that remains worth visiting.

Sustainable tourism doesn’t just benefit the wandering nomad, either. It can also strengthen the authority and awareness of brands within the travel sector.

Allow me to explain.

The Benefits of Sustainable Tourism for Travel Companies

Sustainable tourism offers many possibilities for travel companies in 2021, so long as they apply it to their business in an ethical manner (and not as a greedy facade).

Before it can be applied to your marketing strategy, however, it needs to be applied to your actions.

False advertising is, and will always be false advertising.

But if you do the research and continuously seek to improve your ecological impact, sustainable tourism will function as an excellent authoritative marketing technique for your travel company.

Here are a few of the ways travel companies can seriously benefit from sustainable tourism:

Brand Authority: Being sustainable means taking decisive action with powerful intentions. Indecisive and ambiguous brands are difficult for consumers to trust.
Good Press: Sustainable travel organisations are constantly looking for brands that are doing the right thing, and giving the ones that are loads of praise and free promotion.
Modern Perception: Sustainability is one of, if not the hottest topic in tourism right now. Embracing it shows consumers that you are on top of current trends and gives your company a contemporary appeal.
Increased Sales/Leads: People love knowing that their purchases are ethical and doing some good for the world. If you offer the exact same product or service as a competitor, and theirs is more sustainable, consumers will flock to their stores instead of yours.
Business Longevity: By helping the world, you’re also helping yourself. In an age where climate emergencies are being declared by governments across the world, tourism risks being restricted if travel companies fail to “clean up their act”.
Improved Experience: Sustainable tourism isn’t just about respecting the environment; it also means respecting people, cultures, and history. The reason we travel is to discover the unknown and learn from it. By embracing local cultures rather than gentrifying or damaging them, you create a more authentic, memorable, and evergreen experience for your customers.
Customer Retention: Transparency and self-awareness are what consumers love to see. They don’t care if you made mistakes in the past, so long as you are honest about them and demonstrate an effort to make things right. Keep people updated about your sustainable efforts and they will happily follow you on your journey to a more responsible future.

Of course, there are countless ways for businesses to benefit from sustainable tourism - too many to list in this blog.

As long as you take those first steps, and keep walking, the opportunities will come straight to your door.

To give you some inspiration for getting started with your sustainable tourism plans, let’s take a look at how some of the top travel companies across different industries are optimising their businesses for sustainability.

Different Ways Travel Companies Are Applying Sustainable Tourism

“For every cat, a different bowl.”
- Me, 2021.

Many travel companies are already making the move towards sustainable tourism.

And the especially wise execs among them are doing it in a way that promotes and protects their industry.

Below are a few of the ways in which they’re doing it, plus a look at who is out there making the big moves.

Sustainable tourism in the airline industry

As previously mentioned, the aviation industry is a huge contributor to environmental damage in modern times. Planes are environmental nightmares when it comes to factoring in carbon emissions and inorganic waste.

However, there are a few airlines taking steps towards minimising the damage wrought by the practice of flying.

Etihad Airways, Hi Fly, British Airways, and Ryan Air have all made efforts to switch out the single-use plastic on board for biodegradable alternatives. And Scandinavian Airlines (SAS) has set some lofty goals for sustainability which they are well on their way to achieving.

As well as their plastic-reducing initiative, SAS invites travellers to purchase biofuel when they buy their ticket; contributing to a potential reduction of carbon emissions by up to 80%.

Sustainable tourism in the hospitality sector

Accommodation and food services have an enormous opportunity to benefit from sustainable tourism, since they are some of the worst for waste and carbon emission.

Pikaia Lodge, located in the stunning Galapagos Islands in Ecuador, have built their eco-lodge around sustainable tourism. They support the planet and the people of Ecuador through recycling, neutral emissions, minimal waste, and community immersion.

The team and Pakaia honour their country and their island with efforts that are on par with the massive appeal of the location itself.

Salinda Resort in Vietnam has done the same, embracing the cultural potential of goods and services. Their values lie in empowering the community and protecting the planet through responsible, considerate actions.

Sustainable tourism for tour operators

Many tour operators and experience hosts are now committing to carbon neutrality, an act that is swiftly changing the forecasted longevity of the industry.

But this isn’t the only thing they’re doing.

Luxury tour provider &Beyond have truly lived up to their name when it comes to preservation efforts.

In Botswana, they’ve converted 80% of safari camp Xaranna’s total energy consumption to a solar photovoltaic hybrid system, promoting clean and reusable energy for years to come.

A truly impressive effort – and it’s just a fraction of their overarching commitment to sustainable tourism.

Intrepid Travel is another popular tour company putting in some good work. Their focus is on responsible tourism that makes a difference.

This means investing in local communities, supporting human rights and wildlife conservation initiatives, and protecting the environment.

One facet of this that really stands out is their community-based tourism. They take guests to less touristic locations, where travellers can gain a real insight into local lives and support places that could do with outside help.

Now that you can see how other travel companies are riding the sustainability wave, it’s time you learned how to do it yourself.

This next section will show you how.

5 Tips for Applying Sustainable Tourism to Your Travel Marketing Strategy

Figuring out where to begin your sustainable tourism campaign can be tough.

That’s why I’ve put together five priceless pieces of advice to help you dive headfirst into the world of sustainability with confidence.

Take a look.

Show, don’t tell

Rather than constantly calling yourself “ethical”, “sustainable”, or “responsible”, demonstrate how you’re making an impact by providing updates that correspond to real actions.

Instead of: “We care a lot about the environment; sustainability is our number one concern,” try saying,

“This year, we’ve contributed 15% of our revenue to reforestation and river repair projects around the world.” (Only say something like this that’s actually true, of course.)

Give your customers updates on all the steps you are taking towards sustainability. Include it in your emails, blogs, and video content. Share it on your social media. Post about it on your homepage.

You shouldn’t need to tell people that you’re involved in sustainable tourism if they can see what you’re doing - they know what sustainability looks like and can judge it for themselves.

Make eco-connections

You’re not the only travel brand out there making big moves towards a healthier, happier planet.

Team up with other travel companies that aren’t direct competitors to double the reach of your marketing campaigns:

If you’re a travel shoe company, reach out to a travel sock company (okay, this was a low-effort example).
If you’re a tour operator, cut a deal with some environmentally conscious airlines and bus services.

Now that you’ve entered the world of ethical prospects, you can begin to grow your consumer base and build more brand trust by joining forces with similar-minded businesses.

Hire a dedicated Chief Sustainability Officer

If you really want to get serious about sustainable tourism, you need a dedicated employee or contractor to manage the process.

CSOs (Chief Sustainability Officers) are a relatively new breed of executives, dedicated entirely to helping brands improve their sustainable efforts.

Hiring one can take a huge load off your plate and ensure that all your efforts are approached from a place of knowledge and intention.

Keep your efforts relevant to your industry

One of the best ways to build a responsible marketing campaign is to focus it around actions that directly offset the damage associated with your specific area of tourism.

This means for luxury cruise operators and airlines, finding ways to lower carbon emissions or funding projects that help keep Earth’s air clean and safe for everyone.

For tour operators, guides, and excursion organisers, consider how you can involve local hosts and their cultural traditions in ways that preserve and promote them. It can pay to also employ people from the poorer areas that you take travellers to, increasing their quality of life as well as your guests.

For travel gear manufacturers, opt for sustainable materials sourced from an ethical location, through ethical means.

Whatever your niche, invest some time into researching where the socio-economic and environmental failings come from in your industry, and amend them in whatever ways seem most appropriate.

It also pays to link these actions to your USP (Unique Selling Proposition). If you offer wildlife excursions in Western Africa, support or create a charity that works to stop animals in that area from going extinct.

This way, you’re essentially using one marketing strategy to do the job of two!

Educate yourself

At the end of the day, if you really intend to make a difference and run a successful sustainability marketing campaign, you need to actually care about what you’re doing.

That doesn’t mean that you need to be a huge environmentalist or a lifelong ambassador for heritage-protection; we all have the capacity for change.

By reading, listening to, and watching as many resources about sustainable tourism that you can get your hands on, your humanity will do the hard work for you.

In other words, the empathy needed to motivate a big change to your values will come naturally as you learn more and more about how important sustainability is for the travel industry (and the world in general).

You’ll also figure out the direction that best suits your brand and be able to speak with confidence about the steps, actions, and changes you begin to make as a company.

All right. You’ve realised how beneficial sustainable tourism can be for your business and you’re ready to dive in.

So, where to begin?

Getting Started With Sustainable Tourism

Failure begins with guesswork; success begins with a plan.

Now that you know the fundamental concepts of sustainable tourism, how they can be applied to different industries within the travel sector, and how to implement them in your marketing campaigns, it’s time to get started.

The best way to build a long-lasting marketing campaign is to start with a powerful digital travel marketing strategy.

Not sure what digital travel marketing is? Check out this helpful guide to get started.

Once you know where you’re going and how to get there, you’ll be ready to put yourself forward as a leader of sustainable tourism within your niche.

Make sure your digital travel marketing strategy is bereft of common flaws, get your team informed and up-to-date on what the plan is, then just get started.

If you’d rather hand off the task of managing your sustainable tourism marketing, consider scheduling a consultation with a professional.

Otherwise, stay safe and good luck!

Why Travel Companies Need a Sustainable Tourism Marketing Strategy