The operator has unveiled its new plan for environment, social and governance (ESG) aims and initiatives in the Doing the right thing plan.
Riviera Travel's 'Doing the right thing' plan kicks into gear with immediate effect, spanning four key pillars of the business: sustainability, managing carbon footprint, operating ethically and charitable contribution.
Introduced by Phil Hullah, the operator's CEO, at a launch press conference in London as "a refined and boosted approach to sustainability, environmental and social matters," the plan reflects "a topic we've cared deeply about at Riviera over the years."
"Since emerging from the pandemic, we've commited to adjusting our approach and double down our efforts. To formally mark the next stage of the the journey, we've got a clear idea of what we're doing and a lot of the how."
Wider goals include the reduction of guests' carbon footprint by 20% in the next five years. Individual guest impact has been measured by ecollective, a sustainable travel consultancy firm. The carbon impact per guest was found to be 154kg of CO2e per customer per night, including individual customer travel.
Agents can expect bolstered rail travel options on existing holidays (with 37 already on offer and rapid expansion promised), green energy and a wider array of vegetarian and vegan meals on board Riviera's ships.
Sarah Fowler, Riviera's marketing director, explained: "It's very important for us to create a clearly-defined goal in this space that we can get behind as well as measure our progress against."
She continued to elaborate on the plans, which will see the use of paper and plastics halved by 2025. A solution is in development to offer digital travel documents, rather than the current paper-and-post approach. An enhanced digital brochure will be offered and the plastic luggage tags sent to customers will be replaced with quality, reuseable tags moving forward.
Sarah was keen to emphasise that Riviera continues to understand the importance of print media in the research-and-purchase stage for both agents and their clients, and the change will be an emphasised pivot towards digital platforms rather than a shift.
A new charitable partnership with Practical Action will see £1 per guest per booking from 2024 onwards donated to the charity's projects in agriculture, waste and water management, climate resilience and clean energy. A key focus will be a project to clean rivers and reduce waste hotspots in Kenya, with 100 workers' pay and conditions set to be improved and 67 tonnes of plastic removed from the environment.
Phil concluded: "Although we do not claim to have all of the answers, or to be the finished article yet, our ESG initiatives and aims are statements of where we hope to get to in the future. We are excited and determined to deliver on all of them, and plan to work collaboratively and openly with others in the industry to bring about wider change."
