First Choice has decided to charge an opt-out £1 carbon offset levy to all of its mainstream customers rather than offering a voluntary scheme.
Managing director Dermot Blastland said take-up of voluntary schemes has been low, so it believed an opt-out scheme would be more effective.
From March 2007, a £1 charge will automatically be added per adult and 50p per child, which will be matched directly by the operator.
First Choice claims that if 100% of its customers agree to pay the levy, it will be able to completely offset the amount of carbon its aircraft emit.
“It might even end up being more,” said Blastland.
He said if the government decides to implement its own environment tax, First Choice will cancel its own scheme.
“Otherwise our customers will be double dipping,” he said.
He said if the government did bring in an environment tax, it should tax companies depending on the size of their carbon footprints, rather than being a blanket tax.
The operator is also finalising audits of its top 150 hotels, which accommodate 50% of its customers, against the new environmental and social best practices guidelines set up by the Federation of Tour Operators.
“With the rest of our hotels we will probably, to start with, get them to do self-assessment but any reports that we get back from the hotels that look a bit flakey we will go and check ourselves,” added Blastland.
By Bev Fearis
