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Futouris and QTA bring practical knowledge on more sustainability on vacation to the counter
Tatjana PetersMore and more travelers are attaching importance to sustainability, but often fail to take the step to implement it when planning their trip. The reasons for this are a lack of information, offers and knowledge among both travelers and travel agency employees. In order to increase awareness and knowledge of sustainable travel, Futouris and QTA have developed a digital toolkit and an explanatory video on the topic of "Booking and selling responsible travel" as part of the "Sustainability at the counter" project and tested a supplementary training program with travel agency employees of the AER cooperation
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New digital toolkit "Booking and selling responsible travel"
The digital toolkit, which was developed in close cooperation between Futouris and QTA, is now available free of charge on the Futouris Knowledge World and serves as a guide for practical application in travel consulting. In addition, the travel agencies of the QTA alliance partners can find the link to the toolkit and the explanatory video in the respective extranets.
It offers a clear presentation of facts on sustainability and climate protection in tourism, provides practical tips for designing more sustainable trips and explains the added value of responsible vacation offers for travelers. It also contains practical instructions on how to communicate these offers credibly, including examples of social media posts and print materials for shop windows and interiors. The explanatory video, which can be used to raise awareness among customers, is also available to download free of charge from the new knowledge platform.
Explanatory video "Sustainable travel made easy"
The following video was developed as part of the project and uses a typical scene in a travel agency to explain how a vacation trip can be made more sustainable. The travel agency employee gives the customer Ms. Levy practical tips - for example, how to make the journey more climate-friendly or what advantages sustainably certified hotels offer.
These tips can easily be adopted in everyday travel agency life. The short video is also ideal for drawing customers' attention to the topic of sustainable travel in a fun way.
Training program for sustainable travel advice
A training program consisting of six short online seminars has been developed to complement the toolkit. These cover topics such as arrival and departure, CO2 compensation, sustainable accommodation and the communication of sustainable travel offers. Expeditors also have access to an explanatory video and materials with tips and tricks.
The training program was successfully tested in 24 travel agencies, including AER, STA Travel and Explorer Fernreisen, in the summer of 2023. According to the agencies, the seminars significantly increased employees' knowledge on the topic of more sustainable travel.
A digital workshop series for FAIRWEG travel agencies was developed based on the toolkit and training program. By late summer 2024, 18 FAIRWEG employees had already taken part in these workshops on fair and more climate-friendly travel offers.
Goal: raise awareness and broaden sustainable offerings
"The project is our response to uncertainties and questions about sustainability in tourism. We want to encourage both travel agents and holidaymakers to take advantage of more sustainable and climate-friendly vacation offers and provide them with the necessary knowledge aids - for a sustainable change in the travel industry," says Andreas Ochse, Sustainability Officer at QTA.
