BOOKING.COM REVEALS THE TRENDS SHAPING SUSTAINABLE TRAVEL IN 2022
Climate, community and choice are the top considerations among holidaymakers researching sustainable travel options according to the latest research from Booking.com.
Booking.com‘s latest research provides an insight into travel sustainability from more than 30,000 travellers across 32 countries and territories. It highlights that the impact of travellers’ trips remains top of mind, with 71% of them saying that they want to travel more sustainably over the coming 12 months – a 10% increase on the same question in its 2021 results.
In search of more sustainable stays
With 81% of travellers confirming that sustainable travel is important to them, half of all respondents (50%) cited that recent news about climate change influenced them towards a more sustainable travel choice. Over a third (35%) of global travellers say that the sustainability efforts of accommodation and transport providers plays a strong role in their decisions. Seventy-percent of tourists said they would be more likely to choose a sustainable accommodation.
Awareness and visibility of more sustainable stays continues, with 40% of global travellers telling Booking.com they had seen sustainable accommodation options on an online travel site over the past year and 38% indicating that they actively looked for information on the sustainability credentials of a property before they book; 46% of global travellers said they had actually stayed in sustainable accommodation over the past year.
While 78% of global travellers said they intend to stay in a sustainable property at least once in the coming year, there is still more to do to make more sustainable accommodation options more visible. Of those who said they had not stayed in sustainable accommodation over the past year, 31% said they did not know they existed; 29% said they still did not know how to find them, and 56% admitted that they did not actively look at the sustainability crednetials of a property before they book.
Alternative destinations
According to Booking.com’s latest data, there is consensus among travellers of wanting to avoid busy and over-visited destinations: 33% said that they chose to travel outside of peak season and 27% chose to go to a less popular travel destination over the last 12 months to avoid overcrowding. When thinking about future trips, 40% said they would be willing to exclusively travel outside of peak season to avoid overcrowding while 64% said they would avoid popular tourist destinations and attractions to generate less impact on areas. Thirty-one percent said they would even be willing to choose an alternative to their preferred destination to help avoid overcrowding.
Finally, 59% of travellers said they want to leave the places they visit in a better condition than when they arrived and 66% said they wanted to have experiences that are representative of the local culture.
