Virtuoso - the industry’s leading leisure travel network – recently began the process of greening its annual Travel Mart Conference, and concurrently announced STI as its partner in sustainability. The Virtuoso network is comprised of more than 6,000 elite travel specialists associated with over 300 agencies in 22 countries, as well as more than 1,000 of the world's best travel providers and a number of premier destinations.
Virtuoso worked with STI to offset conference-related carbon emissions, which represented one of the largest travel and tourism industry events to attain 'carbon neutral' status. 'Carbon neutral' represents the point at which greenhouse gas emissions have been identified, measured, reduced where possible and 100 percent of the remaining emissions have been offset through high quality renewable energy, energy efficiency and or reforestation projects.
Specifically, through an investment in STI's carbon offset portfolios, Virtuoso offset 4,757 metric tons of carbon dioxide emissions that were generated by 2,700 attendees’ domestic and international flights, hotel stays, and ground transportation, as well as conference related electricity consumption. The contribution is being invested in renewable energy projects based in North America and renewable energy and energy efficiency projects based on Africa and Asia – all of which are verified and or certified by independent third parties – and double as community development projects that contribute to local communities and environments.
STI is now working with the Virtuoso network in educating their Members and Suppliers about how to support sustainable tourism and integrate related business practices into their operations, including developing and supporting best environmental and cultural preservation practices.
STI helps Quintess, The Leading Residences of the World, go Green
Through its partnership with The Leading Hotels of the World, Ltd. (LHW), Quintess, Leading Residences of the World (LRW) is now supporting the company's recently launched Leading Green Initiative.
Through STI, Quintess, LRW will directly absorb the cost to offset members' energy consumption in each of the Club's 60+ properties worldwide. Through this, Quintess, LRW will contribute funds to renewable energy programs that will prevent an equal amount of carbon dioxide emissions elsewhere around the globe. In doing so, Quintess has taken a leadership position as one of the first destination clubs to proactively support responsible tourism and sustainable travel, as well as to help protect the environments their members visit.
In calculating LRW’s carbon footprint, STI looked at the total carbon emissions associated with the internal operations of each home, including:
Home electricity consumption expressed in monthly kilowatt-hours or megawatt-hours
Square footage of common areas
Total number of rooms
Average occupancy rates
Estimated total number of guests annually
This is a great start in going green. STI is looking forward to working with LHW and Quintess, LRW to help them integrate additional first best solutions to reduce climate impact.
Survey: 84% Of Travellers Will Consider Offsetting Emissions
A new global survey by Lonely Planet in their annual Travellers’ Pulse survey shows that travelers world wide are concerned about their travel impacts on the climate and will support neutralizing their travel related emissions through legitimate offset programs. The survey, which polled over 24,500 people worldwide, “showed 84 percent of respondents said they would consider offsetting their emissions in the future, where only 31 percent had done so in the past. Seventy percent of travellers said they had purposefully travelled in a low-impact way in the past, (for example, catching a bus rather than flying) and over 90 percent of people said they would or might do so in the future.” Read more here.
As an industry green leader, we find this interesting for the airline industry as well as potentially impacted destinations. As such, STI is actively supporting industry specific leaders in climate mitigation activities, such as more fuel efficient aircraft, design improvements, and aggressive customer offset initiatives. More to come on that in the near future!