Guidelines for sustainable tourism communication

Helpful guidelines for successful communication of sustainability

Communicating sustainability is multifaceted and can be divided into many different areas. This document offers 10 guiding principles with explanations and concrete examples of how sustainability can be successfully communicated and was created as part of the joint project “Communicating sustainable travel offers successfully” by Futouris and Global Communication Experts.

The theory behind the guiding principles - a sample

Principle 1: Integration of sustainability

The consistent integration of sustainability in all aspects of communication sends a clear signal: It conveys that the focus on sustainable action is not a clearly delineated additional task, but that every area can be improved in terms of sustainability.

This shows consumers that sustainable action is not an end goal, but an ongoing process.

The constant integration of sustainability in communication also offers the opportunity to set a standard and actively and consistently address the topic. This shows the target group that sustainability is an important and wide-ranging topic and that everyone can contribute to more sustainable action. Such communication clearly conveys the values that are important to the company.

Furthermore, the active integration of sustainability also emphasizes that the company is committed to the topic and is willing to invest.

Principle 4: Avoiding stereotypes

Stereotypes are highly simplified and generalized images of groups of people or things. Using them in marketing can have serious consequences. In the worst case, such stereotypes can reinforce prejudices against certain groups of people. The use of stereotypes therefore has a strong influence on the expectations and perceptions of consumers and can, at best, influence the experience.

When communicating about a destination, the communicating company has a responsibility to present the destination in a genuine, diverse way and to avoid stereotypes. The responsibility of the communicating company is particularly high because consumers form their first impression of the destination and its population through marketing. In short: a diverse target group can be addressed with versatile communication. This has a lively effect and can be surprising.

In order to avoid stereotypes, it must be ensured that frequently used terms such as “exotic” or “authentic” are reflected and used accurately. The same applies to images, especially because visual representations underline a message. With every image used, it should be questioned what is intended to be communicated and also what could be interpreted from this image. Stereotypes are often not obvious, which is why critical questioning is all the more important. It is a matter of course that all persons depicted give their consent to the use of the image and is also legally required under the European GDPR.

The following points should be considered when selecting images:

• Address statistically underrepresented groups.

• Depict people of different genders, ages, nationalities, physical abilities.

• How are different people depicted and what could their positioning in the image mean?

Principle 9: Consistent communication

When it comes to communicating sustainability, it is important that it is also credible. This means that the communication itself should be consistently sustainable and must not contain any contradictions. Specifically, this means, for example, that no shots from an UL coaxial helicopter or visible off-road tours or airline advertising should appear in a marketing spot. The same applies to the choice of communication media. Such slip-ups could have a major impact on customer trust in the company, which is a high risk.

Consistent communication creates trust and credibility as an organization. It is also important that only images are used that actually depict the destination or the experiences. This ensures that communication remains truthful and does not convey false images.