The data from the latest Cornell Hotel Sustainability Benchmarking (CHSB) shows that the average carbon footprint of a hotel stay reduced by 3% between 2018 and 2019. The data on energy, carbon and water has been collected from over 21,000 hotels across 57 destinations.

Royal Mountain Travel launched its "Sustainability Series", a ten-episode video series featuring national and international experts who shed light on pertinent sustainable tourism topics. Stay tuned for the videos coming out every week!

Orangutans have experienced a devastating decline of more than 50% over the last two decades. Their habitat has been seriously threatened by illegal hunting, logging, and deforestation from the palm oil industry. How then, can tourism help save the orangutan?

Mangroves play a key role in the effective operation of land and sea habitat. However, due to the climate challenge, pollution and local threats, they have been halved in the past forty years. Find out how these ecosystems can be protected.

Animal activities and experiences in tourism can pose a significant risk to both the health and safety of people and animals. Businesses operating or selling such activity should therefore make every effort to assess risk and manage it effectively. However, as with most matters concerning animals, there are multiple factors to consider, not least the fact that there are thousands of species, each presenting different issues. Understanding the potential risks and how to mitigate them is crucial.

Doing Masters in Responsible, Sustainable or Transformative Tourism felt a bit waffly, non-academic. Catherine Mack, who is a Masters graduate on Responsible Tourism, has shared thoughts about sustainability in the tourism sector. Why sustainable tourism is important, uses of sustainable tourism and many more ideas have been shared in this article.

Winnow, a tech company that builds AI tools to help chefs run more profitable and sustainable kitchens, found that relative levels of food waste would, on average, rise by 50% during the first month of reopening. Following analysis of kitchens from all over the world, their two-part guides offer insights and practical tips for the hospitality sector to minimize waste as the world reopens.

UNWTO is inviting public and private stakeholders from around the world to take part in a Global Survey of Climate Action in Tourism and help identify frontrunning initiatives and opportunities to accelerate climate action in tourism. Launched on World Environment Day, the survey aims to support the ongoing efforts of the sector to reduce its environmental impacts and carbon emissions, as well as to strengthen its capacity to adapt to a changing climate.

We invite our members to join PATA in being a voice for all manners of sustainability. Send us content related to the SDGs and we’ll feature it on the PATA blog, weekly PATA newsletter and on our social media channels.

Greenview, a leading sustainability consulting and research firm with over a decade of experience working with dozens of hotel companies, has prepared this guidance document to support hotels in their development and implementation of an SMS to support alignment with the GSTC Industry Criteria for Hotels.

Across our planet, our coral reefs face a barrage of threats. From the sweeping impact of climate change to the smaller scale damage caused by localised stressors, like careless diving practices. On top of this, anchoring can cause serious damage to corals and other marine environments like seagrass beds. Even the most careful throw of an anchor can be devastating. In just one instance in Florida in 2019, critically endangered elkhorn corals, that had previously survived Hurricane Irma, were wiped out as a result of a dragged anchor.

This article presents research carried out between December 2020 and March 2021 by the Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) and focusright, a Swiss consultancy that works with companies to embed responsible business practices throughout their supply chains. Supported by the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs Switzerland, the project examined the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on informal workers in the Thai tourism value chain.

GLP Films (GLP), the content marketing agency dedicated to global sustainable tourism, is pleased to announce the publication of its free industry report: #TourismStrong: Lessons and Solutions for a Sustainable Tourism Future, available to download on their website. 

We now know that COVID-19 is an animal-borne disease, its passage to humans eased when nature’s natural barrier has been eroded or removed. WHO estimates these kinds of diseases account for 75% of all newly detected human pathogens over the last 30 years. Disease, and potential pandemics, which could be averted if biodiversity loss is halted and nature’s health restored.

Discova is launching a new farm-to-table project in Bali to provide additional income for local farmers. This directly helps communities impacted by the lack of international tourists resulting from the COVID travel restrictions introduced globally.