Three years after Intrepid Travel became the world’s largest travel company to become a certified B Corporation, it has completed an extensive external audit to recertify its status, proving its commitment to running a purposeful business despite the challenges facing the tourism industry during the pandemic.
Intrepid Travel has achieved a new score of 91.2 from the B Corp Impact Assessment, an increase from its 2018 score of 82.7.
The recertification shows nearly a 10% improvement in the business’ overall social and environmental performance, focusing on the company’s practices specifically in 2020 and 2021, two of the most challenging years the business has endured in its 32-year history.
With greenwashing and impact washing becoming more common than ever in travel, Intrepid says it has pursued this all-encompassing certification because B Corporations are businesses that meet the highest standards of verified social and environmental performance, public transparency and legal accountability to balance profit and purpose.
“There are currently over 180 sustainable certifications available in the tourism industry, and there are even travel providers that create their own. This makes it incredibly difficult for consumers to differentiate which ones are trustworthy or legitimate,” said James Thornton, CEO of Intrepid Travel.
“This is why we were drawn to the B Corp movement.”
The assessment evaluated the environmental and social impact of the business within all 32 of Intrepid’s majority-owned companies in five categories: governance, workers, community, environment and customers.
Intrepid Travel also attributes its B Corp status to being a main driver for giving the company the focus and opportunities it needs to continue to improve on its business, which in 2021 saw a strong result of $124.2 million AUD in bookings globally, despite a year faced with ever-changing travel restrictions and border closures.
“It’s our intention to share how being part of this movement isn’t just better for the world, but is also a smart business decision. We hope to inspire other big players in tourism to pursue B Corp certification for themselves,” Thornton concluded.
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