Abta’s director of industry relations Susan Deer said improving agents’ knowledge was one of three key areas it would be working on with members in the coming months, alongside climate change and training travel company staff on sustainability.

“How do travel agents communicate with customers about what they are selling?” said Deer, during a panel session on the subject at Abta’s Travel Convention. “These are the three priority areas – we will be launching new tools and guidance for Abta members.”

Abta launched the Tourism for Good sustainability scheme last year when it collected data from members to find out what their policies were on the subject.

“We found they are all at very different places on sustainability,” said Deer. “Some of them have been building it into their DNA for years, while others are just setting out on their sustainability journey.”

The panel also heard from Zina Bencheikh, managing director, EMEA, at adventure tours specialist Intrepid Group, who explained how the company has been carbon “neutral” since 2010.

“We went through measuring carbon and then taking action, but it’s no longer enough if we want to have a healthy planet and a travel industry,” she said. “We need to decarbonise our businesses.”

Bencheikh also talked about the importance of “independent certification” to illustrate sustainability to clients, such as Intrepid’s B Corp status, which requires companies to meet verified social and environment performance targets.

“It shows our customers that we’re really serious about what we’re doing,” she added. “You need to look for independent certification to show it’s been audited and verified.”

Ben Bouldin, vice-president EMEA at Royal Caribbean Cruises, admitted sustainability was “not an easy challenge” for the cruise industry, but added that progress was being made through the “great leadership” of trade association Clia.

“We have continued to work really diligently against our sustainable footprint moving forward,” he added.

Bouldin predicted cruise companies would work more closely together on sustainability post-Covid, after they “came together and collaborated” to put return-to-service protocols in place across the industry.

“There will be a much more significant agenda on the sustainability side of things,” he explained. “It will be far stronger having had the collaboration and the cruise companies working together to return to service post-pandemic.”

Manuel Butler, UK director of the Spanish National Tourist Office, said overtourism was the “biggest problem we are facing”, particularly in cities due to the increase in short breaks being taken.

“We are talking about overcrowding in destinations – we need to separate out the tourism, so that it’s not all in the centre of the city and is also in the outskirts and around the cities,” he added.

Abta’s next events on this subject will include a carbon measurement workshop and a sustainability surgery for members.