Tourism Cares, a nonprofit organization that seeks to combine travel and the ethical practices that benefit the people and places of travel, is a familiar name for advisors looking to make a difference in the industry.
Ranging from airlines to tour operators, Tourism Cares connects advisors to travel companies to promote more meaningful practices. To get these initiatives started, Tourism Cares has created a four-step guide for businesses on generating sustainable travel goals and implementing them in the upcoming year.
Crafting the Goals
Step One: Identify Your Values
An integral part of the process, identifying your or your company’s values provides structure to the goals. Tourism Cares uses “sustainability” rather ambiguously, but it’s all encompassing in that it includes everything from climate change and carbon emissions to community inequities and tourist overcrowding. Consider selecting only one or two core values that align with these concerns in order to write more specific and achievable goals.
Step Two: Create a Plan
With those values in mind, companies can begin to adjust their business model by integrating sustainability initiatives into a strategy plan. The goals should be reflected in every facet of the business, from PR and marketing to finance and development, rather than just a select few. Creating a five-year plan embedded with short and long-term goals is recommended to ensure consistent progress forward.
Step Three: Measure Your Goals
Perhaps the biggest challenge of implementing sustainability practices comes when companies must choose to either produce their own assessments or utilize pre-existing ones. While there are benefits to both, the decision is unique to every company and ultimately based on what they’re trying to achieve with the sustainability practices.
Step Four: Equity, Belonging, Diversity and Inclusion
Remember, no matter what the sustainability goals are, centering them around equity, belonging, diversity and inclusion is key to preserving the integrity and welfare of the travel industry.
To learn more, visit Tourism Cares’ four-step guide.
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