Recent years have seen the impact of climate change have an impact of its own on the travel sector, as hurricanes have ripped through resorts, snow has failed in ski regions and the sun has moved on from the beach.
But why should investors care?
Costs
Electricity, water, plastic straws, these all cost cash and cash is at a premium. The brands are wise to this and last year all the major operators and many of the smaller companies committed to reduce or eliminate the use of single-use plastics.
Leisure customers
Flygskam, or flight shame, was a term coined in Sweden in 2018 to describe the growing unease people felt with flying, in particular for casual trips. Flight shame was thought to have been a contributing factor to the collapse of Thomas Cook.
Business customers
A growing number of companies demand an ESG component to their corporate travel to satisfy their own shareholders. This year Blackrock said that the group would focus on sustainability, exiting any investments it saw as having high sustainability-related risk.
Asset value
Luc Boschmans, director, asset management, Archer Hotel Capital: “When we look at hotels to buy, we would definitely see [sustainability] as an upside, if there’s not much to be done, but would we pay a premium for a hotel with a specific BREEM rating? We’re not there yet. In the office space, yes. But if you tick all the boxes, it’s not something that a buyer could hold against you.”
Oh and…the planet
There’s only one