In what appears to be a ray of hope in terms of changing lifestyle choices, a recent report by Booking.com shows that Indian travellers are more likely to pick sustainable travel alternatives that cause the least damage to the environment.
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The World Tourism Organization estimates a 25% increase in CO2 emissions from the tourism industry from 2016 to 2030, representing 5.3% of all human-made emissions. However, the report by Booking.com provides a hopeful outlook for the travel industry and its subsequent impact on the environment.
According to the report, 91% of Indian travellers have demonstrated a desire to travel sustainably over the next 12 months. Further, 88% of the travellers surveyed also expressed that they were much more likely to pick a sustainable travel option when it was presented to them, even if they weren’t actively looking for one.
Indian travellers further backed these resolutions as 80 per cent of them claimed to have stayed in a sustainable accommodation in the previous year. Nearly half of the respondents indicated a willingness to pay more on the trip to give back to local communities.
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On the other hand, many expressed a lack of knowledge about the options available to them. As many as 29% of the people who did not opt for sustainable accommodation admitted not knowing about such options, while 37% revealed they did not know how to find them.
To address this issue, Booking.com has created a programme called Travel Sustainable, where partners can choose from 32 sustainability practices — selected for their high impact potential. They are assigned a badge after verification by independent sustainability experts. This serves as a filter for anyone using the platform. These certifications are approved by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), Green Tourism and the EU Ecolabel, as well as multiple hotel chain sustainability programs.
The report also provided fascinating insights into the shifting mindsets of Indian travellers. For instance, almost half of the travellers expressed willingness to travel outside of peak season to avoid contributing to and experiencing overcrowding. Additionally, one-third of the users also chose to travel to destinations closer to home in an effort to reduce their carbon footprint and mentioned researching eco-friendly transport options, such as renting a bicycle or choosing public transport facilities.
Further, 64% revealed that they would avoid popular tourist destinations to disperse the impact of travel on these regions but lamented the fact that sustainable travel options in cities might be impossible.
The travel company has pledged to contribute to the Paris Agreement of limiting global warming to 1.5° Celsius above pre-industrial levels and has an active Climate Action Plan in place to achieve net-zero emission by 2040. As a result, the company has already committed to using 100 per cent renewable energy by late 2021, with plans to reduce remaining emissions by increasing the efficiency of offices that rely on natural gas and district heating.
According to their 2019 report, emissions generated from business travel, employee commute and purchased goods and services contribute to 235,963 metric tonnes of CO2 and comprise 93% of the total emissions by the company.
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“With increased pressure on our natural resources and the undeniable impact our way of life is having on the environment, we are 100% committed to leading the industry in charting a more mindful and responsible course for the future of travel,” said Glenn Fogel, CEO of Booking.com.
Booking.com has also announced plans to expand the Travel Sustainable programme across all transportation-related verticals. One such notable initiative is the KAYAK’s CO2 filter, which allows users to sort flight results by their impact on the environment.
NOTE – This article was originally published in Weather and can be viewed here
Tags: #climate, #climateaction, #climatechange, #CO2, #environment, #getgreengetgrowing, #globalwarming, #gngagritech, #greenstories, #lifestyle, #Naturalgas, #sustainabletravel, #tourism, #travellers
