The DERTOUR Group is now labelling more sustainable offers from its tour operators DERTOUR, ITS and Meiers Weltreisen with the new “engage – people & planet” label. Head of Sustainability Laura Steden tells us what is behind the label, why it makes sense and what the future plans are.
Hotels that are certified according to the internationally recognised sustainability criteria of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC) are marked with a dark green leaf in the shape of a heart. Around 1,800 hotels are currently marked with the engage signet in the catalogue portfolio, in addition to numerous hotels via bed banks such as booking.com.
Fairweg provides the database for this. The sustainability portal has a large number of accommodations worldwide with GSTC-recognised sustainability certificates. Travel agencies can recognise the offers provided by the DERTOUR Group with the engage label in the booking portal by the StayFair logo from Fairweg.
The DERTOUR Group has also started labelling more sustainable excursions and round trips. Offers that are not certified, but have been checked internally for a selection of generally recognised criteria for responsible tourism, are displayed with a light green leaf in the shape of a heart.
Laura Steden, Director Corporate Responsibility of the DERTOUR Group: ‘Our aim is for all international units of the DERTOUR Group to label their products with engage – people & planet in future, so that we have a standardised basis for more sustainable products throughout the group.
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Laura Steden
Director Corporate Responsibility DERTOUR Group
In conversation with Laura Steden, Director Corporate Responsibility DERTOUR Group
There are now also a large number of seals in tourism. Do you think a kind of “umbrella label” helps consumers to make more sustainable travel decisions?
Laura Steden: The number of seals in tourism is actually in the three-digit range. What’s more, not all of the seals are reliable in terms of their criteria and rigour of verification. In very few cases, consumers know what is behind the label and can hardly distinguish between the labels. For this reason, an umbrella seal with recognition value helps to reduce the complexity a little and make decision-making easier.
At the same time, it can ensure that only those products are labelled that actually meet strict minimum requirements. This includes checking ecological, social and economic criteria in detail. In this way, “engage” allows consumers to actively opt for more sustainable options both when choosing accommodation and when selecting appropriate round trips or excursions. However, the impact of a trip depends on many factors. In addition, the DERTOUR online theme world ‘Conscious travelling’, for example, provides information and tips on sustainable travel.
Why did you decide in favour of the “engage – people & planet” label?
Laura Steden: “engage – people & planet” was introduced by DERTOUR Suisse in 2019, while different approaches to labelling more sustainable travel offers existed within the entire DERTOUR Group. When looking for a solution for the entire DERTOUR Group, the tried-and-tested two-pronged model was the obvious choice: the dark green leaf in the shape of a heart is used to label hotels that are externally certified as sustainable, while the green leaf outline on a white background is used to label excursions and round trips that have been audited internally.
The hotels marked with “engage” are certified by standards recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). Excursions and tours are audited internally using generally recognised criteria for responsible tourism. Engage is gradually being rolled out to the entire DERTOUR Group.
The green signet provides travel experts at the counter and travellers with guidance on more sustainable holiday offers.
How many hotels and round trips do you want to recognise in the next few years?
Laura Steden: Around 1,800 hotels are currently marked with the engage signet in our catalogue portfolio. The trend is rising. With the opportunity to make exciting initiatives visible as part of ‘Conscious Travel’, we incentivise our partners in the destinations to make their offers more sustainable. Important hotel partners are actively encouraged to introduce sustainability management and have their hotels certified if they are not already doing so.
Our goal is to have 25 per cent of the hotels in our core portfolio certified by 2025. It goes without saying that we are setting a good example in the Group. The hotels in our Hotel Division are also being successively certified as sustainable. Checking and organising responsible round trips and excursions is very time-consuming. We have already implemented the first of these and more will follow in 2025.
Two years ago, you and other project members founded the KlimaLink association to develop an industry-wide, common basis for calculating travel emissions. What is the current status?
Laura Steden: The calculation standard for flights and hotels has been developed, now the other travel components will follow. In addition, uniform labelling has been finalised (footprint with CO2e information and the climate-friendly annual budget as a reference value). Internally, we have also taken the first important steps, as the emissions for flights can already be displayed in the internal systems. We are currently working on displaying flight emissions online on our sales websites and in travel documents.
There will be a joint communication with KlimaLink and other members at the largest tourism trade fair ITB in Berlin in March 2025.
Is the new cooperation with Fairweg a complement to your involvement with KlimaLink? And are there plans for further collaborations?
Laura Steden: We obtain the data for the hotel certifications via Fairweg and with KlimaLink we work out the climate footprint for travelling. These collaborations therefore complement each other well for a transparent presentation to travellers. We are very active in the industry and are always open to good and meaningful collaborations.
