What It Is, Why It Matters, and How the Industry is Changing

In Brief: Manuel Rúa explores the concept of sustainability in the travel industry, its significance, and the transformative shifts occurring within the sector to accommodate this growing trend.

Sustainability in the travel industry: What it is, why it matters, and how the industry is changing – Image Credit Unsplash

As the travel industry continues to evolve, sustainability is becoming an increasingly important consideration for travelers, destinations, and travel providers alike. In this interview, Manuel Rúa, Director of the Sustainability Office at Amadeus, shares his perspective on some of the most frequently asked questions around more sustainable travel – from what it means in practice to why it matters, and how the industry is adapting to meet changing expectations.

What does more sustainable travel look like?

Manuel Rúa, Amadeus: More sustainable travel looks at both how we travel and how travel impacts the places we visit – their people, environment, economy, and culture. It aims to ensure that travel and tourism create long-term value for travel providers and destinations while remaining accessible, inclusive, and enjoyable for everyone.

Sustainable travel has 3 main focus areas:

Environmental: reducing the environmental impact of travel and helping destinations manage issues like overcrowding and seasonality

Social: supporting local communities, respecting local heritage, and making travel inclusive and accessible for people with different needs.

Economic: ensuring travel and tourism supports travel players of all sizes, benefits local businesses, and contributes to the sustainable development of destinations.Together, these 3 areas help make travel more balanced, resilient, and meaningful – strengthening the industry’s future.

What do travelers that value sustainability look for?

Manuel Rúa, Amadeus: Travelers with a focus on sustainability may try to choose travel options with lower carbon emissions or to mitigate the emissions generated from their trip. They may also seek out local experiences, helping tourism contribute more directly to local businesses, economies, communities, and cultures.

They may look for so called “destination dupes”, and swap overcrowded destinations in favor of similar places in an effort to reduce pressure on places that are already impacted by mass tourism.

Sustainable travel may also encompass a number of social considerations such as accessibility. This means catering for people with different needs and abilities, ensuring travel is welcome and inclusive for all. As populations age, accessibility is becoming increasingly important for the industry’s future. Technology can play a role here, with innovations such as check-in and bag drop kiosks that are built to cater for people with visual impairments.

Why does sustainability matter in the travel and tourism industry?

Manuel Rúa, Amadeus: The travel and tourism sector made up 10 percent of the global economy in 2024, or the equivalent of $10.9 trillion US dollars. With this scale comes both opportunity and responsibility, not only in environmental terms, but also in how tourism affects people, communities, and destinations around the world.

That responsibility includes ensuring travel works for everyone — designing journeys, services, and destinations to be accessible and inclusive, so people with different needs and abilities can participate fully. According to the World Health Organization, 16% of the world’s population experience “significant disability”, reflecting a growing need to cater for this group.

In 2024, The World Travel & Tourism Council (WTTC) found that travel and tourism accounted for 7.3 percent of global greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. To address this, there are initiatives across the industry to reduce emissions, including encouraging the production and use of Sustainable Aviation Fuel or using technology to make flights and airport operations more fuel efficient.

Environmental impact, however, isn’t the only concern. In some destinations like Barcelona, Kyoto and Venice, residents are suffering from the impacts of mass tourism, from overcrowding to threats to local heritage. In response, some authorities are taking steps to protect community wellbeing, such as managing visitor numbers.

At the same time, travel players are exploring ways to better manage seasonality and tourist flows while responding to travelers’ growing desire for authentic, meaningful, and sustainable experiences. The goal of balanced tourism is to ensure that travel meets the needs of destinations, travel providers, and travelers alike, while helping distribute the benefits of tourism more evenly across communities and places.

When travel and tourism are managed more sustainably, with the environmental, cultural, and economic well-being of local communities in mind, there are opportunities for everyone to benefit.

What are the benefits of more sustainable travel?

Manuel Rúa, Amadeus: A more sustainable travel and tourism industry can drive greater social inclusion, promote economic growth, and encourage locals to protect their environments and cultural heritage sites.

Economic empowerment & social inclusion: The travel and tourism industry is responsible for 1 in 10 jobs around the world and many of those jobs go to women and youth. The World Travel & Tourism Council reports that 126 million women worked in the travel and tourism sector in 2024, an increase of 6.3 million compared to the previous year. At the same time, youth employment in the sector grew by 2.3 million in 2024.

Economic development: Tourism encourages governments to invest in local communities. For example, Egypt invested $1 billion in the brand new Grand Egyptian Museum, designed as a bridge between the ancient past and a modern future.

Protecting natural environments: More sustainable travel seeks to mitigate negative environmental impact of tourism on natural landscapes, biodiversity, and resources, helping destinations protect what makes them unique while remaining resilient over time.

Cultural preservation & restoration: Indigenous-led tourism initiatives in places like New Zealand, Canada, Guatemala and around the Amazon basin are not only helping local communities protect their land and waterways but also helping visitors better understand indigenous world views so they can see the world from a new lens.

Accessibility and inclusion: By 2050, one in five people globally will be over the age of 65, according to the World Health Organization. As populations age, many travelers may develop new needs, but their desire to explore and experience the world may not diminish — reinforcing the importance of making travel more accessible and inclusive by design.

What does the future of more sustainable travel look like?

The future of a more sustainable travel and tourism industry is more balanced and sustainable, travel and tourism industry, aiming to meet the needs of destinations, the natural environment, travel providers, and travelers. This includes, but is not limited to travel that:

is inclusive by design,

supports destinations beyond peak seasons,

aim to support the protection and preservation of the natural environment,

creates lasting value for communities by benefiting a destination’s people and supporting the local economy and culture.

Furthermore, travelers are increasingly looking for more sustainable ways to travel, whether in the way they reach their destination or how they experience their trip.

To achieve this, travel players across the ecosystem are increasingly coming together, with technology being a key accelerator for measuring and supporting more sustainable and responsible growth.

More sustainable travel in 2026 and beyond: key takeaways

More sustainable travel is becoming a mainstream expectation as travelers increasingly consider the environmental, social, and economic impact of their journeys.

More sustainable travel goes beyond reducing emissions, it encompasses social impact as well — from supporting local communities, and protecting cultural heritage, to making travel more accessible and inclusive for everyone.

Destinations, travel providers, and travelers all have a role to play in shaping a more balanced and resilient travel and tourism industry.

Technology can help measure, manage, and mitigate travel’s environmental impact, while also improving the social side of sustainability — for example, by making journeys more accessible and inclusive, and helping destinations manage visitor flows in ways that better support local communities.

The future of travel depends on balancing growth with responsibility, ensuring travel continues to deliver long-term value for people, places, and the planet.