Travel Bulletin

Travel Bulletin

facebook twitter Instagram Youtube Linkedin

simon migaj Yui5vfKHuzs unsplash

Responsible travel will lead to recovery post lock-down: FINN Partners webinar

A recent FINN Partners webinar on Responsible Travel featuring Jane Madden and Fiona Jeffery was hosted on April 29, 2020.

The first in a series of planned webinars from FINN, the importance of responsible tourism in a post-lockdown world and how travel brands and destinations that embrace sustainable practices as part of their recovery process were discussed.

With many sources identifying that post-lockdown travellers will be more thoughtful with purpose and sensitivity towards the health of people and planet, Madden and Jeffery provided long-term strategic insights and tips for travel companies to develop sustainable offerings.

The panellists discussed the need for destinations to move away from acting as marketing organisations and focus on being responsible management companies with an environmental and social emphasis which will, in turn, reap economic benefits.

They identified traveller trends including how people will take fewer, but longer trips and will have a desire for more experiential travel that is seen to benefit local communities directly. Health and safety will also be embedded into travellers? decisions and the panellists stressed the importance of destinations working closely with the health ministries, banks, investors, insurance companies and the private sector to achieve this moving forward in a well-coordinated, informed and transparent way. 

Jane Madden, managing partner, global sustainability and social impact, Finn Partners, said: ?Future travellers will be more mindful and for the tourism sector to recover and thrive post-lockdown, it?s important, that brands and destinations prioritise responsible travel as the cornerstone of all recovery plans. In the midst of COVID-19, we can?t lose sight of the Paris Agreement, out of this tragedy will come green shoots that the travel industry must act on.?

Fiona Jeffery OBE, senior partner, Finn Partners Global Responsible Tourism Practice, founder and chairman of Just A Drop said: ?In recent years the travel industry has been impacted by environmental disasters including Day Zero in Cape Town and the bushfires in Australia, which has awakened our business and personal consciousness. The industry has arguably been running out of control and we are now at our own ground zero. It?s time to take pause, right the wrongs, and move away from viewing responsible travel as a ?nice to do?. There should be no such thing as ?sustainable tourism?, simply ?tourism? where acting ethically and responsibly sits in the DNA of every travel brand.?

Amy Skelding, senior partner, Finn Partners Travel Practice UK, commented: ?In this strange time, where much of the world has stopped travelling we have the opportunity to take stock of the situation and set ourselves on a new, more responsibly sound path that will benefit both people and planet ? both Jane and Fiona have so many tangible and practical ways brands can make great strides in responsible tourism and I urge anyone who wasn?t able to dial in live, to listen to it online.?

www.finnpartners.box.com/v/finn-partners-travel-webinars



Travel Bulletin

Alain Charles Publishing (Travel) Ltd
University House,
11-13 Lower Grosvenor Place,
London, SW1W 0EX, UK

T: +44 (0) 20 7973 0136

Follow Travel Bulletin

facebook twitter Instagram Youtube Linkedin