In February 2022 the European Commission called on industry players to share concrete actions to help implement the transition and work towards greener tourism. 186 pledges made by 112 tourism organisations were published on 28th June.
The organisations that have already responded to the Commission’s call to renew EU tourism come from 20 different EU countries, the United Kingdom and also Switzerland. Amongst the 112 organisations are major players including Booking.com, United Nations Environment Programme, Global Blue, Costa Group, as well as numerous regional tourism boards.
As an example, Booking.com have launched the LGBTQ+ Travel Badge to help LGBTQ+ customers to find ‘the most welcoming places to stay’.
Their pledges cover 25 out of the 27 topics of the Transition Pathway for Tourism. Areas such as policy and governance, sustainable mobility, green transition, digital transition, resilience and inclusion, and stakeholder support are addressed. Policy and governance was the most popular area, accounting for 32% of pledges, followed by green transition (24%) and digital transition (16%).
This first stock-taking exercise will be followed by the publication of further pledges, and the pathway’s call for commitments online form is continuously open for any organisation wishing to partake. The European Commission plans to publish new and updated pledges up to three times a year.