The online agency announced Monday the launch of the 'Sustainable Travel' lab.
The initiative is aimed at all types of accommodations worldwide and facilitates users to find information on the sustainability and impact measures of the accommodations, "to respond to the demands of an increasingly aware traveler with the environment,"According to the OTA.The label can be received by apartments, Bed and Breakfets, houses, hotels, resorts, houses in the trees, among other accommodations, that have implemented a combination of sustainable measures and that meet the requirements on the impact on the location of the destination.The objective of this identification, according to the online agency, is to make accessible to more accommodations from around the worldof sustainable stays regardless of the chosen destination.
This first version of the 'Sustainable Travel' label, created by Booking.com With the help of Travvalst and that has the ambition to become a universal measure on sustainability information throughout the sector, it focuses on highlighting the most relevant measures and the high impact potential of accommodations.
The icon, a green leaf similar to that of Google, will identify the set of practices with the greatest impact that must take into account accommodation in five key areas: waste, energy and greenhouse gases, water, support toLocal communities and nature protection.
Currently, the base work frame is divided into 32 specific sustainable measures or practices that the accommodations can carry out.For example, they can eliminate single -use plastic cleaning articles, go to LED lighting, work entirely with renewable energy sources or invest a certain percentage of their profits in the local community or in conservation projects, among other measures.
Booking.com has also collaborated with the renowned Sustainability Consulting Sustainability to develop a methodology that assess the relative weight of these practices in the model.As this weight depends completely on the social or environmental impact of practices, the model can rightly identify those accommodations that strive significantly for being more respectful of the environment.
For example, it is considered that more impact measures to reduce water consumption in an area prone to drought or have renewable energy options in a country where it is not very widespread.The accommodations that meet the requirements related to impact receive the first version of the 'Sustainable Travel' label, including those that have a wide variety of certificates and other labels, for example, those officially approved by the Global Council of Sustainable Tourism (CGTS), Green Tourism and Eu Ecolabel.
During the first phase of the launch, you can see the green sheet identifying the accommodation that is part of the ‘Sustainable Travel’ program and an individual summary of sustainable practices in its pages (both in the app and on the Booking website.com worldwide).
During the following weeks, as the implementation continues, the icon of ‘Sustainable Travel’ will begin to appear in the announcement of the accommodation on the search results page.There will also be a filter of ‘Sustainable Travel’ so that the public can better identify sustainable options from the beginning of their booking experience in Booking.com.
A step towards a more sustainable sector
The Booking Sustainability Director.COM, Marianne Gybels, has stated that "building a truly sustainable travel sector will take time, coordination and joint efforts, but with continuous innovation and mutual support between collaborators and the industry El Progreso is possible".
Gybels explains that "with the label and the 'Sustainable Travel' program, we are recognizing the efforts for the sustainability that some accommodations are making, in a credible and transparent way for the public.In addition to encouraging accommodations to strive to get this label ".
Dede Booking "we believe it is important.Showing the practices they have implemented makes it easier for everyone to make decisions with the appropriate information for their next trip and, hopefully, more sustainable, regardless of the chosen destination.In this way, we want to inspire other collaborating accommodations to take another step towards sustainability, "he concludes.
According to a new study that Ey Parthenon and Booking have just published.com, despite issuing the equivalent of 264 million metric tons of carbon dioxide per year (which represents 10% of the total annual emissions of the tourism industry), the sector has the opportunity to lead the march towards an industryTourism and more sustainable trips.
A very relevant fact of this report is that 81% of the international traveling community claims that it wants to stay in sustainable accommodation next year.
