Travelers say they want sustainable options, but this is not a top priority

For more than a decade, travel companies have been saying that sustainability will gain in importance – Tripadvisor said in 2012 that the ‘green travel trend is gaining momentum’.

There’s no doubt that travelers say they want sustainable options. But as Expedia Group CEO Peter Kern said at the Skift Global Forum last September, travelers have yet to change their travel patterns.

A global online survey of 31,000 travelers in 34 countries and territories that Booking.com unveiled Monday agrees with Kern’s assessment.

In the survey, approximately 83% of traveler respondents indicated that making sustainable travel choices was important to them.

However, Booking.com discovered a counter trend. “New insights show that a sense of fatigue may be emerging globally, fueled by the ongoing challenges travelers experience in making more sustainable travel choices,” Booking.com said.

45% even say that sustainable travel choices are important, but not a decisive consideration when planning or booking a trip. Globally, 28% responded that they are tired of hearing about climate change. That sentiment was even higher (32%) among American respondents.

About 33% of travelers said they thought the damage from climate change had already happened and that their individual travel choices wouldn’t make much of a difference.

Seeking government action on climate change

About 44% of respondents globally said governments would make the most difference – not individual travelers – and 43% thought it would be travel companies.

To be eligible for the survey, individuals had to be at least 18 years old and involved in their travel as a decision maker. They had to have traveled at least once in the past 12 months and planned to travel again in 2024. The survey gauged the feelings of travelers in 34 countries and territories in North America, South America, Europe, Africa and Asia, including China.

What should travel organizations do?

These findings leave travel organizations with a difficult choice: should they invest in sustainability if this does not lead to more turnover?

We asked that question to a spokesperson for Travalyst, the non-profit organization founded by Prince Harry, which held its annual meeting in France last week. Coalition members include Amadeus, Booking.com, Expedia Group, Google, Mastercard, Sabre, Skyscanner, Travelport, Trip.com Group, Tripadvisor and Visa.

The spokesperson said part of Travalyst’s mission is to encourage consumers to make better travel choices from an environmental perspective.

“Travalyst is on a journey to change behavior and it all starts with clear, consistent and credible information that is widely accessible,” the spokesperson said.

Much of the discussion focused on how the travel industry should provide more sustainable choices, the spokesperson said, adding that companies must reduce their Scope 3 emissions and that governments must support these efforts.

“The general sentiment was that it’s not just the consumer; the journey to a more sustainable travel industry is a shared journey,” said the Travalyst spokesperson.

Booking.com’s strategy

A Booking.com spokesperson said Friday that it will seek to “unveil accessible, reliable and easy-to-understand travel options that will help increase traveler adoption.”

That statement came a month after regulators in the Netherlands, where Booking.com is based, said their efforts to brand certain listings with Travel Sustainable and green leaves badges “constituted a potentially misleading sustainability claim.”

However, the company hopes to use third-party certifications to highlight more sustainable travel choices,” the Booking.com spokesperson said on Friday.

“While the data shows that sustainable travel remains important, it also shows that more work needs to be done on collaboration across sectors to accelerate efforts to make sustainable travel choices easier, which we remain committed to,” a Booking.com spokesperson said. “We are encouraged that the research shows that consumers have positive intentions and motivations to travel more sustainably.”

Photo Credit: A traveler who enjoys solitude.