Demand for sustainable travel is still low. The majority of travel agencies only sell them sporadically, and when they do, it is usually only at the customer’s request. Dr. Fried & Partner, together with partners from AIDA Cruises, BWH Hotels and the Lufthansa Group, uncovered the challenges and solutions for selling sustainable travel and how travel sales can be strengthened in this area as part of the industry initiative “Sustainability in Sales”. The results were presented at this year’s ITB Convention in Berlin.
Travel distribution is confronted with the following challenges:
- Low demand from the customer
- Limited number of sustainable offers
- Insufficient labelling of sustainable services in the systems
- Lack of incentives for the sale of sustainable offers
The findings from the initiative show that sales partners and travel agencies can be supported in sales by the following measures, among others:
- Raising awareness of the topic by placing sustainability in the customer journey at an early stage
- Making offers easier to find by visibly labelling sustainable options
- Knowledge building and a more informed sales pitch with the help of a simple info search and bundled information from providers
- Creating incentives for end customers by emphasizing the added value of sustainable travel
The bottom line: Sustainability is and remains an important topic, and the implementation of sustainable activities is essential, regardless of demand. Sales play a crucial role as an intermediary between service providers and end customers.
The challenges were recognized, and initial solutions identified. The initiative is planning further events to shed light on different perspectives and take a closer look at individual topics. This will provide long-term support for travel sales in the area of sustainability and strengthen the dialog between tourism service providers and sales.
Interested service providers or travel agencies can use this link to register to participate in the industry initiative.
