David Ville told the Abta Sustainable Travel Seminar last week: “Something we don’t do as an industry enough is talk to customers directly about these issues. Often, people would make different choices about what they would choose to do on their holiday.”

He said Cook was still “quite early on the journey into integrating sustainability”, but added: “The customer is ready for it.”

He highlighted work Cook had done on animal welfare following a 350,000-signature petition and protests outside its offices. This led in December to 16 out of 25 animal attractions inspected being removed from the programme. Some, with the encouragement of the operator, are making improvements. “We have not said we will not bring them back in, it’s not about cleansing animals from our offering, it’s about making sure we have the best,” he said.

Ville said issues around water supply and modern slavery would come to prominence as much as carbon emissions and animal welfare. The Modern Slavery Act means British companies must ensure there is no abuse of people by its suppliers, meaning that hotels need to ensure supplies have been sourced from good employers.

Ville said travel’s problem was that it had a long, complex supply chain that reduced the influence of a tour operator, but that improvements could be achieved through collaboration.