As climate news continues to make daily headlines, an esteemed panel jumped straight into conversation during SITE’s June 2 webinar to explore the relationship between sustainability and incentive travel right now.
The session crossed a wide range of topics, with each panelist exploring how our industry can unite to make incentive programs more environmentally and socially responsible.
Here are just three of the session’s main takeaways — with more robust insights accessible to SITE members via the webinar replay available in SITE’s refreshed Learn Hub.
Making sustainability a strategic priority and embedding it throughout the supply chain
Tomás Franquet, Sustainability Director for Meliá Hotels International, kicked off the discussion by explaining how Meliá Hotels view sustainability as a “powerful management tool,” that delivers not just planetary benefits, but profitability ones too.
Sustainability cannot be the responsibility of one department, Tomás stressed, but must be integrated along the value chain, with all department in an organization participating and playing a role in sustainability efforts.
Since Meliá’s first sustainability plan in 2008, the company has been making purposeful strides to move from viewing sustainability as merely tactical to a force that is now seen as a true business lever.
Meliá is also dedicated to measuring a wide range of indicators against science-backed targets. “We can’t make progress in sustainability without indicators that allow us to see the evolution and track progress toward goals that we’ve set,” said Tomás.
Tomás and his team at Meliá also make sure they communicate transparently about the company’s sustainability efforts. This not only avoids greenwashing, Tomás said, but also helps stakeholders better understand what they do and ultimately feel closer to the impacts of the business. It also helps the company attract talent and investment, he noted.
The importance of education
Rachael Riggs, General Manager of Environmental Strategy for Maritz Global Events, had plenty to share from the planner perspective.
Interestingly, Rachael noted, Maritz now has major corporate clients approaching them with clear salary requirements and other company objectives tied directly to different sustainability targets. These metrics must be integrated into the events these clients collaborate with Maritz on. That’s a shift from even two or three years ago, Rachael observed.
Rachael also provided plenty of ideas about the importance of education when working with clients to improve the sustainability of their incentive programs. “We as organizers can educate clients before they even come,” she said.
“We have a huge opportunity as event professionals to manage a group and their behaviors to reduce their [environmental] impact,” Rachael said. She also compared the MICE industry to others like fast fashion, with the latter forced to rely on consumers to make sustainable decisions interpedently and with significantly less guidance or input from in-house experts — like Rachael and her team at Maritz.
Rachael stressed the importance of working with planning partners like hotels or DMCs to get advice on what needs to be shared with guests specific to sustainability practices in the destination.
Start early, talk often, and share what you’re doing so your planning team can lean into it and support what you’re already doing, Rachael advised.
Public-private partnerships to positively engage with governments
Jane Scaletta, a longtime source of wisdom in the SITE community and changemaker at Terra Focus, spoke about the importance of working effectively with local and national governments, and for the SITE community overall to come together as a strong voice that can support these kinds of public-private partnerships.
Jane focused intensely on the “G” in ESG, governance. Governments can help with decision-making, transparency, and accountability in sustainability, she said, through policies and regulations that encourage sustainable practices throughout the incentive supply chain.
Governments can also play a role, Jane counselled, by offering financial incentives or funding supports to encourage sustainability efforts — especially for ongoing research and development projects.
Jane also touched on the role governing bodies can play when looking at the “S,” or social sustainability practices. We can and should work with governments, she said, to develop and meaningfully enforce practices and regulations designed to protect human rights. This includes monitoring working conditions, enforcing non-discriminatory regulations, and improving accessibility standards, Jane stressed.
“I don’t think we as an industry get involved with our governments enough,” Jane closed with, suggesting that there’s massive potential for win-win partnerships to be forged that would encourage the exchanging of hugely beneficial information for both sides.
Thank you again to our panelists for creating such a dynamic discussion and to this webinar’s sponsor, Meliá Hotels International.
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