NEILSON’S SAYS MAINSTREAM OPERATORS AND ETHICAL TOURISM NOT MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE

Both Responsible Travel and Neilson’s were named in an Observer investigation into responsible tourism last week. In Neilson’s case, their only sin seemed to be that they are part of the Thomas Cook Group.

In the Observer’s words “My email comes from Neilson – the skiing and sailing division of Thomas Cook. Thomas Cook, as in the second-largest travel company in Europe, with 97 aircraft, 2,926 high street shops, 32,722 employees and more than 19.1 million annual customers. A small specialist ethical travel firm, it is not.”

Full response from Neilson’s:

“This weekend The Observer published an article called “Are You Being Greenwashed?”in which Neilson’s ethical and environmental credentials were challenged based on the premise that we are a subsidiary of the Thomas Cook Group. They seem to be suggesting that mainstream tour operations and responsible tourism are mutually exclusive.

In defence of mainstream tour operations, it is a widely accepted truth that mass market skiing and environmental harm go hand in hand. For the ski operator facing this truth there are three options:

The truly responsible answer to this charge would be to cease running ski holidays. The void, however, would soon be filled by other ski operators and the negative impacts would continue.

The second option would be to do nothing in the belief that nothing can be done.

And then there’s the third way.

At Neilson, we recognise that there are negative impacts associated with ski activities over which we have no influence. But there are many other impacts, both negative and positive, over which we do have control.

We send thousands of skiers on holiday each winter so even the smallest adjustment to the way we run our holidays will have a considerable impact. So the best course of action open to us is to identify those impacts, build on the positive, reduce the negative and continue to seek solutions to the challenges facing us in this arena.

We know we’re not perfect – perfection isn’t possible in this game – but we believe that our size gives us a great head start in influencing our staff, our customers and our suppliers to work together to make our holidays more sustainable.

The Observer emphasised the commercial aspect of being featured on the responsibletravel.com website, the implication being that if you had enough money, you could place your products on there and acquire green credentials by doing so. In fact responsibletravel.com require a responsible travel policy from all their tour operators and their vetting process is stringent. No matter how much money you throw at them, if your policies don’t pass muster, your products don’t go on their website.

And what of Thomas Cook? Neilson and Thomas Cook have been working closely together and with the Federation of Tour Operators (FTO) to develop, among other things, the Travelife Sustainability System, an internationally recognised award scheme that encourages the travel industry to be sustainable through a system of audits and brochure logos. It has set up a system to help travellers understand which hotels are doing their bit for the environment and the communities they visit on holiday.

Read more about Neilson’s Responsible Business Policy at:
http://www.neilson.co.uk/Responsible-Travel.aspx

Valere Tjolle