The sustainability challenge
Travel and tourism accounts for 11% of the world’s GDP and 12% of its exports.1
Around 50 of the world’s least developed countries rely largely on tourism for economic development. However, travel and tourism are responsible for around 5% of global carbon dioxide emissions.2
As a leading tour operator TUI Travel aspires to lead the travel and tourism sector and to lobby for sustainability to be embraced as a business issue on which the future health of the industry depends. As a tourism group we take our responsibilities very seriously and are working to ensure that sustainable development aligns with the Group’s key strategic priorities. Our challenge is to understand how our industry can optimise its social, economic and environmental benefits for all concerned. TUI Travel’s goal in this respect is to make travel experiences special by providing holidays that cause minimal environmental impact, respect the culture and people of destinations and offer real economic benefit to local communities. See Sustainable Development.
1 United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO) Tourism Satellite Accounts (TSA).
2 United Nations World Tourism Organisation (UNWTO), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and World Meteorological Organization (WMO) (October 2007) Climate Change and Tourism: Responding to Global Challenges. Madrid.
