How Tour Operators Are Becoming More Sustainable

Sustainability is a hot-button topic in the travel industry. Travelers, those who sell travel, and those who work and reside in tourist destinations all have a stake in the conversation, and there’s lots of chatter from all sides. 

Tour operators are one group at the forefront of setting new industry standards that aim to take responsibility for tourism’s impact on communities and the world. 

USTOA’s focus on sustainability
The United States Tour Operator Association (USTOA) hired a global social impact (GSI) manager about a year ago to help push progress along for its members in a constructive way. 

“The overall attitude towards sustainability has definitely shifted from, ‘I don’t know where to get started’ to ‘Here are some hurdles that I am experiencing, and I would love to find ways to work towards sustainable solutions,'” Molly Laycob, USTOA’s first GSI manager told TMR. “Which means our members are taking advantage of the resources that we are producing.” 

With Laycob at the helm of its sustainability initiatives, USTOA has implemented its own Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) platform and now provides guidance to its members as they construct social, economic, and environmental responsibility policies within their companies. She noted that it is a collaborative process that takes time. 

“Progress is being made in terms of companies creating guidelines/criteria/policies that can be used by various companies,” Laycob said. “These policies provide guidance for sourcing suppliers such as hotels and transportation, as well as areas like animal welfare and philanthropy.   

“Of course, there is never a point at which you are simply considered ‘sustainable,’ so it is a never-ending learning process,” she added. 

According to Laycob, some actions that tour operators are taking toward being more socially and environmentally responsible include: 

– Reducing the company office’s carbon footprint 

– Sourcing responsible, local suppliers on trips 

– Measuring and reporting environmental and social impact 

– Hiring staff members specifically dedicated to sustainability 

– Establishing employee resource groups to establish sustainability goals and targets 

– Launching educational programs for customers that highlight sustainable practices and why they are important 

USTOA is hosting its Sustainability is Responsibility (SIR) educational series with discussions throughout the year ranging from public/private partnerships to Climate 101. It will also host its annual SIR Summit in Singapore this year to further those conversations. 

Digging into diversity with CIE Tours 
Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) is an important piece of sustainability. CIE Tours’ Responsible Tourism Policy states that the company commits to practices that “invite all to participate in the business opportunities we offer” and to support organizations that “promote greater cultural awareness of, and connection between, the U.S. and Ireland, and support diversity of the Irish American experience.” 

“Many people think sustainability is all about carbon emissions and green and recycling and it certainly is, but anyone who’s looked at the 17 SDGs [the U.N.’s Sustainable Development Goals] will realize it’s much broader than that,” CIE Tours CMO Rosanne Zusman told TMR. “It’s economic, it’s social, it’s gender equality, it is providing economic opportunities.”

To those points, CIE announced a new partnership with the African American Irish Diaspora Network (AAIDN) in October 2023 with a goal to “foster relationships between African Americans, Ireland, and the Irish Diaspora through various programming, marketing, and product development,” as nearly 40% of African Americans having some Irish ancestry. 

Through the partnership, CIE will establish a summer internship program for historically black college and university (HBCU) students and graduates to be introduced to the tourism industry, as well as create custom group tours that will highlight the intersection of African American and Irish history and culture.   

CIE will also develop a heritage tour in collaboration with Quinnipiac University Professor Christine Kinealy that will highlight travel along the Frederick Douglass Way heritage and tourism trail in Ireland and Northern Ireland. 

Going global 365 days a year at Avanti 
Avanti Destinations is dedicated to what CEO Paul Barry calls “symbiotic tourism” – in other words, tourism that positively impacts both locals and tourists. The company shies away from using the word “sustainable” because their trips require air travel, which is inherently unsustainable to the environment. 

“Symbiotic tourism is [when] people come along, and they have a quiet, enjoyable time – interact with the locals, spend money, stay in hotels, eat at local restaurants, etcetera. That’s symbiotic because the businesses are set up, they’re part of the community, the tour guide that may show them around is a local within the community,” Barry told TMR. “That’s our sustainability. We don’t believe in bringing people from the outside to give that tourism experience to the detriment of the locals. And in many cases the countries we send people to, tourism is the number one earner for them.” 

Part of how the company does that is by offering a wide variety of tours outside of the popular tourist cities to prevent overtourism. In 2017, Avanti launched “Go 365,” an educational and marketing campaign that promotes less-traveled destinations around the globe specifically to travel advisors for them to sell. 

Some off-the-beaten-path FIT itineraries include trips to the less-touristed European countries, such as Poland, Finland, Denmark, and Wales; the lesser-popular Italian regions of Sicily and Puglia; Panama and Ecuador in South America, and many others. Avanti recommends its FIT tours in Peru, Thailand, and New Zealand that visit lesser-known areas of those countries.