The Travel Corporation (TTC) has released its 2024 Impact Report, highlighting transparent progress on sustainability, overtourism, emissions, and community impact.
The Travel Corporation’s 2024 Impact Report reveals major progress across the group’s brands as it reaches the halfway point of its five-year ‘How We Tread Right’ (HWTR) sustainability strategy.
Now in its fourth year, the in-depth annual report showcases achievements across TTC’s portfolio, including Trafalgar, Insight Vacations, Contiki, Costsaver, Luxury Gold, AAT Kings, Adventure World, and Uniworld.
In the 44-page report, the group details how it has achieved seven of its eleven core goals, with clear progress on overtourism reduction, net zero targets, responsible consumption, and diversity, equity and inclusion.
The 11 HWTR goals are anchored to the United Nations Global Goals for Sustainable Development, which are prioritised based on TTC’s impact potential.
With travel demand continuing to grow, TTC is calling for the industry to shift focus from pure growth to better balance, by reducing pressure on overcrowded destinations and ensuring that travel benefits the communities it touches.
“As travellers return in greater numbers, the conversation must shift from growth to balance, a change we have been advocating for at TTC,” says Shannon Guihan, Chief Sustainability Officer of The Travel Corporation and Head of its TreadRight Foundation.
“That is why, across our brands, we are taking meaningful steps to reduce pressure on overcrowded destinations and to ensure our trips bring benefit, not burden.”
Key highlights from the 2024 report include:
Facilitating a focus on local, organic produce at source, 84% of all TTC itineraries now include at least one local dining experience. These meals help support sustainable agriculture, preserve local food systems, and support small businesses. Examples include a tea plantation lunch with a farming family in Japan and a traditional Tourangelle dinner on a goat cheese farm in France.
TTC has reduced Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 23%, and Scope 3 emissions by 20%, based on a 2019 baseline: The company has invested over $2.23 million in decarbonisation projects since launching its industry-first Carbon Fund in 2023, with $353,307 invested in 2024 alone. It also launched the Partner Sustainability Hub to help drive change across its global supply chain.
88% of all itineraries now include at least one MAKE TRAVEL MATTER Experience. These are selected for their positive social or environmental impact and alignment with the UN Sustainable Development Goals. Standout experiences include visits to Phuket Elephant Sanctuary in Thailand and dining at TREE Alliance restaurants in Cambodia that provide vocational training for marginalised youth.
In an initiative set to combat overtourism, there was also a 20% increase in itineraries visiting developing regions across select brands: Contiki, AAT Kings, and Adventure World created 19 of 22 new itineraries designed to spread tourism’s benefits beyond traditional hotspots.
Supporting community-led tourism
Ms Guihan says the company continues to support destination-led and community-informed tourism policies, believing that thoughtful frameworks are essential to protecting what makes destinations special.
“What we need is a systemic approach, and so I’d like to be clear: we support destination-led approaches. We believe that thoughtful, community-informed policies are essential to preserving the very qualities that draw travellers in the first place,” says Guihan.
“I understand the value that tourism can bring to communities when managed in partnership with key stakeholders. Ultimately, tourism shouldn’t happen to a community; it should happen with them.
“And so, we not only welcome collaboration with governments, destination management organisations, and local leaders to build smart frameworks that ensure tourism delivers real value, limits harm, and supports communities, but we are also seeking it out. If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that tourism must evolve proactively, transparently, and together.”
This is TTC’s first Impact Report under new ownership. November 2024 marked a landmark moment for the group, as Apollo Global Management acquired TTC after 104 years under the stewardship of the Tollman family.
The 2024 Impact Report is available online here.
