The Times, March 2011
It has increasingly become the norm to find a note in hotel rooms asking you for your help in their environmental efforts - reusing your towels, or always turning off all the lights. It’s probably the most obvious way in which the sector has responded to the surge in interest in sustainability. And for many consumers, this note, and perhaps a pop up offering an offset when they book their flight, are the only points of contact they’ll have with anything social or environmental in the course of the their week in the sun.
So perhaps it’s not surprising that 66% people don’t think holiday companies are doing enough to tackle social and environmental issues.
Shifting this perception will take some doing, and it’s definitely not a case of more of the same.
For one thing, an increasing number of people would rather holiday companies focused on social issues than environmental. 59% think the social is more important, a rise of 8% since 2008. When times are tight and austerity looms there’s a tendency to focus on people. Families and relationships come first. Holiday companies need to demonstrate that they understand that.
There’s also something about the somewhat haughty note in the bathroom or the mildly guilt-inducing offset offer which strikes the wrong chord. Most people don’t want to have to think too hard about the impact of their break – they want to enjoy it (in our recent research for the travel association ABTA, 51% agree that when they’re booking a holiday they just want to make sure they’ll have a good time, not think about sustainability). So everything needs to feel natural. The consumer should simply be left with the impression that their holiday has been a good thing – for them, for their family, for the local community and for the world around them.
It’s something that Center Parcs gets right. And it comes top of the list when consumers are asked which companies take their responsibilities most seriously. Of course the fact that it’s a UK break makes a difference. But it’s not just that. The whole experience feels natural, wholesome, low impact. Without anyone having to tell you that.
