Travelers’ interest in sustainable tourism increases
The COVID-19 pandemic led to a decrease in carbon emissions, resulting in positive environmental impacts such as reduced air pollution, improved air and water quality, and ecological restoration. However, with travel restrictions easing and travelers returning to the road and skies, it is essential to balance the return of travel with the importance of improving sustainability in the travel industry.
At Expedia Group Media Solutions, we regularly conduct custom research to gain insights into traveler's interests and behaviors. Our research shows that travelers are increasingly seeking more meaningful and conscientious travel experiences, from booking more sustainable options to identifying opportunities to improve their impact on the destinations and communities they visit. We also wanted to understand what consumers consider sustainable travel, the tradeoffs they are willing to make to travel more sustainably, and where and how they are looking for information to make mindful choices.
Our study, conducted by Wakefield Research in February and March 2022, engaged 11,000 representative consumers in 11 countries: Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Mexico, the UK, and the US.
Here are some key findings on past and future attitudes, behaviors, and values around sustainability in travel:
- Consumers worldwide are making more mindful decisions when traveling, such as visiting local cultural or historical sites (46%), using more environmentally friendly transportation options (43%), and traveling to smaller, lesser-known destinations (41%). These choices are expected to increase by nearly 10% compared to prior trip behavior, demonstrating the growing opportunity in sustainable travel.
