SustainableTravel 2024

Latest Booking.com Sustainable Travel Data Reveals
Ongoing Challenges for Consumers & Highlights
a Heightened Opportunity for Cross-Industry Collaboration
Booking.com’s Sustainable Travel
Report, now in its ninth year, sharesinsights from extensive research,gathering insights from over
31,000 travelers across 34 countries
and territories, to provide a timely
picture on traveler views, perceptions,habits and potential barriers when it

31,000+travelers

34Countries
And territories

comes to more sustainable travel.

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While thisyear’s research
reveals acontinued senseof desire andawareness,with 83% of travelers conﬁrmingthat sustainable travel isimportant to them new insights
show a sense of weariness could
be emerging globally, fueled by
the ongoing challenges thattravelers experience to makemore sustainable travel choices.

83%

28%

28%

feel travelingof travelers

more sustainably

even report theyis important, but

are tired of

not a primary

hearing about

consideration

climate change

when planning

all the timeor booking a trip

With this in mind, theopportunity for collective
action is more pertinent
than ever, in order to ensurethat progress toward amore sustainable travelindustry remains a priority.

3Positive
Intentions
BehindSustainable
Travel75%

75% of global travelers say that they want totravel more sustainably over the next 12 months

57%

57% intend to reduce energy consumption
on future trips

54% intend to use more sustainable modesof transport when traveling in the future

43% feel guilty when they makeless sustainable travel choices

54%

43%
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Positive
Intentions
BehindSustainable
Travel2024

66%
of travelers saythey want toleave the places
they visit better
than when
they arrived

2023

71%
of travelers saythey want toleave the places
they visit better
than when
they arrived

5Motivations
For Making
MoreSustainable
Travel Choices

Of those who want to travel more sustainably:

32% will do so because they
believe it's the right thing to do

16% believe travelingmore sustainably will enhancetheir experience
11% believe they would have amore authentic experience of thelocal culture
7% will do so because it will
make their trip more fun

32%

16%

11%

7%
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But, thosepositive
intentions aremeeting newchallenges
A sense of disillusionment towards
making more sustainable travel choices
may be counteracting those intentions.

New areas of research reveal that some travelers don’t recognize the importanceof being more mindful of their impact

33%

feel that the damage already done
is irreversible

25%

don’t believe climate change is as severe
as people make it out to be28%

feel their time spent traveling is too precious
to put sustainability at the top of theirdecision-making list

Not seeing sustainability in action is contributing to the sense of powerlessness; morethan a third (34%) of travelers believe that being more sustainable in a destination thatis not implementing sustainability practices itself feels pointless.

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Shared Responsibility
Travelers expectations for collaboration when it comes to sustainable travel:

45%

44%

43%

40%

think they themselves

think governments

believe travel serviceof travelers believe thathave the potential tohold the most potential

providers hold the key

governments are responsible

counteract the social

for countering theto addressing

for educating people on theimpacts of travel

economic effects

environmental factors

impacts of travel and tourism

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Certiﬁcations
Coming across an accommodationlabeled as more sustainable is more
appealing to almost half of travelers

45%

However, interest in the whyof certiﬁcations is faltering,
52% of travelers who are

69%

interested to learn more about
why the accommodation wasgiven this label in 2024

Consistency of certiﬁcation
standards is critical to identifying
these options with 67% agreeingthat all travel booking sites
should use the same sustainable
certiﬁcations or labels.

67%

52%

compared with with 69%
this time last year who wereinterested to learn more
about why a speciﬁc option ona travel site received asustainable certiﬁcation
indicating a need for simple,
clear communication thatenables easy decision-making

2023

2024

Travelers who are interested to learn more about why
the travel site received a sustainable certiﬁcation

regardless of priorities.

9Sustainable Silver Linings
Despite emerging frustrations, travelers who say they
are making more mindful choices also feel that moresustainable travel experiences are actually adding value
to their trips.

62%

67%

of travelers recognize

feel that witnessingthat they are the bestsustainable practices while

version of themselves

traveling inspires them towhen they travel more

be more sustainable

sustainably

in their everyday life

96%
who did tours or activities
for authentic, local andcultural experiences

93%
who shopped at small,independent store

93%

who planned their trips sothat they could walk, cycle,
or take public transport

10“While many travelers have retained a sense of optimism and a desire to have a more positive impact,
there is a critical opportunity for the industry to accelerate efforts to make those choices easier for
everyone. It’s important that we continue ensuring that more sustainable options are not only readily
available, but also easy to trust and understand. That’s where we believe further education, clear andconsistent standards and credible third-party certiﬁcation of legitimate sustainable practices acrossthe travel experience can really help. While the signals of consumer frustration should be a concern,it’s also a reminder to maintain our focus on the impactful work we know can make a difference not
only for travelers, but for communities and destinations everywhere.

Danielle D’Silva, Head of Sustainability at Booking.com

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Methodology
Research commissioned by Booking.com and independently
conducted among a sample of 31,550 respondents across 34
countries and territories (1,000 from USA, 1,000 from Canada,
1,000 from Mexico, 1,000 from Colombia, 1,000 from Brazil, 1,000
from Argentina, 1,000 from Australia, 500 from New Zealand,
1,000 from Spain, 1,000 from Italy, 1,000 from France, 500 fromSwitzerland, 1,000 from the UK, 1,000 from Ireland, 1,000 fromGermany, 1,000 from the Netherlands, 1,000 from Belgium, 1,000
from Denmark, 1,000 from Sweden, 950 from Croatia, 500 fromUAE, 1,000 from India, 1,000 from China, 800 from Hong Kong,
1,000 from Thailand, 1,000 from Singapore, 1,000 from Taiwan,
1,000 from Vietnam, 1,000 from Indonesia, 1,000 fromPhilippines, 1,000 from South Korea, 1,000 from Japan, 1,000
from South Africa and 300 from Kenya). In order to participate inthis survey, respondents had to be 18 years of age or older, had tohave traveled at least once in the past 12 months and must beplanning to travel in 2024, and be either the primary decision
maker or involved in the decision making of their travel. Thesurvey was taken online and took place in February 2024.

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