Booking.com and CHOOOSE partner for “mindful” travel vision
Worldwide: Amsterdam-based online travel agency Booking.com has strategically partnered with Norwegian climatetech company CHOOOSE as part of their shared vision to make it easier for everyone to travel more “mindfully”.
Through the global partnership, the key objectives for both companies is to increase traveller awareness about the carbon implications of their trips.
It will start by exploring the best ways to provide transparent information about the carbon emissions associated with booking on the platform, including for accommodation, travel products and services, and flights, before expanding to the introduction of carbon offsetting options within the customer journey.
By ultimately providing travellers with the option to offset the CO2 emissions linked to their trips directly on Booking.com, the partnership will ensure everyone is supporting a portfolio of certified nature-based solutions aligned with the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Danielle D’Silva, head of sustainability at Booking.com, said: “At Booking.com, we want to make it easier for everyone to experience the world in a more sustainable way. To that end, we released our Travel Sustainable program nearly one year ago to help encourage more sustainable practices amongst our partner travel providers and customers.”
“With half of travellers citing that recent news about climate change has influenced them to make more sustainable travel choices, supporting travellers to make more informed decisions related to the carbon footprint of their trips is a top priority for us. Together with CHOOOSE, we can provide information in a more transparent manner, and through trusted climate projects, can offer another way for travellers to make more mindful travel decisions,” she added.
CHOOOSE CEO Andreas Slettvoll said: “Recent research by Booking.com shows that sustainable travel is important to more than four out of five global travellers, with 50 per cent citing the recent news about climate change as having an influence on them wanting to make more sustainable travel decisions. The challenging bit is that many still don’t know exactly where or how to start.
“That’s why we are proud to team up with Booking.com making information about carbon emissions more accessible and ultimately actionable for people worldwide. Through the partnership, we can turn sustainable intentions into more concrete sustainable actions,” he added.
News of the partnership arrives on the eve of the 2022 United Nations Climate Change Conference [also known as COP 27], which takes place between 6-18 November in Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt.
Last month, ShortTermRentalz hosted a ‘RockSTRz’ webinar discussion on “The new era of smarter, sustainable, responsible tourism” – view the recording in full at this link.
