Our goal is for all our suppliers to be committed to continuous improvements in their sustainability performance.
We recognise this is a big challenge and our aim is to work with suppliers to help them on that journey.
This section is designed to provide our suppliers in our destinations with an overview of the TUI Travel's focus on sustainability, including guidelines and tools available to help them. Our principal suppliers in destinations are hotel owners and operators, transport and excursion providers.
Reasons why our suppliers should engage in sustainability:
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Cost savings associated with eco-efficiencies, especially with the rising cost of energy
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Product differentiation
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Meeting growing customer demand and gaining competitive advantage
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Protection, preservation and enhancement of destinations
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Better risk management and competitive readiness for forthcoming legislation
Patricio Gonzalez Morel is an environmental engineer who has 15 years’ experience conducting ‘Environmental Diagnostic Audits’ at hotels worldwide and one of the authors of the TUI Travel ‘Guidelines for Environmental Sustainability in Hotels’. He says:
“My experience in conducting environmental diagnostic audits at more than 150 hotels worldwide, including more than a dozen TUI Travel flagship hotels, shows that it is generally possible to reduce energy and water consumption by 10 to 20%.”
Some key facts and figures
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Thomson’s Sensatori resort in Crete achieved financial savings in excess of €200,000 in recent years through energy and water efficiency measures and improvements
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Three-quarters of TUI Travel businesses are now highlighting greener, fairer holidays to customersi
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One in two customers would be willing to book a more sustainable holiday if available (TUI Travel international consumer research, 2010)
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There is evidence that our most sustainably-managed hotels are also those which are delivering higher quality and greater customer satisfaction
Sustainability supplier standards
Environmental and social contractual standards for accommodation suppliers have been introduced by our Mainstream tour operating businesses and other businesses across the Group. The minimum contractual standards require each hotelier to initiate (or continue to develop) a sustainability programme, managing their impacts on the environment, their employees and the local community.
Click here to view a sample sustainable development contract (31KB PDF)
Sustainability certification schemes
TUI Travel businesses are actively engaging with suppliers to implement environmental tools and sustainability certification schemes. Over 700 hotels had sustainability certifications by the end of Summer 2011.
The Travelife Sustainability System has been adopted by a number of businesses in the Mainstream Sector and other businesses across the Group. Travelife is an industry-wide sustainability management system that supports and recognises hotels which care for the environment, their employees and the destination community. TUI Western Europe has launched a website for suppliers to encourage support for Travelife (www.tuigreen.com).
TUI Deutschland awards its most environmentally friendly hotels with the TUI Umwelt Champion (’Environment Champion’) award. The award system now uses the Travelife Sustainability System as part of the assessment criteria. Robinson Club Cala Serena in Mallorca took the top Umwelt Champion award in 2011. For further information click here.
TUI Nordic works with the ISO 14001 environmental certification scheme to ensure their hotels meet best practice environmental performance. All of their Blue Village flagship hotels are ISO 14001 certified and all Blue Star hotels will be ISO 14001 certified by early 2013. Read more about our Blue Village hotels.
Each year TUI UK & Ireland award their top performing hotels in regard to sustainability. In 2011 the winner was Atlantica Sensatori Resort in Crete who has managed to reduce their electricity, gas and water consumption by more than 30% over the last two years, while maintaining outstanding levels of customer satisfaction. In the last year, they’ve also achieved ISO 14001, been re-awarded Travelife Gold level, commenced in-room waste separation and invested more than €6,000 in equipment so they can now share their recycled grey water with local farmers. For further information click here.
Animal welfare
We experience high demand from customers for visits to captive animal attractions whilst on holiday. The issues regarding the welfare of animals in captivity are a matter of concern for both our customers and the Group.
Our objective is to encourage best practice in animal welfare by all the captive and non-captive animal attractions where we offer visits to our customers. TUI Travel is also an active member of the Association of British Tour Operators (ABTA) Animal Welfare Committee, working collaboratively with industry peers to improve animal welfare standards. You can access the Travelife Animal Attractions Handbook here.
Guidelines for Environmental Sustainability in Hotels
We have launched ‘Guidelines for Environmental Sustainabilty in Hotels’ to illustrate how hotels can reduce their negative impacts on the environment and support the local community while making financial savings.
The guidelines contain more than 50 ‘Flagship Standards’ which we believe are the actions all hotels should be taking on sustainability.
Our ‘Green is Gold’ features also show hotels just how much money they can save by incorporating these measures into their operations.
The guidelines are available in the following languages: English, Spanish, French, Turkish, and Greek. To download the guidelines click here.
Supplier Sustainability conferences
We have organised supplier sustainability conferences in Turkey, the Canary Islands and London.
In June 2010, TUI Deutschland hosted an Environmental Conference for accommodation suppliers in Antalya, Turkey. Almost 100 hoteliers attended the event, learning about best practice environmental initiatives from TUI Deutschland’s ‘Environmental Champion’ hotels.
In November 2010, the ‘Guidelines for Environmental Sustainability in Hotels’ were launched at a conference in London which brought together around 50 hotel general managers, industry associations, academics and key colleagues from across TUI Travel to share best practice.
Conferences were organised on Tenerife and Gran Canaria in 2011 with over 200 participants. Experts in energy and environmental management highlighted examples of best practice in the industry with two main messages: the cost savings associated with energy, water and waste reduction and the positive impact this has on the environment. The conferences were organised in co-operation with the Institute of Technology of the Canary Islands (ITC) which has formed a partnership with TUI Deutschland to promote energy saving on the islands.
Check our sustainability news section for information on upcoming supplier sustainability conferences.
Child Protection
We are committed to child protection – both the protection of children who travel and holiday with us and the children living in our destinations - and we expect our suppliers to do the same. Many TUI Travel businesses have policies, processes and training in place to help colleagues and customers recognise suspicious situations and report them to the proper authorities. In 2009/10 our Mainstream businesses signed up to the Child Protection Code.
Other useful tools
BlueContec
TUI Deutschland launched BlueContec, a sustainability and energy consultancy business for tourism companies, especially hotels. For further information click here.
The Travel Foundation
The Travel Foundation is a UK charity which helps the travel industry understand, manage and take effective action on sustainable tourism. A range of useful tools for our suppliers include:
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Green accommodation tool
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Communication tool
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Staff training and development tool
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Sustainable tourism policy tool
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Water and energy saving project
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Animal welfare in tourism