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Cushioning the impact of tourism:

searching for a sustainable model
Sustainable travel should be at the heart of improving the customer
experience, rather than a 'nice to do' sideline
Sponsored feature
Oliver Balch
theguardian.com , Wednesday 1 8 Septem ber 2 01 3 00.01 BST

Local business people like this weav er are supported by The Bany an Tree. Photograph: Bany an Tree Gallery

In the late 1980s, when businesswoman Claire Chiang was looking to set up a holiday
resort in Phuket, Thailand, representatives of a local community co-operative
approached her. They wanted her to buy two of their traditionally manufactured maun
kwan (triangular cushions). Chiang liked them and ended up buying enough for the
entire resort.
Today, this relationship has flourished. The Phuket project (built on the site of an old tin
mine) expanded to become Banyan Tree Hotels and Resorts, a global chain of 29
boutique hotels and holiday resorts, and 61 spas. In almost every location,
holidaymakers will find a retail outlet the Banyan Tree Gallery selling handicrafts
made by village producers in Thailand and elsewhere in Asia. Profits from the 81 stores
are ploughed back into the Banyan Tree Global Foundation, which supports microfinance projects and other community development initiatives.
For Helen Marano, government and industry affairs director at the World Travel &
Tourism Council (WTTC), it's an example of how mass tourism can leave a positive
imprint. Banyan Tree has a policy of hiring from the local community where possible, she
notes, as well as a mentoring and internship programme for disadvantaged young
people.
"Banyan Tree started this before it [responsible tourism] became fashionable," Marano
says. "The company is very integrated into the communities it operates in. It doesn't
just pop into a place, nor does it just import in everything from elsewhere."
In recent years, responsible or "sustainable" tourism has become a buzzword among
tour operators and travel agents, but how much of the glossy brochure rhetoric plays out
in practice? According to Mark Tanzer, chief executive at the UK travel trade association
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ABTA, mainstream tourism is still in "take-off mode" when it comes to managing its
social and environmental impacts. That said, the early adopters are achieving "very
material" gains in terms of operational efficiencies and cost reductions, he says:
"Everybody is focused on the bottom line and we've demonstrated that investment, plus
changing behaviours in some very simple areas, can reduce wastage."

Taking off
Talk of take-off is apt. Transport related to tourism is responsible for 4% of global
carbon emissions, according to the World Tourism Organisation (WTO), with 40% of
that amount (1.6%) accounted for by air travel. In the UK, however, where cheap flights
have become ubiquitous, its contribution is closer to 6%. And although international
aviation is becoming gradually less carbon intensive, according to the UK government
from highs of 35.4m tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2e) in 2005 to 33.2m
tonnes CO2e in 2011 it remains more than double what it was in 1990.
Flying can never be carbon-free; the travel and aviation industries accept that. But this
doesn't mean nothing can be done. Regulatory initiatives, such as the cap-and-trade EU
Emission Trading System, which came into force in Europe in 2012, are having a gradual
impact on reducing the carbon intensity of air travel. Consumer-focused offsetting
schemes are also making a difference although purists rightly point out that trying to
rebalance our emissions, rather than cutting them at source, can only ever be a stopgap
measure.
Some airlines are taking the initiative. Less carbon is achieved through less fuel, which,
conveniently for the bottom line, translates into less cost. According to the industry-led
International Air Transport Association, new design and engine technologies have
decreased C02 emissions per passenger kilometre by more than 70% since the 1960s.
The downside, of course, is that millions more of us are jetting off on our holidays than
40 years ago meaning net emissions are up.
The WTTC's Marano picks out Air New Zealand as an example of an airline with an
aggressive carbon-reduction strategy. Upfront investments in a younger, more fuelefficient fleet, coupled with snazzy new design features such as blended winglets and
zonal driers resulted in a 15% saving on fuel use (and, thus, carbon emissions) between
2007 and 2011. Along with the likes of Virgin Atlantic and Continental Airlines, Air New
Zealand was also among the first commercial airlines to conduct a test flight with
aviation biofuel.
Thomson Airways provides another example of an airline investing heavily in carbonefficiency measures. Part of Tui Travel plc, the charter carrier recently became the first
UK airline to take possession of the new Boeing 787 Dreamliner this summer. Boeing's
state-of-the-art plane is expected to emit 20% less CO2 per passenger kilometre than
current comparable aircraft.
The introduction of blended winglets into its fleet had already seen Thomson Airways'
carbon emissions per revenue passenger kilometre drop to 71g in 2012, down 6.7% since
2008. But it will take more widespread adoption of these principles across the industry
for a serious dent to be made in overall aviation emissions.

A sensible sales pitch

Once you're at the gates of your resort, the emphasis switches to the other obvious
impact area for mainstream tourism the holiday complex. According to the WTO,
tourist accommodation accounts for nearly 1% of global emissions. The same cost-saving
logic applies to energy saving, waste reduction, water efficiency and other on-site
environmental measures. So the 8% reduction in energy use that hotel chain Wyndham
Worldwide has achieved as part of its participation in the US government's Better
Buildings Challenge immediately cause its operating expenses to shrink.
In the future, a reputation for sustainability may just pull in the punters, too. The
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market for greener mass tourism is "not happening as quickly as people would like",
admits Salli Felton, chief executive of the business-backed Travel Foundation, but that
could feasibly change. Starwood Hotels and Resorts is betting on just that: the US-based
hotel and leisure firm operates a fledgling eco-brand called Element, the locations of
which are certified according to the benchmark LEED eco-standard. Element's portfolio
of 10 hotels is tiny compared to Starwood's 1,150 or so properties worldwide, but they
still lay down a marker for forward-thinking eco-design and management.
Brian McGuinness, Starwood's senior vice-president, echoes others in the tourism
industry when it comes to marketing. Being "preachy" doesn't work, he says. Far better
to big up the general customer experience and, only afterwards, drop in the hotels'
sustainability credentials. This "and by the way" tactic not only avoids sustainability
becoming an empty PR exercise, it also reinforces the notion that social and
environmental responsibility is ultimately about improving the general experience for
the holidaymaker.
If there's one term that tour operators and hoteliers all know, it's "customer
experience". So it makes sense that sustainability is being discussed in this core-business
context, rather than as a "nice to do" sideline that can be easily ignored.
Chiang could have bought two cushions and walked away. She didn't and, arguably,
that willingness to go the extra mile is not only helping local producers, but also feeding
into what makes Banyan Tree such a successful, sustainable brand.

Credits
This content is brought to you by Guardian Sustainable Business in association with TUI
Travel. Produced by Guardian Professional to a brief agreed and paid for by TUI Travel.
All editorial controlled and overseen by the Guardian.
2 0 1 4 Gu a r dia n New s a n d Media Lim it ed or it s a ffilia t ed com pa n ies. A ll r ig h t s r eser v ed.

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