Australia’s leading online travel agency, Webjet, has announced the addition of hotel bookings to its successful Sustainable Traveller carbon offset program, becoming the only Australian online travel agent to offer carbon offsetting for flight, hotel and holiday package bookings.
Available now, Webjet customers can choose to offset their hotel booking when checking out. Supported by Tasman Environmental Markets (TEM) BlueHalo technology, carbon calculations for hotel stays are made by factoring in emissions associated with each room night spent in the accommodation, as well as hotel location, star rating and actual room size. Once the booking has been offset, Webjet purchases the equivalent number of carbon offsets to equalise the customers share of emissions.
One hundred per cent of the offset contributions made by Webjet customers go to supporting independently verified projects with a focus on positively mitigating climate change, protecting wildlife and nourishing communities. These include Indigenous fire abatement in the Northern Territory, introducing efficient cookstoves and native forest conservation in Africa and renewable energy in India.
The introduction of hotel offsetting expands Webjet’s successful Sustainable Traveller program, launched in 2020. In line with growing consumer demand for more eco-friendly travel options, carbon offset bookings from 1 March 2022 – 28 Feb 2023 grew 63% compared to 1 March 2021 – 28 Feb 2022. Over 198,000 customers have opted into the program, collectively offsetting an outstanding 74,000 tonnes* of CO2 from the Earth’s atmosphere**.
Webjet OTA CEO, David Galt, comments: “The continued success of Sustainable Traveller proves that small contributions can make a big impact. At Webjet we acknowledge our responsibility to operate in an environmentally responsible manner, and our customers are also increasingly looking for ways to tread more lightly as they travel.
“That’s why, three years after launching Sustainable Traveller, we’re proud to expand the program and become the first Australian online travel agent to offer carbon offsetting on hotel bookings as well as flights. So far, the response and feedback from customers has been fantastic. Year on year we’re seeing increased demand for the program as a whole, and since we soft launched hotels in March this year, over 1,600 hotel nights have already been offset”.
To find out more about the program, please visit, www.webjet.com.au/about/sustainable-traveller.
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