Why the next step for tour operators isn’t certification, but understanding. And why this is precisely the moment.
For years, sustainability occupied a comfortable spot in the organizational chart of many tourism companies: a section on the website, a reforestation campaign for the photo op, a paragraph at the end of the annual report. It was present, yes, but in the corner. Far removed from where the decisions that truly drive the business are made.
That era is coming to an end.
In one of our webinars, Cristina Calvo, CEO of Green My Experience, put it bluntly: sustainability isn’t charity, it’s strategy. It’s not the generous gesture a company makes when it has a spare budget; it’s the logic that defines which companies will remain relevant in the next decade. Those that succeed, she says, don’t leave it in the corner. They put it front and center.
And here comes the part that few are saying out loud.
The real problem isn’t the reporting. It’s the vocabulary
When a tour operator encounters sustainability, they almost always see it as a compliance issue: forms, metrics, criteria, certifications. Something that needs to be “resolved” before an audit or before closing a deal with a large partner.
But before it’s a reporting issue and long before it’s a compliance issue, sustainability is an education issue.
We see it all the time. There are operators with a genuine commitment — reducing waste, conserving water, working with local communities — who still can’t move toward certifications like those aligned with the GSTC criteria. Not for lack of will. For lack of vocabulary. They don’t have the common language to name what they’re already doing, measure it, and demonstrate it.
And what can’t be named, can’t be proven.
The market is already asking
Meanwhile, the question is already on the table. And it’s coming from three directions at once.
From the traveler. Booking.com’s most recent research (2026) shows that 85% of travelers consider more sustainable travel important or very important to them. And it’s not just talk: in 2025 alone, more than 100 million room nights were booked at accommodations with third-party sustainability certifications, within a network of certified properties that grew by 22% in just one year.
From business partners. Recently, a hotel contacted a tour operator to request its sustainability metrics. The operator didn’t have any. This isn’t an isolated case: when major brands — including cruise lines like Carnival and Royal Caribbean — move toward certification, that requirement cascades down to every supplier they work with. If you’re one of those suppliers, the question isn’t if you’ll be required to comply, but when.
From regulation. Singapore began requiring mandatory climate reports from publicly traded companies in 2025, starting with the largest — which are already required to report even the emissions from their value chain. It’s just one of more than 30 jurisdictions incorporating global disclosure standards. And because these requirements travel through the supply chain, they end up affecting companies that never imagined they would be required to report.
Add the three together, and the picture is clear: we’re not talking about the distant future. It’s the present, asking questions.
The good news (and why now is the time)
Here, it’s important to change the tone. Because all of this is usually presented as a threat — “adapt or disappear” — and we see it differently.
Tourism accounts for about 8% of global greenhouse gas emissions. That means the sector isn’t a bystander to the problem: it’s part of it. But also, for that very reason, it’s one of the areas where a good decision has an enormous impact. Well-managed tourism can fund conservation, support local economies, and transform the relationship of millions of people with the places they visit.
The operators who will thrive in the next five years won’t simply be the most sustainable. Those who can demonstrate it will succeed. And demonstrating it begins with understanding it.
That’s the encouraging part: the first step isn’t a million-dollar investment or an overnight transformation. It’s learning. It’s giving your team the language, the criteria, and the confidence to name what they already do well — and build upon that foundation to achieve what’s missing.
As one of our past participants told us: sustainability can feel overwhelming at first, but ultimately, what matters is understanding that small changes count and having a good place to start.
Starting where you truly begin
At Green My Experience, we’ve spent months developing something designed precisely for this moment: a sustainability training program for tourism professionals, aligned with the criteria of the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC).
It’s not a course about saving the planet in the abstract. It’s a program built for the people who run tours, manage suppliers, answer the hotel’s email, and sit across the table from the cruise line — designed to give them the shared vocabulary, the practical criteria, and the confidence to name what their operation already does well, measure it, and demonstrate it to whoever asks.
Because that’s the real sequence. Not certification first. Understanding first. Certification becomes the natural consequence.
No prior technical or environmental background is required. Just an operation you believe in — and the decision to stop keeping sustainability in the corner.
The program is open, and spots in the first cohort are limited. Join today Starting where you truly begin.
The question is already on the table. The traveler is asking. Your partners are asking. Regulation is asking.
The only thing left is deciding who answers it best.
At Green My Experience, we’ve spent months developing something designed precisely for this moment: a sustainability training program for tourism professionals, aligned with the criteria
If you want to see what this looks like inside your organization, get in touch.
