Travelzoo® has seen a highly positive reaction from its members in China to the company’s #GreenAmbassador initiative. The #GreenAmbassador is the first in a series of initiatives to be launched by Travelzoo as part of its new Global Sustainability Campaign to champion sustainable travel solutions for the world.
China is now the fastest-growing market for new-energy vehicles in the world. In 2014, only 74,763 new-energy vehicles were sold in China; by 2017, that number had increased by over 1000% to 777,000 (source: South China Morning Post, April 2018). Recognizing this great opportunity to advocate sustainability, Travelzoo formed a partnership with new-energy vehicle manufacturer Tesla in the fourth quarter of 2018 to promote environmentally friendly travel in China.
During the 60 days of the #GreenAmbassador initiative, Travelzoo offered its members an exclusive perk to help offset their carbon footprints. Upon purchasing a Local Deal published by Travelzoo, members were invited to use a Tesla new-energy vehicle for 24 hours. After returning the vehicle, members would receive a Green Ambassador certificate, presented jointly by Travelzoo and Tesla. Based on the mileage they drove, members were then awarded a Travel Green Fund e-voucher that could be used towards future Travelzoo purchases. Website traffic and transactions rose by 70% under this initiative. This encouraging result confirms that our members stand with Travelzoo to support global sustainability.
“Travelzoo’s mission is to inspire more people to discover the world. And we would like to achieve this in the most responsible way,” commented Sharry Sun, Global Head of Brand at Travelzoo. “We believe that the ambition of the travel industry today should be not only to provide people access to various exciting destinations, but also to enable them to explore the world in a smart and sensible way.”
On March 6, 2019, Travelzoo will unveil the results of the next initiative under its Global Sustainability Campaign: a worldwide research project into overtourism and possible solutions to overcome its negative impact. The research was conducted together with Professor Doctor Roland Conrady, Scientific Director of ITB Berlin Congress. The findings will be presented at ITB Berlin during the keynote panel session, “Overtourism: how the global tourist feels about mass tourism”.
