Last week, the TTG Sustainable Travel Ambassadors Reunion event took place, hosted alongside Intrepid Travel, Iberostar and the Greek National Tourist Organisation. It brought together Ambassadors from the travel agent classes of 2023, 2024 and 2025 for an afternoon designed to connect, inspire, educate and celebrate travel agents who all have a passion for selling responsible travel.
During the event, Sustainable Travel Ambassador alumni Helen Bateman of Firecrest Travel, Alicia Sharpe of Luxeco Holidays and Ashley Quint of TravelTime World – who are now well-versed in selling sustainable travel – spoke on a panel about their own success when it comes to pitching responsible travel to their clients. Here, we highlight five top takeaways from the discussion.
1. Make sustainability an embedded principle, not a product
Instead of marketing sustainable travel as its own separate product to pitch to clients, a greater impact can be made when it underpins everything a business does.
“I've been trying to go in for stealthy sustainability,” shared Helen Bateman of Firecrest Travel. “It's about embedding the values of responsible tourism into everything that you do in the organisation.”
For Alicia Sharpe of Luxeco Holidays, she discreetly brings up the subject of sustainable travel with her customers when it feels most natural, usually during initial discussions and when creating quotes, and in regards to choosing hotels, booking activities or visiting lesser-visited destinations. “By suggesting these little things, it gets [customers] to think about it more, without preaching to them.”
2. Stand your ground
Don’t back down on selling a product you feel uncomfortable about – as it will usually benefit you in the long-run.
For Bateman, she was asked to book a big, mainstream cruise around South America for a customer, but turned it down – despite there being a large commission attached to it – as it didn’t align with her values.
“Now, he’s asking me for a quote for a big rail holiday around Europe, so I’m really pleased I stuck with the message I wanted to convey,” she added.
“I think as long as you stick to your guns and your ethos, it does work out well in the end”, agreed Ashley Quint from TravelTime World, whose business also changed its policies around selling particular cruises last year.
TTG Sustainable Travel Ambassadors spoke on a panel about how to successfully sell sustainable travel
3. Find a charity or cause that is personal to you
Whether supporting local initiatives or an overseas charity close to your heart, Quint highlighted how championing smaller, more personal causes can actually make a bigger impact and more noticeable difference.
Alongside contributing to community projects such as creating wildflower beds and river clean-ups, Quint’s business is also fundraising for an animal charity in the Algarve.
Bateman has also identified charities that are meaningful to her, including Planeterra – inspired by her TTG Sustainable Travel Ambassador fam trip to Sri Lanka – and a new elephant sanctuary in Europe. The sanctuary helps rewild elephants that have been rescued from zoos and circuses. “Something bad's happened to them because of the tourism industry, so I thought, let's try and give something back to support them,” she explained.
4. “Do, don’t tell”
Sharing photos and stories from first-hand experiences is one of the best and easiest ways to promote responsible travel.
“I think the most powerful thing is actually doing, not telling,” said Quint. “For example, travelling around Switzerland by rail – make sure you've got videos and photos on the train. When you stay at the hotel, [note down] whether they have any initiatives. Document all of it and make sure you do a promotion about it.
“I find that 90% of the time, that is probably what works best.”
5. Work together to make more noise
Despite a rise in more eco-conscious travellers, Sharpe has noticed a surprising number of peers who still don't think about selling or promoting responsible travel – with now being an opportunity for her and other passionate advisors to be more vocal about it. For example, Sharpe plans to promote more sustainable travel businesses, operators and advice across her social media and host more local events.
Quint also emphasised the more travel agent advocates they have, the greater the impact they’ll make. “I think what would be the most impactful thing that the industry can do is to have more of us – if there are more of us with the same mindset and ethos, we're going to have so much more impact than what we're ever going to be able to do ourselves.”
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