Find Croatia » Topics » Other Croatia Travel » Travel is behind other sectors in action on the environment

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• #14666
  
  Foggy

  Spectator

  I found this article about responsible travel:
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  “The tourism industry is “playing catch-up” with other sectors such as oil and mining when it comes to environmental issues, it has been claimed.

  Speaking at last night’s TravelMole TIQT ‘Just How Green is the Travel Industry?’ debate, Responsibletravel.com managing director Justin Francis said he believed travel was 10 to 15 years behind other industries.

  “Three years ago if you talked about corporate social responsibility to the managing director of a travel company you would get a blank look because there was no comprehension whilst in other sectors it has been alive and active,” he said.

  Francis attributed the lack of action within the industry to its fragmentation as well as the fact that within other sectors there are more public companies answerable to the city.

  He added that although big tour operators are doing well with green policies and there are some “shining examples of good practise” among smaller operators, still too many sectors of the industry, such as cruising, need to do more.

  Federation of Tour Operators director general Andy Cooper also singled out medium-sized companies for criticism.

  “In the last three years there has been a cultural shift in big companies and the small guys have been doing it for a long time. There is that gap in the middle,” he said.

  “The big guys can influence the rest if we think and act in a certain way it is easy for the rest of the industry to fall in line behind that.”

  Cooper added that the FTO is developing a handbook for suppliers on understanding their carbon footprint as well as a website on the issues.
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  I feel that travel industry is really crap about saving our planet.

  What do you guys think about this?

  #15542
  
  Ana

  Spectator

  I feel that travel industry is really crap about saving our planet.

  What do you guys think about this?

  I share your opinion Foggy. It is disturbing to see how greedy people can be.

  The latest news is about RyanAir and their outrageus proposal for free flights for people who will email Gordon Brown.

  Ryanair has promised a free flight to up to a million people who write to Gordon Brown to complain about air passenger duty.

  The airline says the increased tax is “highway robbery” and will do nothing to help the environment.

  But Friends of the Earth says this is just another bribery and scam.

  BBC news video clip is here : http://news.bbc.co.uk/player/nol/newsid_6290000/newsid_6293400/6293487.stm?bw=bb&mp=wm

  #15589
  
  NewsReader

  Guest

  An intersting announcement regarding responsible tourism is here:

  Industry leaders hope that 2007 will be the turning point in mobilising the international travel industry to help the environment and fight poverty in developing countries.

  World Travel Market in London has declared that November 14 ? the third day of its 2007 exhibition ? will be the first World Responsible Tourism Day of Action. Hopefully other ITTFA member exhibitions will come up with similar initiatives, and start to mobilise support for poor countries where tourism can really make a difference.

  The World Tourism Organisation is making the fight against poverty a priority this year, and will organise a summit on Tourism and Climate Change during WTM. It is calling on developed countries to come up with strategies to encourage tourism to poorer destinations, and advising developing countries to recognise the impact that tourism can have.

  Its Secretary-General, Francesco Frangialli, says: ?The tourism sector is the largest common area of export income and foreign direct investment across the world?s poorest countries. Tourism to these countries is growing at twice the rate of industrialised markets, and no sector spreads wealth and jobs across poor economies in the same way as tourism.

  ?It just needs imagination and political will. Industrialised states should see their tourists as human development support, with the additional benefit that they build bridges of understanding between cultures.?

  The World Tourism Organisation is making a call to action to governments and agencies around the world to act on this, while WTM is taking practical steps to encourage responsible tourism.

  In the lead-up to World Responsible Tourism Day of Action it will keep the issue high on the agenda, and in the meantime it has devised an action pack telling the travel industry how to get involved.

  This can be downloaded from http://www.wtmwrtd.com.

  ( WTM is a member of ITTFA, International Travel Tourism Fairs Association. For more details on the Association, its aims and members, please view http://www.ittfa.org )

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