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We pledge to become a sustainable company as we Declare a Climate Emergency!

07.08.2020

Happy Tours is an European inbound operator that is handling close to 2000 groups a year (100.000 passengers), mainly from long-haul markets, such as Northern America, Far East Asia and, all throughout our Continent. We therefore feel the real reponsiblity towards turning ourselves and helping our clients – travel agents from around the world to become sustainable companies as well.

We are developing the method of measuring the carbon footprint of our clients during our tours. We will offer and promote the mechanisms to offset it. Same time we will analyze and actively develop more sustainable practises, encouraging both our suppliers as well as our clients to promote them.

For us sustainable travel is the key to safeguard both our planet, as well as to encourage positive practises of human co-operation and responsible development – and we want to play an active part towards this.

While these efforts are a continuous project which we want to engrain into our policies and daily practises, we will use 2020 as a trial year where we will already measure the carbon impact we make, as well as already design first pilot schemes for offsetting.
Then in the period of three years (2021-2023) we want to gradually lessen the carbon imprint and become the first major european DMC to completely erase it in 5 years time (so latest by 2025).

We’ve signed up to Tourism Declares, an initiative that supports tourism businesses, organisations and individuals in declaring a climate emergency and taking purposeful action to reduce their carbon emissions as per the advice from The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) to cut global carbon emissions to 55% below 2017 levels by 2030.

Like all signatories, we have committed to the following five actions:

1. Develop a ‘Climate Emergency Plan’ within the next 12 months, which sets out our intentions to reduce carbon emissions over the next decade.
2. Share an initial public declaration of our ‘Climate Emergency Plan’, and update on progress each year.
3. Accept current IPCC advice stating the need to cut global carbon emissions to 55% below 2017 levels by 2030 in order to keep the planet within 1.5 degrees of warming. We’ll ensure our ‘Climate Emergency Plan’ represents actions designed to achieve this as a minimum, through delivering transparent, measurable and increasing reductions in the total carbon emissions per customer arising from our operations and the travel services sold by us.
4. Encourage our suppliers and partners to make the same declaration; sharing best practice amongst peers; and actively participate in the Tourism Declares community
5. Advocate for change. We recognise the need for system change across the industry, and call for urgent regulatory action to accelerate the transition towards zero carbon air travel.

We Declare a Climate Emergency