In November we shall be looking at the business case for Responsible Tourism from both sides – costs and sales. Energy and water costs are rising, they threaten profitability, and these are costs which need to be reduced to ensure continued profitability. Responsible Tourism creates opportunity to secure market advantage and increase sales. It makes business sense.

Four industry leaders will talk about how they use Responsible Tourism as part of their marketing and communications strategies to drive sales. Holidaymakers and travellers are increasingly looking for experience for money (EFM) – if it is just about price there is going to be very little margin and that is not good business. Consumers want great experiences, they want to engage with people, cultures and wildlife and they expect the experience to be delivered responsibly – they want the experience to be as described, they want it to be safe and they want it to be sustainable… they want it to do no harm.

Do recommendations and referrals matter to you and your business? In travel and tourism we know that personal recommendation is a driver of sales for destinations and businesses. Repeats and referrals are good for business but the evidence suggests that people do not recommend products to friends, relatives and acquaintances if they fear that they may be embarrassed by their recommendation. We recommend only what we trust and what will reflect well on us. In the age of TripAdvisor and Facebook can you afford to ignore reputational risk?  Even if you don’t get complaints you may not be getting as many recommendations and repeats as you ought.

Stand out from the crowd

Walking through the aisles at WTM the extent of competition faced by business in the travel and tourism sector is very apparent – destinations and businesses have to make major efforts to be noticed with eye catching stands and by arranging meetings. But the meetings need content and Responsible Tourism is an important part of the offer – the operator or agent needs to be assured that they won’t be embarrassed by selling your product.

Nominations for the World Responsible Tourism  Awards close on 20^th June – there is still time to get yourself nominated (or nominate someone else) and to be amongst the winners and highly commendeds show cased during WTM and afterwards. We are looking for inspiring examples of people and businesses doing their bit to make the world a better place through tourism – “making better places for people to live in and better places for people to visit.”

Be part of World Responsible Tourism  Day, become a supporter and stand out from the crowd. Hundreds of companies, organizations and individuals are signing up to the WTM World Responsible Tourism Day and making a real commitment to effective year-round responsible tourism activity, capturing the hearts and minds of industry professionals everywhere – you could be one of them and benefit form engaging with WTM WRTD – and it’s free!

Reducing the use of water and fossil fuels in tourism businesses makes environmental and economic sense. In the panel on the Tuesday we’ll be focusing on reducing energy and water consumption “good for the environment and for the bottom line! We’ll hear from four panellists who understand the business case for reducing energy and water consumption and hear why it matters for our sustainability – for businesses, large and small, and for the planet and the destinations we sell.

Responsible Tourism has a good deal to offer your business – it makes business sense, look out for these two panels amongst all the others on Tuesday 4^th November.