Providing more responsible holidays with Travelife
One of the most comprehensive tourism standards in the world, Travelife is moving the tourist industry towards more responsible travel. As a long-time member of Travelife for Accommodation, Nordic Leisure Travel Group is proud to be part of this positive change.
There are many unseen environmental initiatives going on behind the scenes in our concept hotels. At the Sunwing Kallithea Beach resort in Greece, for example, olive oil is recycled for biofuel production; our employee work rooms have clear signage on how to segregate waste for recycling; and the excess heat from air conditioning units is recirculated to warm water in the rooms.
Meet Louise Gustafsson
Louise joined NLTG two years ago, after years of working in the hospitality industry. In her role as Head of Procurement & ESG at Resorts & Hotels, she works closely with our hotels to help them make more responsible and sustainable choices when buying goods and services.
These, and many more initiatives, have been adopted after recommendations from Travelife. An independent sustainability certification body, Travelife is recognised by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC®). Its Travelife for Accommodation programme certifies hotels using 163 criteria, covering emissions, biodiversity, human rights, fair labour, child safeguarding and animal welfare. As such, it’s one of the most exacting sustainability standards in the tourist industry, as Louise Gustafsson, Head of Procurement & ESG at Resorts & Hotels at NLTG, explains: “The requirements set by Travelife are extensive.
For a hotel to achieve Travelife for Accommodation certification, it must document all its sustainability data – from its energy use, water consumption and CO2 emissions per guest night, to its work with local charities and suppliers. It’s probably the most comprehensive in the industry, and one we’re very proud to support,” she says.
Giving guests and employees peace of mind
All our concept hotels are Travelife for Accommodation certified. This gives our guests peace of mind that the hotel they are staying in meets the highest standards for sustainability certification in the tourism industry. It also helps ensure clarity and transparency for our shareholders, partners and employees. “We believe that it’s essential to have our work verified by an independent third party,” says Louise.
“We do a huge amount to promote sustainable practices in our hotels and among our partners, but we should never be the judge of our own work. As a globally recognised certification, Travelife for Accommodation gives us that transparency.”
Pushing the needle of responsibility
Travelife certification is more than a stamp of approval. Travelife’s mission is to empower properties to reach their sustainability goals by providing a robust certification, supported by easyto-use guidance, cutting-edge technology and effective management tools. But, as Carolyn Wincer, Managing Director of Travelife, explains, it also requires that certified hotels and operators work constantly to improve. “Sustainability is not static. We have seen significant evolution over the years. Therefore, Travelife for Accommodation certified properties must actively work to improve their impact on the environment and the communities they operate in, whilst employing fair labour practices and proactively safeguarding human rights,” she says. “We have a wealth of tools and resources that properties can use to prepare and maintain their certification.
This includes sustainability e-learning, templates and guides. We also share best practice within the community via themed campaigns and news stories.” At NLTG, we have put many of these learnings into practice, not just at Sunwing Kallithea Beach resort in Greece, but at our other concept hotels as well. And we will continue to do so over the coming years – all in line with our desire to help move the travel industry in the right direction.
280,000 fewer plastic bottles
We undertook many initiatives in 2024 to reduce the use of plastic water bottles at our hotels. At our Sunwing Kallithea Hotel in Greece, for example, we installed water dispensers and gave employees recyclable aluminium bottles. In our Sunwing Arguineguin, Sunwing Alcudia and Sunprime Pollenca hotels in Spain, we replaced the free plastic bottles in our guests’ rooms with carafes or aluminium bottles that they could refill. In total, these and other initiatives saw us reduce the number of plastic bottles used in our hotel operations by 280,000 in 2024.
