INTERNATIONAL REPORT—The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) and Trip.com Group have launched “Trending in Travel”, a new report that shows the latest trends in traveler behavior and future booking patterns in the wake of COVID-19. WTTC, representing the global Travel & Tourism sector, joined forces with leading global travel service provider, Trip.com Group, and its major consumer brands Trip.com, Ctrip and Skyscanner, to analyze consumer trends shaping the recovery of the Travel & Tourism sector. WTTC’s latest projections show strong growth in international spending for 2022 and beyond, projected to overtake domestic spending in 2022, as more destinations ease restrictions...

PORTLAND, ORE.—Wild Nectar Immersive Travel Collection, the sustainability-focused luxury travel company, officially launched this fall. Wild Nectar Collection enables travelers to experience unique and life-changing travels that are sustainable by presenting each curated trip with a custom Eco Score, including carbon-offsetting recommendations for each journey using a Carbon Offsetting Calculator and bestowing Sustainability Awards based on the trip operators’ achievements. “Travel is a privilege and I’ve long felt the industry wasn’t doing enough to monitor the carbon footprint of an activity that is an honor to experience,” said Joy Martinello, founder and CEO, Wild Nectar Collection. “So, wI asked myself, what if...

Is formally identifying your property as a green hotel becoming more important? That certainly seems to be the case with an increasing number of organizations saying they will recognize green or sustainable hotels on their websites. Back in September, according to Bloomberg, Google began labeling hotels as “Eco-Certified” in its global search results, with a leaf-shaped icon next to the hotel’s name. The new feature relies on 29 certification programs to establish a hotel’s green credibility. The term “green hotel” has quadrupled in search volume since March 2020, according to Google Trends. Earlier this month, Booking.com, one of the world’s leading...

Electric vehicles are taking over the road. More than 1 million battery powered electric vehicles have been sold in the United States since 2010, but they remain underserved with only 99,325 public charging ports available at 41,145 stations across the country. Very few businesses have the capability to fill this need the way hotels can. Today, every major carmaker already offers EVs or plans to introduce them and with electric cars forecasted to surge to 10 percent of the United States’ new car market by 2025, there is no better opportunity than right now for hotels to have a leg up on...

NEW YORK—In keeping with its ongoing commitment to be an industry leader in the area of sustainable and responsible travel, Ensemble Travel Group has partnered with Trees4Travel. Through this “business for good” partnership, the travel agency consortia will work with the organization that creates “Planet & People Positive Travel” programs to rewild the world through the creation of new forests in support of impoverished communities. As the first U.S. travel agency consortia to partner with Trees4Travel, Ensemble’s member agencies will be able to offer their clients an opportunity to support its mission to help convert islands around the world from expensive and carbon generating fuel,...

AMSTERDAM—Booking.com, one of the world’s leading digital travel platforms, announced the inaugural launch of its Travel Sustainable badge, a credible, globally relevant sustainability measure that will provide highly coveted information to travelers all over the world looking to make more sustainable travel choices. The badge is available to any kind of property that has implemented a combination of sustainable practices that meet the requisite impact threshold for their destination. Designed to be applicable to a wide range of property types, from apartments, B&Bs and holiday homes to hotels, resorts and even treehouses, and adaptable to local realities and considerations,...

DALLAS—Associated Luxury Hotels International, a global sales force dedicated to connecting luxury independent hotels with meeting professionals, joined forces with Delos, a global wellness and real estate technology company, to be the first to bring the Delos Wellness Accreditation for Meetings and Events to market. This inaugural offering, focused on bringing awareness to the value of wellness practices in meetings and conventions, is the first credential program under the ALHI x Delos partnership, with additional advanced training options planned in the future. “Wellness around meetings goes well beyond the Protocols that have become part of our vernacular,” said ALHI President and...

SAN JOSÉ, COSTA RICA—The international consulting firm Bloom Consulting recently conducted a comprehensive study analyzing millions of online searches. The results of the comprehensive investigation identified four key areas where Costa Rica leads as a global benchmark for value-added sustainability. According to the study, Costa Rica ranks number one in the world for online searches related to ecotourism; third in the world and first in Latin America for national parks; fourth in the world and first in Latin America for surfing; fifth in the world and first in Latin America for diving; seventh in the world and second in Latin America for bird watching; and eighth in the world and third in Latin America for...

PARIS—HRS, the leading global corporate lodging platform, announced the addition of Accor properties, a world leading hospitality group, in HRS’ new Green Stay Initiative. This decision provides analytical and time-saving benefits to corporate hotel procurement executives as they increasingly require sustainability data as they consider which properties to include on their list of preferred hotels for 2022 and beyond. “The world’s leading multi-national companies are promoting their aspirations to achieve net-zero operations by 2030 or sooner. These company-wide goals impact managed travel programs, who are tasked to travel more sustainably as they recover from the pandemic,” said HRS CEO Tobias Ragge. “Dozens of...

MCLEAN, VA.—There is no doubt that the pandemic modified travel—but that’s just part of the story. Hilton released a global trends report unpacking how the pandemic changed people. “The 2022 Traveler: Emerging Trends and the Redefined Traveler, a Report from Hilton” dives into an important truth: in two years, people’s lives were dramatically altered and that radically changed people. As a company that has welcomed 3 billion guests in its more than 100-year history, Hilton showcases within the report how it is evolving alongside the changing traveler, tackling areas of expertise such as: Fitness: How app workouts and new fitness routines have changed...