Speaking at TTG’s Fairer Travel Sustainability Forum on Thursday (11 July), Miles Lockwood, director of complaints and investigations at the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA), said: “We’re carrying out some monitoring around travel agency claims, more broadly around sustainable, eco-friendly claims or absolute claims, which is potentially problematic."

Lockwood told delegates the ASA was seeing fewer red flags from travel agencies than historically the watchdog has seen from airlines, but added: "We are seeing some issues, and we are beginning to explore some of those."

He stressed the ASA was not targeting individual companies within the industry, but “keywords” in their advertising that could potentially be problematic.

Lockwood made his comments during a Greenwashing, hushing and wishing: sustainable claims under the microscope panel discussion. Amy Skelding, managing partner of Finn Partners, urged the industry to heed his warning.

"We have a thing at Finn where we say you have to be ‘honest and modest’ because the minute you start over-inflating, you’re in real trouble," she said.

"When you’ve got the ASA snapping at your heels, that scare is really important because it’s going to kick you up the butt to do it properly.”

Another panellist, Jenn McGarrigle, co-founder and chief of sustainability consultancy Cyd Connects, was clear that when it comes to sustainability claims, “no one [industry] is knocking it out of the park”, and encouraged the audience to ensure any claims they make can be backed up.

“[Markers like] B Corp doesn’t save you from greenwashing with the ASA, and neither does your impact report," she said. "It does help back up things from a quantifiable perspective.

"When you look at every claim you make, how you can back that up with some numbers is the first thing to look at. What are the facts you have that can back up that claim?”

McGarrigle conceded “not everyone has the money to have a legal team to check", but advised: "Put some checks and balances in place and question – is it true to our intentions?

"Just because you launch one product that has lower carbon emissions, are you doing everything behind the scenes as well as a business?”

She also highlighted the need to consider the benefit to consumers when making sustainability claims. “If you’re offering lower carbon travel, how do you explain that so a consumer sees you are offering them an advantage? We should always be thinking about consumers rather than shouting about how great we are.”

‘Behind the times’

Lockwood advised a measured approach to claims. “We see time and again at the ASA companies making absolute green claims which we will hold you to a very high standard against. The trick is to be a little bit more qualified – it’s easier than businesses realise.

"If a claim was [that you are] ‘becoming more sustainable’ or ‘on a sustainable journey’, or something along those lines, we are going to have a more relaxed attitude.”

He added the average consumer has a lower level of understanding around complex sustainability issues, making the need for scrutiny of these claims all the more important.

“Time and again, we hear from consumers that they have low understanding of these issues – but high interest and high expectations. Consumers do not spend a lot of time thinking about this, not as much as you do in your businesses poring over the details.

"Take yourselves out of the professional capacity you sit in, and think about this from the perspective of somebody who doesn’t have a very high level of understanding and needs a bit of help."

Skelding added travel businesses that have not yet started on a sustainability journey will find themselves on the back foot. "You’re going to get legislated and you’re going to be behind the times," she warned.

"If you’re not doing it now, you’re already on the back foot because the businesses that are are the ones that will thrive."

Travel’s transition towards a more sustainable future has already attracted the ASA’s attention. Just last week, Luton airport owner Luton Rising was rapped over an ad campaign that made claims about sustainable expansion while failing to include the increased aircraft emissions that would result from expansion.

Last year, Intrepid Travel held up its hands after it was hauled up by the ASA for a claim in an advertising campaign that its trips were "planet-friendly". It pledged to review its approach to advertising following the ruling.

The ruling came just weeks after Alex Padfield, director of law firm Hextalls, told Abta’s Travel Law seminar travel businesses risked opening themselves up to accusations of greenwashing if they failed to adequately back up their environmental or sustainability claims, or face action by regulators.