In covering green lodging I have often heard about companies that incentivize their business travelers to stay in hotels with sustainable practices. Turns out the practice may be less common than I thought. According to a new study released by the GBTA Foundation, the research and education arm of the Global Business Travel Assn., in partnership with AIG Travel, only one in six travel management professionals (16 percent) currently incentivize their business travelers to stay in hotels with sustainable practices. Even fewer (4 percent) require travelers to book suppliers with sustainable practices. The GBTA Foundation conducted an online survey of 90 travel management professionals in the United States and Canada. The survey was fielded January 11 to 19, 2017.
The study, Corporate Social Responsibility: Going Beyond Green, also revealed only 5 percent of travel management professionals incentivize travelers to fly direct, 3 percent incentivize travelers to use public transportation where available and 2 percent incentivize travelers to share transportation to and from the airport when traveling with co-workers.
More than half (53 percent) of travel management professionals report their companies have a formal corporate sustainability program in place yet there is a disconnect between it and green travel requirements.
What Travel Management Professionals Look For
When considering factors in a decision to contract with meetings and event suppliers, the top three sustainability-focused factors travel management professionals give some or a lot of consideration to include: finding a venue with enough walkable housing options to accommodate all attendees (59 percent), selecting cities with airports accessible by public transportation (34 percent) and choosing venues that support paperless events through use of digital tools and technology (27 percent).
The travel management professionals surveyed reported that 37 percent of their companies track the carbon footprint of their travelers; 23 percent use a sustainability index or scorecard system to understand the sustainability practices of key suppliers; and 7 percent set carbon emission reduction targets for travel management companies.
The report is available exclusively to GBTA members by clicking here and non-members may purchase the report through the GBTA Foundation by emailing pyachnes@gbtafoundation.org. Download a free preview of the research now.
