That was one of the key messages during the one-day Future of Tourism Summit, which was held as both an in-person and online event in Athens on Thursday (29 September), with TTG Media as the summit’s media partner.

Nadine Pinto, sustainability manager at The Travel Corporation, which owns touring brands such as Trafalgar and Contiki, told a panel session that sustainability was a “long game” and having metrics to measure success against sustainability goals was “very important”.

“We have to make sure we’re having a real impact at the end of the day,” said Pinto. “What are we striving to achieve? There should be a win-win for all parties, we need to have open conversations about goals and how do they align and mesh them together.”

The Travel Corporation started measuring the carbon footprint from its trips in 2020 and has recently been working in partnership with Visit Scotland on a project to lower the environmental impact from its tours in the country. It hopes to create a model from this work that it can then use in other destinations.

“We are not going to have low carbon alternatives tomorrow or next year or in two years,” added Pinto. “It’s a long game. You have to keep in mind the steps you need to take to get there and keep the positivity."

Liisa Kokkarinen, head of sustainable development at Visit Finland, stressed the importance of getting support from “the top” within government departments to enable change to happen and create momentum for making travel more sustainable.

“Our message is that tourism does not need to stop, it’s the emissions that need to stop – not tourism,” added Kokkarinen. “If you do this together you can fill the knowledge gaps and standardise things. You do not need to do this work alone.”

’We don’t have all the answers – yet’

The importance of collaboration between the public and private sectors was also emphasised by Visit Scotland’s sustainable tourism manager Janie Neumann, who said the Scottish government had made the “journey to net-zero” part of its Covid-19 tourism recovery plan.

“We have a commitment to make sure tourism in Scotland is part of the solution,” added Neumann. “But in no way do we have all the answers. “People are really worried about talking about it – they feel they have not done enough and don’t have all the answers. They don’t’ want to stick their heads above the parapet.

“It’s about being open – saying this is our commitment and ambition but we don’t know exactly how to do it, then we can start these conversations.”

Anthony Everett, chief executive of Canada’s 4VI, formerly known as Visit Vancouver Island, also stressed that travel needed to ensure it was a “force for good” and the tourism office was building new KPIs (key performance indicators) based around social purpose and impact.

4VI inked a new partnership with The Travel Foundation in advance of the summit to demonstrate new approaches in the global tourism industry, which the partners hope will address the impacts and challenges of climate change and inequity.