Episode 10: Paying it forward: Can luxury travel be sustainable?

Sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lemongrass⁠⁠⁠⁠

Holly and Richard discuss whether luxury tourism and hospitality can be sustainable with guests Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner, Director of The Long Run, Geetie Singh-Watson, founder of The Bull Inn, and Lucy Cleland Co-founder and Editorial Director of Country & Town House.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Whether luxury and sustainability are inherently in conflict or collaboration.
• The tension between independent, values-driven businesses and large corporate groups, and whether demand is leaning back toward smaller operators.
• A shift in luxury away from status and materialism toward connection, learning, nature, and meaningful experiences, with sustainability embedded as a baseline expectation.
• How sustainability can enhance a guest experience by offering unique, in-depth, and authentic activities and moments that go beyond traditional “luxury” expectations.
• How businesses can clearly communicate their values and be willing to say no to unsustainable demands.
• Busting the myth sustainability is expensive; in reality, it’s often about mindset, operational changes, and efficiency, which can increase profitability.

Quotes from our guests:

Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner

“Sustainability is not expensive. It’s a mindset and a way of operating.”

“Sometimes it’s important to say no… just because people are paying guests doesn’t mean they need to be served everything.”

Lucy Cleland

“Luxury now is connection, time, and coming away feeling enriched.”

“It has to feel joyful… if it’s really hard, people are just going to say, ‘I can’t do it,’ and then you’ve lost them.”

Geetie Singh Watson

“What I’m trying to do is demonstrate that they can still have their beautiful, delicious, luxurious lifestyle, but can have a much, much lighter footprint.”

“The consumer has the power to change the planet overnight through how we spend our money.”

Find out more about our guests in this episode:

Anne-Kathrin Zschiegner

Geetie Singh-Watson

Lucy Cleland

Some useful links to things mentioned in the show:

• The Long Run members Nikoi Island and Sala’s Camp were both mentioned as examples of employee training to communicate sustainability decisions.
• Read 10 ways sustainability can benefit your hospitality business, according to The Long Run.
• Find out more about Geetie’s businesses The Bull Inn, Albatross Totnes, Baddaford Collective.
• In 2025, The Bull Inn launched the UK’s first regenerative hospitality course. Find out more about it here
• Country & Town House Future Icon Awards are running for the third year with nominations for 2027 now open. Find out more here.
• In 2024, Country & Town House were one of the first magazines to publish sustainability guidelines for writers.

And helpful links from our sponsors, Lemongrass:

• Communicating Impact: Why It Matters for Travel Brands and 10 Ways to Communicate It Effectively⁠

• ⁠Economic Leakage In Tourism: What Is It, And What Can Travel Brands Do About It?⁠

• ⁠Our Impact Report – and 6 top tips for doing your own⁠

• ⁠Overtourism: A Wicked Problem in Need of New Solutions⁠

• ⁠How we are reducing our Carbon Emissions with Carbon Budgets⁠

  ⁠5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business

==

It’s a Journey is a ground-breaking podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publisher of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, it tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.

Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠itsajourney.fm⁠

Episode 9: Nature Positive Tourism –  Long-term plan or short-term jargon?

Sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lemongrass⁠⁠⁠⁠

Holly and Richard discuss how tourism can support biodiversity and nature regeneration and whether the term nature positive tourism is jargon or a long-term plan for the industry with guests Kasia Morgan, Head of Sustainability for Exodus Adventure Travels, and Frans Schepers, Founder and Chief Executive of Rewilding Europe.

In this episode, we unpack:

• The term nature positive tourism - what it is, and whether the approach leads to genuine action.
• How tour operators can drive meaningful action for nature by identifying the right partners.
• Why Rewilding Europe is using nature tourism to support the rewilding of landscapes across Europe.
• How Exodus’ nature strategy and approach has evolved.
• How tourists and travellers can get involved in the restoration of nature on holiday.
• How we can measure our impact on nature as an industry and as individual companies.

Quotes from our guests:

“At Rewilding Europe, we actually use the term rewilding tourism to better describe what we stand for. that is moving away from minimizing harm to actually actively contributing to restoring ecosystems… moving away from observing static nature to witnessing its recovery." - Frans Schepers.

“The tourism industry is uniquely placed to support that global goal to halt and reverse biodiversity loss… through getting involved, emotional engagement, and helping people play an active role.” - Kasia Morgan

“We work in 11 big landscapes across Europe and that number is growing. In these places we want to build a local nature-based or nature-positive economy, where there's a new narrative moving away from traditional land uses — agriculture, forestry and hunting — to a narrative where local economies build on natural features and natural capital. Of course tourism plays an important role.” – Frans Schepers.

“I think it's tempting to try and find an area in which we can easily quantify.But I think it's also our role to not risk undermining or oversimplifying the importance of the work (nature restoration) and also making sure that a distinction can be drawn between something that might look good at surface level and that is genuinely really effective and focused on the right thing.” – Kasia Morgan

Find out more about our guests in this episode:

Frans Schepers

Kasia Morgan

Some useful links to things mentioned in the show:

Read about Exodus Adventure Travels’ commitment to nature here. 

Find out about Exodus’ citizen science partnership with iNaturalist, launched Jan 2026, here. 

How Rewilding Europe is helping nature-based tourism to thrive. Read more here

Launch of Wilder Places, Rewilding Europe’s travel booking platform wilderplaces.com

Wildlife Watching in the Apennines with Exodus and Rewilding Apennines. Read the article here 

And helpful links from our sponsors, Lemongrass:

5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business

==

It’s a Journey is a ground-breaking podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, it tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.

Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠itsajourney.fm⁠

Episode 8: Certification – Labels, labels everywhere: To certify, or not to certify? 

Sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lemongrass⁠⁠⁠⁠

Holly and Richard discuss certification, what it is, whether there are too many labels, and whether it’s worth the investment with expert guests Rochelle Turner, Head of Impact EMEA, Intrepid Travel and Kees Jan Boonen, Head of Policy and Government Affairs, Travalyst. 

In this episode, we unpack:

• How EU regulation will soon impact all travel certifications 

• Whether certification is worth the investment, and whether they are affordable for SMEs 

• The pros and cons of certification 

• How the industry could make the certification landscape easier for consumers to navigate  

• What’s next for the industry and certifications 

Quotes from our guests: 

Rochelle Turner, “We have big issues in our industry and I think certification is a way that can help companies go on a journey that will make them better. It's not the only way, but it is a way. And if it is done with an independent third party verification that has very strict environmental and social standards that look holistically at what an organization is doing, then I think, yes, think certification can be a way to help companies move towards greater sustainability.”

Kees Jan Boonen, “If you talk to travellers, they would like to travel more sustainably. They see a role for certifications here. But a couple of conditions that need to be met. It needs to be clear, needs to be consistent, and it needs to be credible.”

Rochelle Turner, “Sometimes (certification) does require a little bit of a shake up and asking yourself some hard questions along the way.”

Kees Jan Boonen, “Incoming legislation is setting conditions for the certification schemes to be compliant to install trust. What it does not look at is to what extent certification has maximum impact. So, I think that's a different question and perhaps a next step for us as an industry.”

Find out more about our guests in this episode:

Kees Jan Boonen on LinkedIn

Rochelle Turner on LinkedIn

Some useful links to things mentioned in the show:

The Empowering Consumers Directive, also known as the Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, is a new EU law that came into force in March 2024, with an application date of September 27, 2026.

Rochelle authored this report on how being a B Corp has helped Intrepid: Our B Corp Certification Report | Intrepid Travel EU

The second iteration of Travalyst’s certification benchmarking was released at the end of Jan 2026. You can read a press release here and more information on Travalyst here. 

Read more about Booking.com’s stats and latest opinion on certifications here. 

Follow for more:

⁠⁠⁠Holly Tuppen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Richard Hammond⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

And helpful information from our sponsors, ⁠⁠⁠Lemongrass PR⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠:

• ⁠⁠Communicating Impact: Why It Matters for Travel Brands and 10 Ways to Communicate It Effectively⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠Economic Leakage In Tourism: What Is It, And What Can Travel Brands Do About It?⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠Our Impact Report – and 6 top tips for doing your own⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠Overtourism: A Wicked Problem in Need of New Solutions⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠How we are reducing our Carbon Emissions with Carbon Budgets⁠⁠
• ⁠⁠5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business⁠⁠

==

It’s a Journey is a ground-breaking podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, it tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.

Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠itsajourney.fm⁠

Episode 8: It's a Journey podcast sponsor Lemongrass shares insights on the travel trends shaping 2026

A one-off episode where Holly and Richard hear from our sponsor Lemongrass about some of the relevant work it's doing in sustainable travel, including a recent trend report for 2026.

Guests are Lemongrass’s founder and CEO Miriam Peternek McCartney and Senior Director of Digital Strategy Tara Schwenk.

Lemongrass's Annual Travel Trends Report 2026

Other relevant links from Lemongrass:

Communicating Impact: Why It Matters for Travel Brands and 10 Ways to Communicate It Effectively⁠

Economic Leakage In Tourism: What Is It, And What Can Travel Brands Do About It?⁠

⁠Overtourism: A Wicked Problem in Need of New Solutions⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Our Impact Report – and 6 top tips for doing your own⁠⁠

How we are reducing our Carbon Emissions with Carbon Budgets⁠

5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business⁠

Follow for more:

⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Richard Hammond⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Holly Tuppen⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

==

It’s a Journey is a ground-breaking podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, it tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.

Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠itsajourney.fm⁠⁠

Episode 7: Carbon Talks – Is measuring your carbon emissions a worthwhile investment?

Sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lemongrass⁠⁠⁠⁠

Holly and Richard discuss the benefits, challenges and opportunities for measuring carbon emissions with guests Paul Easto, Founder and Chief Sustainability Officer, Wilderness Group, Nadine Pinto, Head of Sustainability, Touring for The Travel Corporation, and a special appearance from Charlie Cotton, founder of ecollective. 

In this latest episode, we unpack:

• Why travel businesses measure their carbon emissions and whether it leads to action
• How different businesses approach carbon measurement and pros and cons of those approaches
• What the investment is in measuring carbon and whether it's worth it
• Whether consumers care about carbon stats
• Common mistakes the travel industry makes and how to avoid them
• A comparison in carbon between a holiday in Scotland and cruise in Antarctica

“It is very complicated and everyone's measuring different things at different paces. It's not always apples to apples. So I think that's something we need to work on as an industry to be able to make sure that we can compare.” Nadine Pinto

“The frustration for us is how hard it is to actually influence change. But that's where I think it's great the work that Travel Corporation and others are doing. That's what we need to see across the industry… high level of collaboration that allows the supply chain to move on.” Paul Easto

“It's not a matter of my calculator measures this, or mine's better than that. But I think it's just making sure that we're transparent on our methodology and our transparency is shared across the industry so that we can make progress.” Nadine Pinto

Find out more about our guests in this episode:

Paul Easto, Founder and Chief Sustainability Officer, Wilderness Group

Nadine Pinto, Head of Sustainability, Touring for The Travel Corporation

Charlie Cotton, Founder, ecollective

Some useful links to things mentioned in the show:

Wilderness’ open source methodology which anyone can access

Ballynahinch Hotel with a carbon emissions performance 85% better than the standard emission factors for a 5* hotel in Ireland

The Travel Corporation’s Partner Resource Hub

A video on what Travalyst is trying to achieve with its Data Hub

And helpful links from our sponsors, Lemongrass:

• Communicating Impact: Why It Matters for Travel Brands and 10 Ways to Communicate It Effectively

• Economic Leakage In Tourism: What Is It, And What Can Travel Brands Do About It?

• Our Impact Report – and 6 top tips for doing your own

• Overtourism: A Wicked Problem in Need of New Solutions

• How we are reducing our Carbon Emissions with Carbon Budgets

• 5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business

Follow for more:

⁠⁠Holly Tuppen⁠⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠⁠Richard Hammond⁠⁠⁠⁠

And helpful information from our sponsors, ⁠⁠Lemongrass PR⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠:

• ⁠Communicating Impact: Why It Matters for Travel Brands and 10 Ways to Communicate It Effectively⁠
• ⁠Economic Leakage In Tourism: What Is It, And What Can Travel Brands Do About It?⁠
• ⁠Our Impact Report – and 6 top tips for doing your own⁠
• ⁠Overtourism: A Wicked Problem in Need of New Solutions⁠
• ⁠How we are reducing our Carbon Emissions with Carbon Budgets⁠
• ⁠5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business⁠

==

It’s a Journey is a ground-breaking podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, it tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.

Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠itsajourney.fm⁠

Episode 6: Risk and Regulation – Is climate a ticking time bomb for those not yet on board? ?

Sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lemongrass⁠⁠⁠⁠

Holly and Richard discuss climate risk and regulation with guests Jeremy Sampson, CEO, The Travel Foundation and Willy Legrand, Professor of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management at IU International University.

In this episode, we unpack:

• What climate regulation, if any, is coming for the tourism industry 
• How risk associated with climate collapse is making some tourism products and destinations unviable 
• How we could turn demanding systemic challenges into creative and innovative solutions 
• What businesses need to do now to future proof for a changing world 
• The need to rebrand climate action, adaptation and risk to galvanise coordinated action 
• Why we might be getting too distracted by frameworks and certifications

"The most durable sustainability shifts probably happen when grassroots momentum creates political permission for smart regulations" Willy Legrand

“We’ve got an ‘urgency deficit’ because there are so many distractions, everything overrides the long-term, even in business and even if it’s an existential threat.” Willy Legrand

"The biggest risk is that people think that climate change is tomorrow's work, but it's today's risk." Jeremy Sampson 

“We are in a pre-regulation phase where there are lots of signals that tourism will have to be regulated.” Jeremy Sampson

Find out more about our guests in this episode:

Jeremy Sampson, CEO, The Travel Foundation

Willy Legrand, Professor of Tourism, Hospitality and Event Management at IU International University

Show notes:⁠⁠

Empowering Consumers Directive, also known as the Directive on Empowering Consumers for the Green Transition, is a new EU law that came into force in March 2024, with an application date of September 27, 2026.

Economic losses from extreme weather events in 2025 amount to 43 billion Euros, as published in The Guardian.

Where next? - Travel Foundation - a new report that sets out a global action agenda for tourism’s climate transition. It outlines four practical, interconnected ideas that would allow tourism to course-correct, at the scale and pace needed, towards climate resilience, economic viability and social equity for destinations worldwide.

New Guide to Action on Climate Change - Travel Foundation - a new edition of the report, Destination Stewardship: A Guide to Action on Climate Change, with Destination Wayfinder. It outlines 37 actions and lots of case studies from around the world.

Destination RiskScan: Innovation for tourist destinations in a warming world contains info about the Travel Foundation's Destination Climate RiskScan initiative, which aims to help tourism destinations around the world better understand and respond to climate change risks.

Follow for more:

⁠Holly Tuppen⁠⁠⁠

⁠⁠⁠Richard Hammond⁠⁠⁠

And helpful information from our sponsors, ⁠Lemongrass PR⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠:

• Communicating Impact: Why It Matters for Travel Brands and 10 Ways to Communicate It Effectively
• Economic Leakage In Tourism: What Is It, And What Can Travel Brands Do About It?
• Our Impact Report – and 6 top tips for doing your own
• Overtourism: A Wicked Problem in Need of New Solutions
• How we are reducing our Carbon Emissions with Carbon Budgets
• 5 things we learnt from Carbon Literacy training and how it can help your travel business

==

It’s a Journey is a ground-breaking podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, it tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.

Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠⁠⁠⁠itsajourney.fm⁠

Richard and Holly look back at 2025 and discuss what't hot and what's not for the year ahead.

Some of the significant developments in 2025 discussed are Intrepid's change to it's Climate Action Plan that Richard thinks will likely reverberate across the industry in 2026, as well as the decision by the office of Rail and Road to grant Virgin Trains access to Temple Mills which could open the door to future international train services. Holly was excited by the launch of Rewilding Europe's travel booking platform WilderPlaces.com, and they discuss the rise in the phenomenon of 'Coolcations' as well as the ongoing issues of overtourism, and that in Hilton's trend report, 'road trips' were identified as one of the stand out themes for 2026.

Looking ahead to 2026, Holly is excited to see how Julie Cheetham as the new CEO of Travalyst takes forward its new Data Hub, which launched at the end of 2025, as well as seeing The Travel Foundation's 'Where Next' campaign develop with its hard-hitting themes of climate justice, climate adaptation and risk of the climate crisis. Richard and Holly also discuss some of the exciting new overland routes in Europe, including overnight coach and rail services.

For Richard, travel highlights of the year included a visit to Les Arcs, the first B Corps mountain resort in Europe, seeing community-based conservation projects in Saint Lucia, discovering rural life in Gran Canaria and visiting it's neighbouring island El Hierro, and exploring the coast of West Sweden. For Holly, travel highlights included a swimming holidays in Malta, a press trip with Exodus to support the work of Rewilding Apeninnes, and a family holiday in Albania enjoying a 'day in the life of a shepherd' with Undiscovered Balkans.

==

It’s a Journey is a brand new podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Lemongrass⁠⁠⁠, the series tackles the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.

Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to ⁠⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠⁠

Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠⁠⁠⁠itsajourney.fm⁠

Episode 5: Community tourism. What does good community tourism look like and can we measure its benefits?

Sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠⁠Lemongrass⁠⁠⁠

Holly and Richard discuss the benefits of community tourism and how to measure it, with guests Manisha Pande, Founder and Managing Director of Village Ways and Kelly Galaski, Senior Director, Operations & Head of Impact at Planeterra.

In this episode, we unpack:

• Why some models work better than others
• How to put systems in place to avoid the dangers of tourism in rural areas 
• How to create impact through community rather than for community
• How to establish a constant dialogue to keep generating positive impact for a community 
• How to create an impact measurement and monitoring and evaluation tool
• How to monitor the impact of community tourism on an entire village or community 
• How to create replicable community tourism structures
• Why community run and operated tourism can lead to a better guest experience 
• The importance of communities not becoming over reliant on tourism, and how to prevent this happening
• The less expected benefits of community tourism

“The success lies in giving the communities collaborative ownership over what they are creating and offering to guests.” Manisha Pande

“We did our homework in what would have the best impact and we chose a model that works with an entire village rather than set up homestays.” Manisha Pande

• “We’ve moved away from the term community-based tourism.” (listen in to find out why) Kelly Galaski

  “What we’ve created is an impact measuring tool as well as a monitoring and evaluation tool for our team.” Kelly Galaski

  
  

  Find out more about our guests in this episode:

  Manisha Pande, Founder and Managing Director of Village Ways

  Kelly Galaski, Senior Director, Operations & Head of Impact at Planeterra
  

  
  

  Show notes:

  ⁠Village Ways’ anniversary special  'Kumaon Itinerary', which is available to book from October 2025⁠

  Another new Village Ways holiday in Chhattisgarh and Madhya Pradesh called ‘Forests and Fables'

  IRCT India Network ​

  Planeterra 2024 Impact Report

  Planeterra and Iberostar partnership
  Planeterra’s work with IUCN in Protected Areas

  An example of Planeterra’s work in urban areas

  
  

  Follow for more:

  ⁠⁠Lemongrass PR⁠⁠ 

  Holly Tuppen⁠⁠

  ⁠⁠Richard Hammond⁠⁠

  
  

  ==

  It’s a Journey is a brand new podcast series hosted by Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media and Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert. Sponsored by Lemongrass, the first five episodes tackle the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.

  Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to ⁠⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠⁠

  Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠⁠⁠itsajourney.fm

  
  

Episode 4. Partnerships for Good. Are public-private partnerships the best way to accelerate change in the tourism industry?

Sponsored by ⁠⁠⁠Lemongrass⁠⁠

Holly and Richard discuss the benefits of public private partnerships with guests Shannon Guihan, Chief Sustainability Officer at The Travel Corporation, Rebecca Armstrong, Head of Impact and Development from The Travel Foundation, Gwen Raez, Strategy Lead at Visit Scotland, and Dr. Anna Spenceley, consultant and Senior Research Fellow with the University of Johannesburg.

“We're excited to share this kind of example with other destinations because I think it's a real flagship for the kind of thing you can achieve when you work together.” Rebecca Armstrong

“Other destinations are now approaching us because they’re so inspired by this work… and for me, that's frankly far more impactful than any one single travellers choice.” Shannon Guihan

“I think the real value that destinations can offer is providing those connections – having a clear vision of where the opportunities are to drive the economic growth and where those quality visitor experiences are and then introducing them to the tour operators where we know will resonate with their guests' experience.” Gwen Raez

Find out more about our guests in this episode:

Gwen Raez, Strategy Lead at Visit Scotland

Shannon Guihan, Chief Sustainability Officer at The Travel Corporation

Rebecca Armstrong, Head of Impact and Development from The Travel Foundation

Dr. Anna Spenceley, former chair of IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas Tourism, an independent consultant and Senior Research Fellow with the University of Johannesburg

Show notes

Intrepid’s partnership with MEET

Tourism Care’s Meaningful Travel Map

Batu Batu’s Cultural & Bio Assets Mapping: https://www.batubatu.com.my/whats-new/2021/8/23/mersing-cultural-amp-bio-assets-mapping 

Further reading from the Visit Scotland, The Travel Corporation, and The Travel Foundation partnership :

Qualifying criteria for The Travel Corporation’s MAKE TRAVEL MATTER experiences

Supporting tourism’s transition to a low carbon economy

Together on the road to net zero

Decarbonising the value chain in Scotland

Further reading from Anna Spenceley about public private partnerships and concessions in Africa: 

Tools and Resources for Nature-Based Tourism (2020) – World Bank (including all the links below)

Best Practice Guidelines on Tourism and visitor management in protected areas  (2018) - IUCN

Handbook for sustainable tourism practitioners: The essential toolbox (2021) - Edward Elgar

An introduction to tourism concessioning: 14 Characteristics of successful programs (2016) – World Bank Group

Guidelines for tourism partnerships and concessions for protected areas (2017) – Convention on Biological Diversity

Tourism concessions in protected natural areas: Guidelines for managers (2014) – United Nations Development Program

Collaborative management partnership toolkit  (2021) – World Bank 

Policy on tourism and wildlife concessions on state land (2007) -  Government of Namibia, Ministry of Environment and Tourism
Let us know what you think in the comments below, and please do like/ follow/ rate/ subscribe to the podcast if you like what you hear. 

Follow for more:

⁠Lemongrass PR⁠ 

⁠Holly Tuppen⁠  

⁠Richard Hammond⁠

==

It’s a Journey is a brand new podcast series hosted by Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert, and Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media. Sponsored by Lemongrass, the first five episodes tackle the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.

Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to ⁠⁠[email protected]⁠⁠

Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠⁠itsajourney.fm

Episode 3: The future of rail. Can train travel in Europe be a practical, affordable, low-emissions alternative to air travel?

Sponsored by ⁠⁠Lemongrass⁠

Holly and Richard, along with their guests Bjorn Bender, CEO and Executive Chairman of RailEurope, Mark Smith of The Man in Seat 61 (seat61.com), and Sarah Fussey, Marketing Director of Inntravel, discuss the future of rail.

The message from all our guests is loud and clear. Rail is here to stay and will get bigger and better but there’s a few key steps that the industry needs to take first: 

• Campaign for more competitors on routes 

• Work with third-parties to gain the booking benefits needed to compete with flights 

• Focus on communicating the convenience and affordability of rail 

Tune in now to hear our guests debating the future of rail, how the travel industry can jump on board, and their top rail booking hacks.

Let us know what you think in the comments below, and please do like/ follow/ rate/ subscribe to the podcast if you like what you hear. 

“What’s happening in rail now is what happened in aviation 20 years ago, and it is going to benefit customers with lower prices and more services.” Bjorn Bender, CEO RailEurope

“When we survey customers about why they want to get the train, it's about the experience and being able to get under the skin of the places that they're traveling in, which of course rail is brilliant for.” Sarah Fussy, Marketing Director, Inntravel

“The elephant in the room is that public policy is designed to get us flying. Austria, Germany, and other countries charge VAT on international train tickets for the same journey where there's no VAT on air travel. And of course, airlines get a massive hidden subsidy because their aviation fuel is tax free.” Mark Smith, Man in Seat 61

Find out more about our guests in this episode:

Bjorn Bender, CEO and Executive Chairman of RailEurope

Mark Smith of The Man in Seat 61 (seat61.com)

Sarah Fussey, Marketing Director of Inntravel

Show notes

Liberalisation of European railways leads to cheaper train tickets

Duetsche Bahn releases ticket sales 12 months in advance

The new Nightjet sleeper service

Inntravel’s Journey’s by Rail

Eurail/ Interrail passes

Rail Europe for tour operators and agents

Holly and Richard regularly write about travelling in Europe by rail. You can find extensive guides to flight-free journeys across Europe at https://www.greentraveller.co.uk/flight-free-journey-planner, and find some of Holly’s articles at https://www.hollytuppen.com/journalism 

Follow for more:

Lemongrass PR 

Holly Tuppen  

Richard Hammond

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It’s a Journey is a brand new podcast series hosted by Holly Tuppen, sustainable travel writer and expert, and Richard Hammond, Publishing Director of Green Traveller Media. Sponsored by Lemongrass, the first five episodes tackle the uncomfortable, complex, and often overlooked questions facing the travel industry as it strives to have a better impact on people and places.

Thanks for listening! Please submit any questions or comments to ⁠[email protected]⁠

Get in touch about opportunities at ⁠itsajourney.fm