Agents and operators have joined forces to Make Holidays Greener, with the Travelife and Abta campaign now in full swing.
The annual event, which launched in June, encourages holidaymakers and the travel industry to “engage in greener activities” while away, making one of 15 environmentally friendly pledges, including organising beach cleans and encouraging visitors to buy local food.
The campaign, which will run until the end of August, has so far seen 35 registered beach cleans and 623 kilograms of rubbish collected.
Barrhead Travel held a “ditch the plastic day” on July 19 to show its support and shared its activity on social media, helping to create staff awareness of the movement and sustainable tourism issues.
Selena Scott, associate director of Barrhead Travel, said: “Along with our beach clean-ups we held a ‘no plastic day’ across our branches.
“We will be encouraging customers to make pledges, and content on [Barrhead’s] Travelife landing page has been updated. Social media activity has also been planned to engage with clients and direct people to the Make Holidays Greener site.”
Thomas Cook Mexico has supported the campaign for the past five years.
This year, Cook invited volunteers to help support the hatching of turtles on Xpuha beach.
A spokesperson said: “It has been a great success for staff and guests, all of whom were happy to play their part in providing a cleaner environment for the marine life and happy to have supported local turtle populations.”
Abta and Travelife are also urging other travel businesses across the industry to join in with the campaign.