TTG – Fairer Travel – Designer Travel team welcomes ‘transformative’ sustainability training

May 2, 2024by James Chapple

Agents and team members at Designer Travel have hailed a six-week sustainability training program as ‘transformative’, one designed to help them confidently engage with customers and suppliers on key sustainability issues.

Several members of the team were honored for their efforts at the Designer Travel conference last month

The work-from-home agency, which was among the big winners at last week’s Top 50 Travel Agencies by TTG 2024 ceremony, has worked with Rebecca Woolford, co-founder of Kiwano Tourism, to bring 50 consultants and other head office employees through the training.

The training is specifically designed to tap into the team’s personal passions, skills and talents and inspire them to put their existing knowledge and experiences to good use when it comes to promoting and selling more sustainable holiday options.

The topics included online learning, knowledge tests and practical tasks and ranged from recognizing signs of greenwashing and climate injustice to tackling tourism leakage and “rethinking” tourism through the eyes of tourism-dependent communities, as well as questioning of forms of nature tourism.

Karen Pocock, director of Designer Travel, said the aim of the training was to help the team advise and educate customers on their sustainable travel options.

“We want to work with suppliers who put sustainability at the heart of their agenda, allowing us to develop partnerships that make tourism a force for good,” said Pocock. “Thanks to Rebecca’s support, the team was able to get the most out of the training and experience. Everyone who participated was impressed by the content.”

Designer Travel said the core aim of the program was to ‘liberate and empower’ its team to understand more about what they can do to make a difference and ‘ask the questions that need to be asked’ as part of a broader mission to ‘de and reset’ tourism for local people, places and nature.

Colin Brown, a Designer Travel agent, said it had given him the confidence to engage with clients and suppliers about sustainability, gender equality and tourism leakage.

Designer business development manager Di Victory said the course opened her eyes to topics and issues she had previously only scratched the surface of. “The masterclass will greatly benefit our business as it will enable us to make positive changes with confidence,” she said.

Head of Sales Darren Bien added: “I can now speak with more confidence to our suppliers and partners. This will be critical to our future sustainability strategy.”

During the training, the team also led World Animal Protection Campaigns Manager Katheryn Wise, who Pocock said supported Designer Travel’s efforts to strengthen and implement animal welfare policies.

Pocock added: “We are a growing business and, as we have said before, we are committed to playing our part in making tourism a force for good and protecting exciting global travel for generations to come.”

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