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

The World Journey & Tourism Council (WTTC) unveiled its newest report, exploring the important hole between travellers’ want for sustainable choices and their precise behaviour. Launched at FITUR 2025, Madrid, the report Bridging the Say-Do Hole: Methods to Create an Efficient Sustainability Technique by Figuring out Your Prospects was developed in collaboration with WTTC data associate YouGov.
The report explores the disconnect between what travellers say about sustainability and the alternatives they in the end make.
It supplies actionable steerage to Journey & Tourism companies on how they’ll handle this hole by providing options that make sustainable journey each extra accessible and extra engaging, in the end balancing financial development and environmental accountability.
The research, drawing on a survey of greater than 10,000 respondents, categorised travellers into six shopper segments, starting from the eco-conscious “Hopeful Worriers” to the disengaged “Local weather Change Agnostics”. Every group comes with distinctive behaviours, priorities, and boundaries to choosing sustainable selections.
Understanding these various 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 shopper segments, greater than 50% say price is crucial 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 acutely aware teams.
An absence of visibility additionally stays a major barrier to progress. Over 10% of respondents reported no publicity to sustainability messaging or info by way of any channel, together with mainstream media, social platforms, or community-driven initiatives.
Julia Simpson, WTTC President & CEO, mentioned: “Travellers care about sustainability however when shopping for journey, price and high quality are king. Prospects count on companies to create inexpensive sustainable choices. However many WTTC corporations encourage change – whether or not that’s regrowing coral reefs or decreasing meals waste. Prospects have interaction with manufacturers which have robust values.
“I’m delighted to collaborate with YouGov for such a vital piece of labor. By closing the say-do hole, we not solely defend the planet however guarantee extra rewarding experiences for purchasers 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 Client Report 2024. Journey.com’s report helps WTTC findings, noting the significance of price and making sustainability hassle-free, encouraging shoppers in the direction of extra sustainable motion.
Enterprise Suggestions
WTTC’s report gives seven key suggestions to assist the business bridge this divide, calling on companies to guide 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, making certain eco-friendly choices are easy and handy for shoppers, 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 shoppers has been proven to considerably enhance engagement throughout totally different segments. Designing out unsustainable choices to make sustainability the default alternative 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 shoppers.
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 motels and prioritises underutilised fish shares. Hilton has outfitted over 1,800 motels with EV charging factors, with almost a 3rd of its EMEA properties powered solely by renewable power.
As local weather motion turns into an crucial moderately 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.