Travel Industry Is Still Searching for Ways to Make Eco-Friendly Habits Stick
Photo Credit: Delta Hotels is one example of a brand trying to offset travelers' carbon footprints. Pictured is a staff gift to a Delta guest at a Calgary, Canada property. Flickr / Can Pac Swire
Skift Take
It's not that most travelers don't want to pitch in and do their part to save the planet. Travelers learn by example and more companies are understanding that it's not so easy to train employees, who are also consumers, on how to lead the way.
Travelers are often busy enough without worrying about whether to reuse their bath towels, recycle plastic bottles, or turn the lights and air conditioning off when they leave their hotel rooms. And before they reach that point, many likely spent hours in an airplane or vehicle that dumped a stream of fuel into the atmosphere.
Tourism accounts for about 10 percent of all global greenhouse gas emissions, according to a new study from the University of Sydney, and some travel brands like Marriott are grappling with an inconvenient truth that many travelers still don't understand environmentally-friendly practices or why they're important.
That's the view of Claire Cutting, director of sustainability for Marriott International, who spoke at the Sustainable Tourism Entrepreneurship and Destination Asset Management Roundtable organized by the Pillsbury Institute for Hospitality Entrepreneurship at Cornell University on May 3. The roundtable was part of the Sustainable Tourism Asset
