GECO - Sustainability virtual italian fair
Travel sustainability is one of the most interesting challenges of our time. Travelling is a necessity, a pleasure, and a natural human instinct. Yet, in recent years, those who care about sustainability cannot do so without feeling guilty about the environmental impact of each trip. But is it true that travel is inherently unsustainable? We discussed this with Riccardo Ricci of Alma Travel, who offered us a different perspective on this issue.
The tourism industry in general was the quickest to realise that sustainability is the only way out of this post-pandemic crisis. We are seeing more and more people choosing outdoor holidays and active tourism for their leisure time, and I am convinced that the same trend will occur in business travel when companies start investing in travel again.
Clearly, companies will have to change their approach to business travel: travel policies will have to put the well-being and safety of the traveller before their own expenses, and decisions on the supply chain will have to focus on sustainable services. This would allow companies to achieve two ESG (Environmental Social Governance) goals, namely the well-being of their employees and environmental protection, which will soon translate into savings for those companies that draw up a sustainability report.
I would like to remind you that Alma Travel was the first ESG-certified travel agency in Italy, but I am sure we will soon see other agencies follow suit.
In our industry we are making great strides to meet the difficult challenge of the Paris Agreement "Agenda 2030", which is to halve the amount of CO2 emissions. Many airlines such as Air France and KLM are adopting SAF fuels which, while they are less harmful to the environment, are unfortunately very expensive, and the real challenge will be to completely renew the airline fleets.
The hotel business is moving in the same direction: soon we will see new certifications attesting to the real level of sustainability of a hotel, not only in relation to power usage (many hotels already boast a “Green" certification, based exclusively on this parameter), but also for all the products used in the hotel (detergents, containers, etc.).
Alma Travel actively engages with its customers to provide sustainable travel solutions and delivers a detailed report of the CO2 emissions for each trip, which, thanks to collaboration with external companies, is certified for inclusion in the sustainability report.
However, I would like to dispel the myth that travel is inherently unsustainable. This is only true if there is no process in place to monitor emissions and engage all stakeholders. And what about online meetings? A recent survey by the University of Michigan attributed significant pollution to virtual meetings: a six-hour meeting emitted 1324 kilos of CO2, the equivalent of driving 3300 miles. This is a figure that certainly gives us pause and based on which we must now look at the subject of meetings (physical and virtual) from different, more sustainable perspectives.
Not only is it possible, it is a matter of necessity. Let us strive to understand that sustainability is made up of many small steps that we all have to take towards a common goal. Economic recovery that does not focus on sustainability would lead us to self-destruction and, as we should have realised in the wake of the pandemic, we can no longer afford to waste time. I am not only thinking of the recovery of our branch, but also of the recovery of local commerce thanks to the growing phenomena of Telework and Workation, a new trend in the world of flexible work. However, it is important not to repeat the mistakes made in the past. Moving a worker from the company's headquarters to a new place of work entails rethinking legal and security matters, both for the worker themselves and in terms of company data protection, and above all we need to assess the real sustainability of such a choice. Let's try to think about all these aspects beforehand and not afterwards, as is usually the case, and we can all reap rewards.
There is no doubt that companies, just like business travellers, show different needs nowadays. First and foremost, security issues are paramount and concern not only health matters but also locations and means of transportation. Digitisation has also changed the process of travel management considerably. Just consider that, before the pandemic, travellers used to ask (or rather demand) for communications and travel documents to be sent by e-mail, but today, thanks to our AlmaApp, we transfer all information digitally. I can assure you that this saves a lot of CO2. We can also see the drive towards digitalisation with more advanced software solutions or vertical integrations with customers' management systems. Previously, 80% of travel requests arrived by e-mail, but now it's 20% by e-mail, 70% by software integration and 10% by self booking tools. This last method is constantly growing, so much so that we have developed an intelligent self booking tool with the possibility of including company travel policies and travel authorisation.
Fortunately, Alma Travel, in its 50 years of honourable career, has seen many changes in the industry and has been able to react quickly to market demands, also thanks to the great attention we pay to our customers.
Do you know of another trade show that addresses sustainability in the same way as you do? I don't, and to be honest, when Daniele Capogna told me about the project last year, I immediately signed up without a second thought.
Many years ago I started talking about sustainability in the travel business. At the beginning I felt a bit lonely and misunderstood. Now, I have the chance to share a virtual space with you to talk about real solutions and I am very grateful for this opportunity.
Ti interessano i temi del turismo sostenibile e dei viaggi d'affari eco-friendly? Partecipa a GECO Expo! Qui trovi l'area tematica dedicata ai viaggi “green”.
Are you interested in sustainable tourism and eco-friendly business travel? Attend GECO Expo!
Published on 10-02-2022
