Find sustainable tourism offers more easily

Anyone who wants to know whether a place or a hotel is sustainable has a problem. The information is difficult to find or not very transparent. A study by the Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) reveals where the problems lie.

Sustainable travel is in vogue. However: "For a variety of reasons, this is not reflected in actual purchasing decisions," reports HNEE tourism expert Prof Dr Claudia Brözel. The research project ESIKNAT (Development of a strategic concept to improve the availability of credible information about sustainable tourism offers) has investigated this discrepancy. Together with partners from the field and potential holidaymakers, they took a closer look at sustainable travel offers and analysed why test persons press the buy button online. Or not. The result: sustainability is not visible enough in tourism products. Either the description is insufficient or the criteria for an award are unclear. "Trust can only be gained through transparent and clear presentation. Trust, in turn, is the basis for a booking - and therefore the acceptance of a sustainable offer," notes Claudia Brözel.
Furthermore, the concept of sustainability has an image problem. Too exclusive, too expensive, too vague. "If companies want their sustainability efforts to be understood, they need to make it clear what exactly they are doing sustainably," says Dr Dominik Huber, Research Manager at Outdooractive GmbH. In future, standardised labelling and comprehensible criteria for certifications could help to better understand how ecological and social a travel offer is. For the study participants, social aspects were particularly important when making purchasing decisions. These included, for example, the treatment of local residents or fair working conditions. At present, such criteria are not shown on travel platforms because they are difficult to verify and visualise.
Results report of the project

Research consortium of ESIKNAT
Outdooractive AG, tourism consultancy Compass (the official representative of Green Destinations in Germany), Eberswalde University for Sustainable Development (HNEE) and RWU Ravensburg

Funding
The project was funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Action via the LIFT-Wissen funding programme with a total of EUR 50,058.