Scaling Responsible Travel Through Partnerships, Global Benchmarks, and AI

This sponsored content was created in collaboration with a Skift partner.

Travelers want to do better for the planet, but those desires don’t always translate into action. When sustainable travel options are inconvenient or difficult to find, it discourages travelers from going the extra mile. According to Trip.com Group’s 2024 Sustainable Travel Consumer Report, 92% of global travelers recognize the importance of sustainable travel, but only about 57% take action. 

Several factors contribute to this gap, including unclear labeling and limited visibility during the booking process. It’s no surprise that many travelers end up confused about what truly counts as sustainable. This confusion can lead some to give up on finding responsible options altogether. Those who try to find responsible options may still end up choosing less eco-friendly ones. 

Today’s travelers expect sustainability to be integrated into their travel choices from the start, not added on after booking. This shifts responsibility to travel brands to clearly highlight sustainable options with transparent details, such as carbon footprints and verified third-party credentials.

SkiftX spoke with Trip.com Group about building the systems necessary to bridge the gap between intention and action and how credible sustainability tools, AI-powered recommendations, and cross-industry partnerships are key to getting the industry on the same page.

The Power of Transparency in Sustainable Travel 

Travelers’ interest in sustainability presents a significant opportunity for travel brands — travelers placed over 100 million orders for sustainable options across Trip.com Group’s platforms in 2024. However, to follow through on their sustainability interests, travelers need booking environments that make responsible choices obvious and easy to make. According to data from Trip.com Group, three-quarters of travelers expect clear sustainability signals when they book. 

That means it’s up to the travel industry to deliver guidance that feels credible and easy to navigate, helping the average traveler put their money where their mouth is. Trip.com’s 2025 Why Travel report shows that searches for “help planning my trip” have increased 190% year-over-year. This is yet another clear sign that travelers now expect more guidance as they plan upcoming trips.

The early decision-making stages of the booking process present a key moment for travel brands to influence outcomes. Providing clearer sustainability guidance while travelers compare flights, hotels, and transportation helps them make more responsible decisions and narrow down their options. 

Connecting Travelers With Personalized Recommendations

This urgent focus on sustainability does not overshadow another important aspect of the traveler experience today: personalization. AI tools can help travel brands better connect these priorities by surfacing the best responsible choices at the precise moment when travelers make decisions. Carbon-efficient flight routes, eco-certified hotels, or more environmentally friendly alternatives, such as train travel, are more appealing to travelers when they are ready to book.

Destinations can also leverage AI to increase sustainability in areas where overtourism causes harm. AI can help destinations manage traffic flow and reduce crowding by predicting demand peaks and redirecting interest to less-visited regions.

Trip.com Group aims to embed sustainability as a default behavior in the travel planning process by using AI to personalize responsible recommendations without adding unnecessary friction. The company believes that AI will be an increasingly important tool for demand redistribution and climate-aligned travel planning in the future.

Supporting Smarter Destination Strategies 

AI isn’t the only option in destinations’ sustainability toolbox. Dispersing visitors to hidden gems and extending travel into less popular shoulder seasons can help alleviate pressure on overcrowded hotspots and create more balanced, long-term benefits. Destinations can also elevate under-the-radar cultural and community-based experiences that travelers might otherwise overlook. 

That’s why Trip.com Group supports over 230 strategic destination partners in a joint effort to encourage sustainability throughout every facet of the industry. The company works closely with each unique destination to co-design campaigns that introduce lower-impact experiences, spotlight community-based tourism opportunities, and showcase local cultural assets. 

For example, Trip.com Group’s Country Retreats program, dedicated to revitalizing rural areas in China, has created over 40,000 jobs and increased average incomes by approximately $5,500 per person. Partnerships and programs like these demonstrate what becomes possible when destinations lean on industry platforms, such as online travel agencies (OTAs), for real-time insights that help protect their ecosystems, avoid overcrowding, and distribute benefits more equitably.

Building Industry Alignment Through Strong Partnerships

One of the greatest challenges to this kind of sustainability support is that most travel brands aren’t aligned on a shared framework. For example, each airline or hotel uses different terms and labeling rules to indicate sustainability. This can hinder partnerships and industry benchmarking, while making travelers work even harder to navigate their options. In that sense, the fragmentation of the travel industry directly impacts its ability to achieve sustainability.

Standardized flight labeling, clearer hotel sustainability standards, and comparable emissions data for ground transportation options all go a long way toward supporting both travelers and the industry. To establish these shared industry booking standards, Trip.com Group has partnered with Travalyst, the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC), and the UN Global Compact.

In fact, Trip.com Group is the first OTA in the Asia-Pacific market to join Science Based Targets Initiative (SBTi), marking a step toward a more science-based climate strategy. Flight emissions data from Google’s Travel Impact Model, as recommended by Travalyst, and GSTC-aligned hotel tagging make it easier for travelers to find, understand, and choose greener options. Industry-wide collaborations like these help accelerate a future where responsible travel is the default, not the exception.

For more information about Trip.com Group’s sustainability initiatives, visit Trip.com.

This content was created collaboratively by Trip.com and Skift’s branded content studio, SkiftX.