Following a three year commitment to sustainability, Thomson and First Choice have responded to customer demands to become even more environmentally and socially responsible by achieving a number of challenging sustainable tourism targets.
As part of the brands’ 20, three year, ‘Holidays Forever’ commitments, which launched in 2011 Thomson and First Choice have reached many of their sustainability goals, making a positive difference to the tourism industry.
Highlights include:
- Offset one million tonnes of carbon through investing in renewable energy and energy efficiency projects
- Thomson Airways has improved carbon efficiency by 7.4%
- First in the UK to achieve ISO 14001 certification for the whole airline
- Recycled over three million cans on our flights
- Reduced carbon emissions from our retail estate by 24%
- Reduced the number of brochure pages printed by 1 billion
- Raised over £1 million each year for charity
- Engaged 630,000 children in sustainable tourism through Eco-traveller
- 50% of customers stayed in certified greener and fairer hotels in 2013
- Raised over £13 million for sustainable tourism projects through the World Care Fund (since 2007)
- Through Project Discovery, 73 employees have given their time to Travel Foundation projects in holiday destinations
- 1,000 employees have taken a volunteering day
Eighty two per cent1 of customers surveyed expect the holiday providers to take the environmental and social impact of their holidays seriously, with this in mind Thomson Airways made a commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by becoming more efficient. In 2011 Thomson Airways made a fantastic start to achieving this, being the first UK airline to fly customers using sustainable biofuels, and achieving ISO14001 environmental certification for its engineering division. At the end of last year, Thomson Airways rolled this environmental stamp out across the whole airline. Over the last three years, the airline has improved its carbon efficiency by 7.4 per cent, beating the six per cent target set.
In the retail estate, carbon emissions have been reduced by 24 per cent, a nine per cent increase on the 15 per cent target set three years ago. The commitments also included a tough pledge to save paper. Having achieved the original three-year commitment to save 380 million brochure pages in just one year, Thomson and First Choice committed to a more ambitious target by cutting back on more than 800 million sheets of paper by 2014, but actually achieved a one billion page saving. This included reducing the number of holiday brochure pages printed and replacing two thirds of ticket books with e-tickets.
In 2013, over 1.78 million Thomson and First Choice customers stayed at hotels with either Travelife or similar awards. These awards mean that hotels have met strict criteria relating to looking after the environment, their employees and local communities. Work has also been done with First Choice Holiday Villages and Thomson Sensatori and Couples hotels to help them achieve industry-leading sustainability standards. This has led to a cumulative saving of £2 million across the hotels involved, with energy costs reduced by five per cent and water costs by 12 per cent.
David Burling, Managing Director for Thomson and First Choice, said, “Holidays do have an impact on the environment, and we realise that if we want to keep on enjoying our holidays long into the future, then we need to make some changes, and we’ve made a great start over the past three years, achieving above and beyond the original goals we set ourselves.
“We made a commitment to do all we can to make a difference through sustainable tourism – starting with our airline and our hotels, but we also can do more to support the local communities in our destinations. The work doesn’t stop here, we remain committed to driving sustainable tourism, engaging with our customers but also working closely with our suppliers to make holidays greener and fairer.”
Thomson and First Choice recognise the need to continue raising the bar to make mainstream travel more sustainable. This is due to both direct customer demand, and the fact that its own research2 has revealed a positive correlation between customers’ rating on the brands’ approach to the environment and community and their rating for their holiday overall.
The holiday company remains committed to continuing the great work achieved to date into 2014 and beyond. In 2014 in the UK, Thomson and First Choice will build on the foundations laid, with the aim to reduce carbon emitted from UK operations by eight per cent, provide two million greener and fairer holidays for customers, and continue to lead the way in the UK aviation sector, setting the goal for Thomson Airways to remain one of the most carbon and fuel efficient airlines in Europe.
More information on Holidays Forever can be found at www.holidaysforever.co.uk
© Thomson
