Good Practices

Integrating sustainability into tour operators' business practices

Effectively integrating sustainability into the tour operators' business means considering environmental, social and economic aspects throughout the process of developing a holiday package.

The key operating areas where tour operators can integrate sustainability practices are:

	Internal management, by taking into account sustainability principles in the management of human resources, office supplies and production of printed materials;
	Product development and management, by planning tours and selecting holiday package components that minimise environmental, economic and social impacts;
	Contracting with suppliers, by integrating sustainability principles into the selection criteria and service agreements of suppliers;
	Customer relations, by guaranteeing privacy, health and safety standards, and providing customers with information on responsible behaviour and sustainability issues at their destinations; and
	Relations with destinations, by supporting destination stakeholders' efforts to address sustainability issues and proactively contributing to conservation and development projects.

Moreover, to ensure that activities targeted toward sustainability are comprehensive, credible and lead to long-term positive changes, it is important to integrate sustainability principles into corporate policy and management systems, and to monitor and report on performance.

Sharing good practices
Responses by individual tour operators in each of these areas vary considerably, influenced by their size, type of holiday packages offered (and hence type of customers) and destinations served.

Since the launch of the Tour Operators' Initiative in 2000, the TOI Secretariat has been collecting from the individual members 'good' examples of how a tour operator can effectively integrate the principles of sustainability into its various areas of operations. This effort has been very successful, not only because it demonstrates that the members of the TOI actually take action, but, most importantly, because it helps spread awareness that tour operators can actually do something about sustainability. The examples have been collected in the report Sustainable Tourism: The Tour Operators' Contribution.

The examples in the report offer a survey of different programmes, policies and actions that tour operators are implementing around the world to promote the goals of sustainable tourism and protect the environmental and cultural resources upon which their business depends. Many of these examples are works in progress and are continuously being revised by the tour operators. Furthermore, none of the actions presented represents the one and only solution to preventing and mitigating impacts from tour operators' activities, as effective response requires addressing all areas of responsibility and identified impacts. However, they do provide an opportunity to understand the range of different options that tour operators can choose from.

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