In this episode, we speak with Sally Davey, CEO of Travalyst. Founded in 2019 by Prince Harry, The Duke of Sussex, Travalyst is a not-for-profit coalition that brings together leading companies from the travel and technology sectors. 

Davey shares insights into Travalyst’s mission and its impact on making tourism more sustainable through collaborative data initiatives. She discusses:

1. How Travalyst has united competing travel giants like Google, Booking.com, and Expedia to work together on sustainability, creating a coalition with a market worth of nearly $3 trillion that shares data and standards non-competitively.
2. The critical role of data in driving change. Travalyst aims to create consistent, accessible sustainability metrics across the travel industry.
3. How the Travel Impact Model (TIM) has powered over 65 billion flight searches worldwide, helping travellers make informed decisions about their carbon footprint when booking flights. The model is open-source and freely available to all industry players.
4. Travalyst’s expansion into accommodation sustainability through their Data Hub initiative, which tracks 60 attributes across 6 environmental and social categories, and their certification program that has validated 49 sustainability standards.
5. Their vision for regenerative tourism that goes beyond reducing negative impacts to actively benefiting local communities, preserving cultural heritage, and enhancing environmental conservation.

Throughout the conversation, Davey emphasises the importance of balancing environmental and economic sustainability, the power of industry collaboration, and how data-driven decisions can transform tourism into a force for good. 

If you LOVED this episode, you’ll also love the conversation we had with Sebnem Erzan, Global Head of Travel Sustainability & Transport at Google, who shares the tech giant’s vision for sustainable travel. Check it out here. 

Learn more about the innovators who are navigating the industry’s challenges to make sustainable aviation a reality, in our new book ‘Sustainability in the Air’. Click here to learn more.

Feel free to reach out via email to [email protected]. For more content on sustainable aviation, visit our website green.simpliflying.com and join the movement. It’s about time.

Links & More:

Travalyst

Travel Impact Model 

Flight emissions data shown in over 65 billion searches worldwide - Travalyst 

First flights, now the Travalyst climate coalition turns to hospitality data - Skift