Gen Z Travelers Are Unimpressed by Sustainability Pitches

Good morning from Skift. It’s Thursday, March 9. Here’s what you need to know about the business of travel today.

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Episode Notes

Generation Z travelers are increasingly seeking greener ways to travel. However, tourism businesses that play up their sustainability efforts risk alienating members of the growing segment, writes Global Tourism Reporter Dawit Habtemariam. 

Etienne Matichard, sales director at hotel brand company Ennismore, believes that companies that tout their sustainability practices won’t make inroads with Gen Z travelers. Matichard said recently at the ITB Berlin convention that travelers won’t support businesses they suspect are greenwashing. He added consumers want to see significant changes regarding sustainability instead of marketing campaigns, a topic Skift explored in a 2023 Megatrend.

Next, Cathay Pacific Airways has come roaring back from its pandemic-era struggles. Hong Kong’s largest carrier posted a full-year profit for 2022, reports Jay Shabat, senior analyst for Airline Weekly, a Skift brand.

Cathay Pacific reported on Wednesday a 15 percent operating margin for the final six months of 2022, a vast improvement from the same period in 2019. The company reports earnings twice a year instead of quarterly. Cathay Pacific rebounded from a rough start to 2022 to record a 7 percent operating margin for the full year. Shabat writes Cathay Pacific was barely flying any passengers as of March last year.  

Shabat notes Cathay Pacific is the latest East Asian airline to report double-digit operating margins. Korean Air and Japan’s All Nippon Airways did so for their fourth quarters.  

Finally, Oslo, Norway-based hotel operator CIC Hospitality is taking a bold, new approach to staffing. The company is using holograms instead of humans to work the front desks at 30 hotels it’s opening, writes Travel Technology Reporter Justin Dawes. 

Holograms will greet guests at boutique Aiden by Best Western hotels throughout Scandinavia. Dawes reports that CIC, which operates the Aiden brand, is looking to holograms to help it run its properties more efficiently. Hotel guests are greeted with a pre-recorded hologram video that’s projected into a Holobox, a hologram box with a touchscreen. Guests can receive help from a customer service worker appearing as a hologram. 

Dawes notes that CIC is the first company in the hotel industry to implement the Holobox. CIC Operations Manager Thomas Furuland said he expects the company to eventually use the Holobox in hotels it owns outside of Scandinavia.