Consumers in favour of sustainable travel but cost is king: WTTC

The World Journey & Tourism Council (WTTC) unveiled its newest report, exploring the essential hole between travellers’ want for sustainable choices and their precise behaviour. Launched at FITUR 2025, Madrid, the report Bridging the Say-Do Hole: Create an Efficient Sustainability Technique by Figuring out Your Prospects was developed in collaboration with WTTC information companion YouGov.
The report explores the disconnect between what travellers say about sustainability and the alternatives they in the end make.
It offers actionable steering to Journey & Tourism companies on how they’ll deal with this hole by providing options that make sustainable journey each extra accessible and extra engaging, in the end balancing financial development and environmental duty.
The research, drawing on a survey of greater than 10,000 respondents, categorised travellers into six client segments, starting from the eco-conscious “Hopeful Worriers” to the disengaged “Local weather Change Agnostics”. Every group comes with distinctive behaviours, priorities, and obstacles to deciding on sustainable selections.
Understanding these numerous views is crucial for companies to craft efficient sustainability methods that resonate with their viewers and drive actual affect.
Based on the info, price and high quality stay the dominant priorities for travellers, outweighing sustainability issues. Throughout all client segments, greater than 50% say price is a very powerful issue influencing buying selections, whereas round 30% prioritise high quality.

In stark distinction, sustainability is a major issue for less than a small minority, starting from 11% to 7%, even among the many most environmentally aware teams.
An absence of visibility additionally stays a big barrier to progress. Over 10% of respondents reported no publicity to sustainability messaging or data by way of any channel, together with mainstream media, social platforms, or community-driven initiatives.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, stated: “Travellers care about sustainability however when shopping for journey, price and high quality are king. Prospects count on companies to create reasonably priced sustainable choices. However many WTTC corporations encourage change – whether or not that’s regrowing coral reefs or lowering meals waste. Prospects interact with manufacturers which have sturdy values.
“I’m delighted to collaborate with YouGov for such a vital piece of labor. By closing the say-do hole, we not solely shield the planet however guarantee extra rewarding experiences for patrons and a brighter and extra resilient future for our planet.”
Analysis was additionally carried out by WTTC Member, Journey.com, culminating in The Sustainable Journey Shopper Report 2024. Journey.com’s report helps WTTC findings, noting the significance of price and making sustainability hassle-free, encouraging customers in the direction of extra sustainable motion.
Enterprise Suggestions
WTTC’s report gives seven key suggestions to assist the trade bridge this divide, calling on companies to steer by instance, partnering the place attainable with different companies and governments on sustainability initiatives.
To drive actual change, the report recommends highlighting the financial and private advantages of sustainable journey, guaranteeing eco-friendly choices are easy and handy for customers, and introducing tiered reward programmes to encourage motion in any respect ranges.
Tailor-made advertising that speaks on to the values and desires of particular person customers has been proven to considerably improve engagement throughout completely different segments. Designing out unsustainable choices to make sustainability the default selection can facilitate the decision-making course of and enhance the general expertise.
Many Journey & Tourism corporations are actively adopting sustainable practices and speaking them to customers.
Intrepid Journey prominently labels journey itineraries with their carbon affect and offsets
emissions routinely. Iberostar leverages AI expertise to cut back meals waste in its inns and prioritises underutilised fish shares. Hilton has geared up over 1,800 inns with EV charging factors, with practically a 3rd of its EMEA properties powered totally by renewable power.
As local weather motion turns into an crucial somewhat than an possibility, this report equips companies with the instruments and insights they should thrive in a quickly altering world.
WTTC urges all Journey & Tourism enterprise leaders to leverage this report back to encourage innovation and chart a sustainable path ahead.