UK Travellers say Holidays Shouldnt Cost the Earth

Research conducted by MORI for ABTA indicates that sustainable tourism is an important goal for us all the travel industry and the customer each have a role to play.

85% of holidaymakers believe that it is important not to damage the environment, 77% think that it is important that their visits include experience of local culture and food and 71% feel that tourism should benefit the people of the destination visited, through jobs and business opportunities.

Demonstrating their commitment to world-wide environmental initiatives, 84% of UK holidaymakers on their last package holiday ensured that they left no litter and 63% visited a local site of natural beauty. Looking at practical and logistical measures, 36% saved water by showering instead of taking a bath, 18% switched off air conditioning to save energy and 17% decided not to have their hotel towels washed so often for environmental reasons.

Indicating a growing awareness of the issues, 52% said they would be interested in finding out more about local issues (environmental and social) in their chosen resort before they booked their holiday, although 46% had little or no interest in this.

The same research showed that holidaymakers feel that their holidays are currently offering value for money (93%). When quizzed on how much extra they might be prepared to pay for environmental, social or charity guarantees the majority (64%) said that they would be prepared to pay between £10 and £25 extra representing a 2-5% increase on a holiday of £500.

Stephen Bath, ABTA President, said: "Its often been said that tourists dont really care sufficiently about the environments they visit. While this may have been true at some time, the British (in common with our European neighbours) are becoming more green. This clearly raises issues for holiday companies to address. Long term plans must be built on a bedrock or sustainability."

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Notes for Editors:

1. Between 2 September and 24 September 2000, MORI surveyed 963 people, across the UK, who had taken a package holiday in the previous 12 months

October 27, 2000

For further information contact:

Keith Betton or Sean Tipton - Tel: 020 7307 1900 (Office Hours)