TripAdvisor just announced the results of its annual trends survey of more than 3,000 U.S. travelers. According to the survey, 22 percent of travelers expect to be more environmentally conscious in their travel decisions in 2010 than they were in 2009. Thirty-two percent consider their carbon footprint when they are traveling, and as a result, 44 percent of those travelers choose to stay at "green" or environmentally-conscious hotels, while 26 percent choose to drive rather than fly, and 20 percent travel shorter distances. A hotel having "green" policies also factors into 33 percent of travelers' booking decisions.
While these results are impressive, approximately two-thirds of travelers still apparently do not factor in the environmental impact of their travel decisions when traveling. And, the same percentage do not factor in "green" policies when making hotel booking decisions. That said, it is good to see that more travelers will be considering the environment when traveling in 2010.
What are you seeing in your day-to-day operations? Are more guests and potential guests asking you about your green initiatives? Or, is it about the same as in years past?
Click here to read the entire press release detailing survey results.
1 comment:
While I had hoped that the percentage of those interested in more environmentally friendly travel would have been higher than 22%, I believe that many travelers would actually participate in green travel if it is made easy for them. For instance, the green hotels identified in the search results, the details of what each hotel is doing also easily available. This takes the right implementation on the web, but also requires participation from hoteliers in providing their green hotel activities, so that potential travelers are informed and do not have to search for it themselves. This can be compared to the spike seen in those that recycle when recycling was made easy for them (ie. recycling bins from the city were provided).
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