Reimagining responsible travel

As Direct Travel and ATPI advance a unified sustainability strategy across global programmes, responsible travel is moving beyond reporting and into operational design. Pippa Ganderton, Louisa Toure, Matt Esper and Janneke van Aartrijk explore what this shift means for clients navigating rising scrutiny, evolving regulation and growing traveller expectations.

There was a time when sustainable travel meant producing a carbon report at year-end.

That time has passed.

Across global programmes, responsible travel is no longer an adjacent initiative owned quietly by sustainability teams. It is being pulled into procurement, governance, finance, risk management and increasingly into the expectations of employees and investors alike.

According to Pippa Ganderton, ATPI Halo Director, the change has been both rapid and structural.

“We have seen a significant increase in requests for detailed travel and events emissions reporting,” she explains. “And it’s no longer limited to air. Clients want visibility across rail, hotel and car hire, with clear methodology behind the numbers.”

More tellingly, organisations are no longer waiting to be mandated. Many are aligning disclosures with frameworks such as EU CSRD one to two years ahead of obligation, signalling that travel is firmly within the scope of corporate accountability.

But measurement alone does not constitute progress.

“Improved methodology often changes, even reduces, emissions outcomes, but credibility comes from what you do with the insight.”
Pippa Ganderton

Advanced analytics now allow organisations to model future scenarios, introduce carbon budgets or pricing mechanisms, and nudge travellers towards lower-emission choices within the booking flow. Yet for many programmes, the gap between ambition and action remains significant.

“There is still a misconception that sustainable travel costs more,” Ganderton notes. “In reality, modal shift, careful supplier selection and stricter cabin policies can reduce emissions without inflating budgets.”

The challenge, however, is not purely financial. It is cultural.

From Add-On to Architecture

For Louisa Toure, ATPI Sustainability Officer, the defining shift is how responsibility is embedded into programme design itself.

“Carbon reporting has become routine,” she says. “The harder task is delivering real emissions reductions without creating resistance.”

Historically, sustainable options have been positioned as compromises – slower routes, tighter policies, perceived inconvenience. At the same time, traveller expectations around wellbeing, fatigue and security have risen sharply.

“The path forward is to redesign travel around better outcomes for both the traveller and the business,” Toure explains. “When sustainability improves reliability, safety and wellbeing, it stops being a trade-off and becomes a natural outcome of smarter decision-making.”

“Responsible travel programmes respect employee time, health and safety. Cost and emissions savings are often an indirect gain of getting that right.”
Louisa Toure

In practice, this means prioritising operational reliability over point-of-sale savings, reducing unnecessary connections, minimising disruption risk and designing schedules that support productivity. What appears marginally more expensive at checkout can prevent significant hidden costs later.

When responsibility is embedded from the outset, rather than layered onto an existing framework, it strengthens duty of care and builds cultural buy-in. Policies feel supportive, not restrictive.

Suppliers as Co-Architects

If programmes are evolving structurally, supplier relationships must evolve with them.

“Suppliers are not something to be corrected,” says Matt Esper, Director of Sustainability & Social Impact at Direct Travel. “They are co-architects in helping travel buyers translate climate commitments into operational reality.”

Scrutiny has increased, certainly. Buyers now expect transparency on safety standards, ethical performance and emissions reduction plans. But the next phase is less about compliance and more about alignment.

“There is more sustainability data than ever,” Esper observes. “The real question is: what is decision-useful, and for whom?”

Embedding credible sustainability information directly into booking flows at scale remains one of the industry’s greatest practical challenges. Clients do not want bolt-on products; they want solutions that operate within their policy, contracts and financial frameworks.

“Sustainability does not scale through aspiration. It scales through alignment, expertise and economics.”
Matt Esper

Meaningful change, he argues, occurs when supplier initiatives are integrated into programme infrastructure, not sold as standalone add-ons. Measurement creates awareness. Suppliers make change possible.

Responsible Events: Expectation, Not Enhancement

This same shift is visible within meetings and events.

For Janneke van Aartrijk, Sustainable Events Program Manager at ATPI, responsible events are no longer a differentiator, they are assumed.

“Sustainability is integrated into the guest experience,” she explains. “From selecting non-stop flights or rail where possible, to certified venues, responsible catering, waste reduction and digital event solutions – it is standard.”

Clients now routinely request transparent footprint calculations and expect external sustainability credentials as part of the RFP process. Increasingly, they also look for positive local impact – cultural engagement, community contribution, measurable legacy.

“Responsible events are about delivering exceptional experiences while making conscious choices at every stage and being able to quantify the impact.”
Janneke van Aartrijk

Measurement informs decisions before contracts are signed, when venue choice, transport planning and catering design can materially reduce emissions. Action, again, begins early.

One System, Not Separate Initiatives

As Direct Travel and ATPI operate under a unified global model, this thinking is being embedded across governance, supplier engagement and client delivery models.

Consistency of sustainability priorities strengthens supplier influence. Shared data standards improve comparability across regions. Internal governance alignment ensures sustainability operates as a coordinated system – not parallel initiatives.

“Sustainable travel is no longer theoretical,” says Matt Esper, Director of Sustainability & Social Impact at Direct Travel. “It depends on organisations that can combine scalable technology with a deep understanding of client sustainability priorities.”

Ultimately, credible travel programmes will be defined by visibility across the booking lifecycle, clear methodology, and reinvestment mechanisms such as carbon pricing or SAF participation that translate intent into structural action.

But perhaps more importantly, they will be defined by trust.

Trust from leadership that programmes withstand scrutiny.
Trust from employees that policies protect wellbeing.
Trust from stakeholders that commitments are credible.

Responsible travel has moved beyond reporting. It is now about designing systems that connect performance, governance and human experience in one coherent framework.

And in doing so, it is quietly reimagining how our industry connects responsibility with progress.