Thomson and First Choice reveal sustainable efforts

Jane Ashton Director of TUI Group Sustainable Development

£16 million environment saved: 26000 tonnes of CO2 saved: 300 million brochure pages saved: 85% of hotels in green plan

Thomson and First Choice may be leading the way in tackling tourism’s impact on the environment and in holiday destinations

Removing nearly nine tonnes of excess weight from aircraft and cutting over 300 million pages from brochures are just two of the green achievements Thomson and First Choice are highlighting with the release of TUI Travel PLC’s 2010 Sustainable Development Report.

The report outlines a number of sustainable steps that TUI Travel PLC, of which Thomson and First Choice are part, has taken to reduce its environmental impact.

Thomson Airways, the airline for Thomson and First Choice, is now one of the most efficient airlines in the UK, delivering carbon emissions per Revenue Passenger Kilometre (RPK) of only 75g in 2010, which is a reduction of 0.5g from the previous year.

Thomson Airways will also become the first airline in the UK to use biofuels to fly a commercial aircraft on 28 July, with plans in place to introduce the new fuel efficient and more sustainable Boeing 787 Dreamliner into its fleet of aircraft in 2012.

The airline has also been awarded the prestigious ISO 14001 standard for its Environmental Management System across its engineering activities. The highly respected Carbon Trust Standard was also awarded to the company for its dedication to carbon management.

In resort, Thomson and First Choice have introduced a number of energy saving and carbon cutting initiatives and hundreds of hotels available to Thomson and First Choice customers are now Travelife awarded.

Overseas, the company has also introduced a number of community projects aimed at ensuring sustainable development and employee and customer engagement with local people.
All inclusives haven’t been missed out either – the company is working with experts to measure and improve the socio-economic benefits that all inclusive hotels bring to communities, beginning with the First Choice Holiday Village in Turkey, is also a key priority for the company.

Jane Ashton, Director of Group Sustainable Development, said: “Driving sustainability supports the long term success of our tourism business – it’s as simple as that. Whilst we have made progress we certainly recognise that we still have a long way to go and that there are challenges involved. But the potential benefits are significant – for our business, destinations, customers, colleagues and the environment.”

Download the Sustainable Development Report at http://www.tuitravelplc.com/sustainabledevelopment

Valere Tjolle: Valere is editor of the Sustainable Tourism Report Suite 2011 Special Offers HERE