7 Reasons Why Your Tourism Business Should Go Green in 2022

Photo by Unknown Wong

With life slowly returning back to business as usual, now is the time to futureproof your business and implement sustainability strategies that will keep your business on track for the long-term. In this week’s blog, we will explore how businesses can make a positive impact, strengthen their branding, and set an example for other businesses by choosing to operate sustainably.

1. Keeping up with consumer demand

The key to being a successful business in any sector is staying on top of consumer demand. Several studies point towards the fact that tourist demand for green products and services has increased significantly over the past decade. Nowadays, more and more people are opting to buy eco-friendly products or partner with the companies whose services have adopted a positive attitude towards the environment. This trend has also been observed in the tourism sector. A study done by Booking.com in 2020 on traveler trends and behaviors shows that the desire of people to travel sustainably has increased as a result of the coronavirus.

Today’s younger generations consist of dreamers and environmentalists who wish to make the world a better place. As target markets, Millennials and Generation Z have redefined what it means to travel, and prioritize authentic experiences and sustainability. Aligning with their preferences is a great way of future-proofing your business.

One way to find out what the wishes of your target group are and what your target market should be is through research. Why not send out a questionnaire to your customers to find out how they feel about your current offering? Not only will this help you in offering the desired products or services, it will also strengthen the bond with your customers and make them feel heard. Additionally, it is smart to capitalize on (long-lasting) trends. As a tourism or hospitality entrepreneur, you can stay in the know of the latest trends and travelers’ behaviors by following UNWTO’s latest reports. 

2. Stronger company culture

The best place to start when you want to operate more sustainably as a tourism business is at the core: the office. It is highly important to reflect on the impact made by the office, looking, for example at energy and water usage, but even more important are the employees and their behavior. By involving your employees in the implementation of a sustainability strategy you can ensure long-term engagement, spread awareness on sustainable behavior and even enhance employee productivity. You can make this process more attractive by rewarding those who put extra effort into it. 

It’s important to make the workplace a place where employees feel inspired and welcomed. You can achieve this by literally making the office a greener place by adding plants and other kinds of greenery and omitting single-use items. The presence of greenery within offices has been proven to increase employee satisfaction and productivity. In addition to optimizing the workfloor, promoting healthy and responsible habits such as using reusable cups and using less paper, will result in a more environmentally friendly office footprint.

After some time these habits will become part of your company culture rather than just a company policy. On top of that, happier employees equal more productive employees, this results in higher employee retention rates, more impact made and success in your business overall.

3. Cost savings

Operating sustainably helps to decrease company costs. Of course, there are many innovative technologies on the market today that can help you reduce your environmental footprint, but as we have already said it’s best to start with small steps. You can make a big impact simply by influencing the behavior of your employees and customers and opting for sustainable alternatives. For example, you can reduce your energy consumption with LED lamps, or lower your paper usage by digitizing documents, turning all business data into cloud storage.

4. Funding and governmental support

Many governments and businesses support their entrepreneurs’ implementation of green policies. 

By offering financial and tax incentives, governments actively encourage businesses to care about their environmental footprint and take measures to decrease it in different ways. If you are thinking of implementing a sustainability strategy within your business, it can be useful to check whether such green funding opportunities exist for your business to make the implementation go smoother and be less costly. Impact financing such as Eco Business Fund can financially support sustainable and travel initiatives. For community-tourism initiatives, you could consider local fundraising.

5. Green investment opportunities & enhanced sales

Businesses that follow green practices are likely to be more trusted by investors and customers as well. Younger generations care about the environment and have been vocal in the fight against climate change and other environmental issues. There are, for instance, many student groups that voluntarily organize cleanup events to pick up trash in public places, recycle and upcycle waste, and so on. Sharing how you contribute to protecting the environment can easily boost the sales of your products and services. Investors are more willing to invest in projects that enhance green policy development and just like your customers, care about the eco-friendly practices that you implement.

6. Taking responsibility and becoming vision-driven

Taking responsibility for your business operations is very important in light of the many socio-environmental challenges our world is facing nowadays. Large companies, who tend to have a bigger environmental footprint, can really make a difference by minimizing their negative impacts, decreasing their use of natural resources and focusing on having a positive impact on the environment and local people.

Becoming a more sustainable and responsible tourism business does not stop at simply reducing your negative impacts on the environment. As a tourism business, you can really make a positive impact on the destination and its inhabitants by shortening and securing your supply chains. Not only will this contribute to job generation and the local economy, it will also result in stronger community relationships and a stronger brand between your business and its surroundings.

7. Engaging Employees

Now that we’ve outlined the many benefits you can have by improving the environmental performance of your business, we would like to emphasize that greening your business will be a gradual process and not something that can be achieved overnight.

Hiring a sustainability manager, someone who can dedicate their time and energy to making your tourism business more responsible, can help you take a big first step in the right direction. Reach out to your employees, colleagues and even fellow business owners and discuss potential challenges they face and learn from each other. Knowing your business needs and what you are trying to achieve will put you on the right track. 

Contact Sea Going Green’s sustainability consultants if you wish to learn more about implementing sustainability strategies in your business.

Start your sustainability strategy now by scheduling a call.

Writer Spotlight

Wanda Lafond is a professional content writer, copywriter, content strategist, and communications consultant. She started young with her writing career from being a high school writer to a university editor, and now she is a writer in professional writing platforms— her years of expertise have honed her skills to create compelling and results-driven content. 

Check out the following writing services: Writing Judge, Best Writers Online and Trust My Paper for writing tips and other valuable insights such as the points covered in this blog.