Industry project "Biodiversity in tourism - preserving to experience"

An intact natural environment is of particular importance

The global populations of mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and fish have declined by more than 70 percent in the last 50 years. Around one million out of eight million species are currently endangered - and humans are contributing significantly to this through the conversion and destruction of ecosystems and the overuse of resources. The protection of biodiversity secures our essential resources such as clean air, water and fertile soil.

It is therefore crucial that all sectors of the economy develop decision-making and management tools for dealing with biodiversity. As a travel industry, we bear a special responsibility to preserve biodiversity – not only as a basis for authentic travel experiences, but as a globally indispensable pillar of healthy living. At the same time, tourism itself can become a burden through resource consumption or interference with nature – and this must be actively counteracted.

The aim of Futouris members is to maximize the contribution of tourism to the conservation and restoration of biodiversity in tourist destinations, to reduce negative impacts and to anchor concrete measures in all processes of the tourism core business.

Phase 1: Analysis of material impacts on biodiversity and development of action plans as a basis

Background

Biodiversity is a multi-faceted topic and thus has a broad influence and impact on the tourism value chain. As tourism businesses cannot tackle all challenges and topics at once priorities must be set.

In Phase 1 of the industry project, five Futouris member companies have identified and analysed the material impacts of their individual tourism activities on biodiversity in cooperation with the partners WWF Germany and mascontour. Based on the analysis results the participating companies have developed their individual biodiversity strategies and action plans, closely supported by the partners.

The biodiversity strategies and action plans form the basis for the implementation projects in Phase 2 of the industry project.

In addition, WWF Germany is creating a guideline for the development and creation of biodiversity strategies and action plans, specifically tailored to the tourism value chain. The guideline was tested in practice by the participating member companies during the process.

Implemented project activities

• Creation of a guideline for the development of company-specific biodiversity strategies and action plans by WWF Germany.

• Application of the steps described in the guideline by the participating pilot companies: Stakeholder mapping, value chain mapping and analysis, materiality screening and hot spot analysis.

• Support for the participating companies in developing their individual biodiversity strategy and action plan.

• Collection and evaluation of feedback from the participating pilot companies on the application of the guideline.

Results

The analyses conducted have shown that, although the identified and analyzed impacts differ depending on the type and portfolio of tourism businesses, water and energy consumption, waste, land use, noise and light pollution, and food and beverage offerings are the most material impacts across all companies. Hotels and cruise ships, in particular, have a substantial impact on biodiversity through their on-site/onboard hotel management and their food and beverage offerings along global supply chains.

Against this background, the second phase of the industry project is going to dive deeper in the analysis of the most relevant material impacts with the aim to develop concrete measures for their reduction.

Phase 2: Implementation

Based on the analysis results, Phase 2 focuses on systematically reducing the impact on biodiversity in operational hotel management and through the food and beverage offerings. The implementation project consists of two modules:

Module A

The aim of this module is to systematically reduce the impacts of hotel operations (and possible cruise ship hotel operations) on biodiversity by supporting hotels (and cruise ships) in analysing and identifying individual pressure points, prioritizing relevant actions and in the long-term establishing biodiversity-friendly operational practices, focusing on water, energy, land use and biodiversity-friendly site management.

Project activities

• Creation of a "biodiversity profile" for each participating establishment by identifying relevant indicators and benchmarks and collecting and analyzing relevant data from the businesses.

• Development of recommendations for a biodiversity-friendly operation for each participating business in a roadmap.

• Implementation of pilot measures, including accompanying monitoring.

• Training of relevant hotel staff by using the train-the-trainer approach.

• Development of communication materials for guests used by the participating businesses.

• Development of practical tools to support businesses in creating their own biodiversity profile and deriving relevant implementation measures.

Module B

Hotels and cruise ships significantly influence biodiversity through global food supply chains (e.g. through high-risk commodities include products linked to deforestation, ecosystem destruction or overfishing). The module aims to develop a practical concept on how tourism companies can make their procurement and menu planning more biodiversity-friendly by analysing existing food and beverage offers in selected pilot businesses, conducting supplier and origin mapping and developing biodiversity-friendly procurement criteria.

Project activities

• Analysis of the impact of the food and beverage offerings in the participating pilot businesses.

• Location and origin analysis of products (especially critical raw materials).

• Development of criteria for biodiversity-friendly food and beverage offerings, taking into account different types of businesses and locations.

• Implementation of pilot measures in the participating businesses (e.g., avoiding critical products, labeling of biodiversity-friendly dishes).

• Training of relevant staff using the train-the-trainer approach, and, if necessary, training of suppliers.

• Impact analysis and KPI measurement.