We define stakeholders as those individuals or groups who affect, or are affected by, our activities. Communicating with the groups who have an interest in our Company and its activities helps us develop as a business and incorporate respect for the environment and people into the way we work.

We aspire to lead the travel and tourism sector and to lobby for sustainability to be embraced as a business issue on which the future health of the industry depends. TUI Travel’s senior management are regular public advocates for more sustainable tourism, in the media, at industry and governmental events, and with other audiences.

Colleagues

TUI Travel carries out an annual survey of our senior leaders which measures engagement and alignment with our vision and values, and contains two questions on sustainable development. View survey results from 2007/08. Many TUI Travel businesses conduct internal surveys on topics that matter to our people. Where possible, key questions – including those on sustainable development – are aligned Groupwide so we can measure our colleagues’ opinions in their entirety.

Customers

TUI Travel businesses request feedback from customers regularly, and some offer the opportunity to comment on the environmentally and socially responsible aspects of their holiday (view Our Customers page for details). In 2007/08, we commissioned research into attitudes to sustainable development issues in both the UK and Germany, which informed our customer communications in both markets.

Investors

TUI Travel’s 2008 Annual Report & Accounts contains an extended section on sustainability in line with the new requirements of the Operating and Financial Review (OFR). 

TUI Travel is listed on the FTSE4Good Index in recognition of its transparency, and for meeting strict social, environmental and governance standards. We liaise regularly with institutional investors on our performance and our management of sustainability risks.

TUI Travel makes an annual submission to the Carbon Disclosure Project, an investor coalition representing 385 signatory investors and combined assets of $57 trillion (£36 trillion). Each participating company’s submission is scored and benchmarked with respect to its approach to managing climate change risk and opportunity.

Industry partners

Across the Group we are active members of industry forums on sustainability. For example, TUI Travel in the UK chairs the Federation of Tour Operators’ (FTO) Responsible Tourism Committee, responsible for pioneering the Travelife Sustainability System, and is a core partner in the Tourism 2023 initiative, through which we are working to create a robust, inspiring and realistic vision and strategy for the UK outbound leisure industry.

TUI Travel in The Netherlands is a member of IDUT, the Dutch national network for sustainable development of outbound tourism and chairs the sustainable development committee of the Dutch Association of Travel Agents and Tour Operators (ANVR). TUI Travel in Germany, Austria and Switzerland is working in partnership with Deutscher ReiseVerband (DRV), the German travel industry association, on the creation of Futouris, a new platform for sustainable tourism (see TUI Central Europe page for details).

Suppliers

Across TUI Travel, many of our businesses have schemes to help suppliers improve their environmental and social performance. The Sustainable Development department and Sector Coordinators are working with purchasers across the Group to advance this work (see Destinations page for details).

Stakeholders in destinations

All our businesses work with local authorities, communities and NGOs on relevant issues and provide in-kind and financial support to a range of charities and community organisations in destinations.

We aim to consult with communities wherever we are involved in sustainability-related destination projects. For example, TUI UK & Ireland’s project partner The Travel Foundation (view Strategy development in 2007/08 page for details) does this in a number of destinations by convening a committee with the local community, including representatives from government, small suppliers, community and trade associations, the hotel industry and local tour operators.

We are advocates for sustainable management of destinations. For example:

• The Managing Director of TUI UK & Ireland presented on the industry’s climate change challenge to 90 Ministers of Tourism at the World Travel Market in November 2007
• TUI Travel’s Chief Executive presented on sustainability at the Switzerland Vacation Day conference in April 2009
• The TUI Nordic Product Director presented on social responsibility at the Bangkok Travel Fair in June 2009
• TUI Travel’s Head of Sustainable Development took part in the sustainability-related Pacific Asia Travel Association (PATA) CEO Challenge in April 2008
• TUI Deutschland is working with the Environment Ministry of the Balearics Government to deliver sevral projects that will protect the natural environement of the islands (view TUI Central Europe page for details).

Government

In all our source markets, we have open lines of communication with government departments that have an interest in the leisure travel industry. We also use our relationship with destination tourism boards to influence destination governments on sustainability issues.

TUI Travel deals with the EU and source market governments at Company level and through national and international travel trade associations and is a member of the International Federation of Tour Operators (IFTO) and the European Travel Agents’ and Tour Operators’ Associations (ECTAA). TUI Travel’s Director of European Affairs represents the Group in Brussels.

Each source market has a person responsible for external affairs at a national level. For example, in Germany we work with the Federal Agency of Aviation (LBA). In the UK, we meet regularly with government departments on issues such as consumer financial protection the Code of Practice for Disabled Passengers, aviation and the environment.

TUI Travel is an active participant in initiatives to promote sustainable development within travel and tourism. Some examples include:

• We were consulted by the World Economic Forum for its report ‘Towards a Low Carbon Travel & Tourism Sector’ presented in May 2009 at the World Business Summit in Copenhagen in preparation for the UNFCCC Copenhagen conference in December 2009
• TUI Travel is a member of The Tour Operators’ Initiative (TOI), a non-profit association working closely with UNWTO and UNEP to promote best practice in sustainable development among tour operators

Non-governmental organisations (NGOs)

Across the Group we work with specialist NGOs where relevant. For example, TUI Travel in the UK works closely with The Travel Foundation, an NGO founded through collaboration between the UK Government and the outbound tourism industry. TUI UK & Ireland’s Managing Director is a trustee of the charity, which exists to educate customers, develop business tools for change and establish practical sustainable tourism projects in destinations. Several UK-based TUI Travel businesses support the charity through matched customer donations, and have raised over £1.5 million since its launch in 2003.

A number of TUI Travel businesses have signed the Child-Protection Code, developed by UNICEF, UNWTO and ECPAT (End Child Prostitution and Trafficking).

At Group level, we have regular contact with NGOs such as the Born Free Foundation and with TUI Travel’s nominated charity, the Family Holiday Association.

Experts in sustainable development

We work regularly with experts from outside the company. For example, Quark Expeditions logistically and financially supports a University of Alberta polar bear radio collar study, which tracks the bears’ range changes, breeding habits and interactions with humans.

Read more ...

Strategy development in 2007/08