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What tourists and travellers are looking for“ Travellers are becoming more aware of the environmental impact of their trips, which is driving demand for more sustainable and responsible tourism options,” Raed says.“ A Booking. com Sustainable Travel Report found that 93 % of global travellers say that they want to travel more sustainably and 43 % feel guilty when they make less sustainable travel choices.”
Kate Heiny is Vice President Sustainability at Booking Holdings, a leader in online travel with brands including Booking. com, Kayak and agoda. com.“ Our mission is to make it easier for everyone to experience the world,” she explains.“ A more sustainable future for travel is one where people can experience the world without compromising the health of the planet and wellbeing of local communities.”
She feels that the tourism industry is at“ a relatively nascent stage” in sustainability, but there is potential to have an enormous impact.“ Our research is very clear that travellers want more sustainable travel. This is the 10th year we’ ve done this survey, and that number just increases every year.”
“ The industry of travel is fairly complex,” Kate explains.“ The travel industry supports over 350 million jobs globally. We account for 10 % of GDP according to the WTTC and this will grow to 11.5 %. The participants in the travel industry are complex. It’ s airlines, it’ s travel, it’ s accommodations, it’ s cruises, it’ s attractions.
They’ re all industries in and of themselves. The traveller definitely wants this, but there’ s a lot of complexity in that.
“ As a platform that touches these different players, we have a unique role to play by bringing forward more sustainable options that our travellers want to choose and then also working back with our partners to ensure that there are the options present.
“ Our goals are to reduce emissions, promote more responsible tourism, protect cultural and natural assets that make travel more meaningful and make sure that that continues to be meaningful for long-term value.
92 September 2025