In order to care for our natural and social ecosystem, we not only need a sustainable offering and sustainable behaviour on the part of our customers, we also have to make a concerted effort ourselves. That is why Signature Travel takes several steps to set a good example when it comes to sustainability.
1. Digitalisation of travel documents
At Signature Travel, all your travel documents have been issued in digital form only since 2022. Should you still wish to receive these in printed form, we charge you CHF 10.00. These proceeds then flow into various projects. One of the supported projects is Ferienhilfe Schweiz, organised by child welfare organisation Petite Suisse. This project supports families that find it difficult to go on holiday with their children or youngsters.
2. Contribution to climate protection on business flights
Signature Travel has undertaken to make a contribution to climate protection for all its business trips since 2006. This happens via the myclimate platform. The amounts flow straight into the M-Climate Fund and support the same projects as those supported by customers’ contributions, for example for more sustainable rice cultivation in Thailand in order to reduce the greenhouse gases caused by rice cultivation.
3. Collaborations
Commitment to environment protection
OceanCare has been globally committed to protecting marine creatures and oceans since 1989. Signature Travel has supported OceanCare in individual specific projects since 2009. Since 2017, we have been working even more closely with OceanCare to further support the protection of dolphins and whales. Dolphinariums and swimming with captive dolphins and whales are no longer actively offered in our brochures or online. No whale products of any kind are available on tours or trips in Norway, Iceland, Canada, the USA and Japan. In Tromsø in Northern Norway, Signature Travel works with providers that follow the guidelines for whale observation activities, whose directives have been developed and publicised with the support of OceanCare.
Commitment to child protection
Signature Travel condemns all violence towards children and child exploitation. Back in 2003, we were the first Swiss tour operator to sign up to The Code of Conduct for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation in Travel and Tourism. This signals Signature Travel’s commitment to raising awareness of this important issue among our customers, staff and partners.
Unfortunately, children are exploited at many holiday destinations – predominantly in Southeast Asia, Latin America, Africa and Eastern Europe. We therefore see it as our duty to raise awareness of this topic, particularly among travellers.
Commercial sexual exploitation of children is a crime and punishable worldwide. Should you witness any suspicious behaviour while on holiday, do not delay and report it to the following places:
- Your tour guide
- The Federal Office of Police (Fedpol) using this report form
More detailed information about the issue of child exploitation can be found on the website of the Kinderschutz Schweiz foundation.
4. Further measures
Green Office
The entire Hotelplan Group, of which Signature Travel is also part, has committed itself to increasing the sustainability standards in its office buildings and branches and thus doing its bit to reduce the size of its ecological footprint.
This means that disposable products such as paper cups are no longer used. The Hotelplan Group has been measuring its electricity and heating consumption for some time. It has set itself the target of halving its consumption of electricity and heating energy by 2030. In addition, the Hotelplan Group is committed to using less paper, digitalising processes and promoting recycling processes. Furthermore, the Hotelplan Group supports flexible working. By way of example, the number of workstations at headquarters has been reduced to save office space, and employees have the option of working from home.
Membership of associations
Since February 2022, the Hotelplan Group has been a member of Futouris e.V., the sustainability initiative of the tourism industry. Together with partners from the industry, the Hotelplan Group campaigns for more transparency with respect to the impact travel has on the climate, among other things. Further industry projects as well as sustainability projects specific to the Hotelplan Group are implemented in collaboration with Futouris.
Furthermore, as a member of the KlimaLink association, the Hotelplan Group pursues the aim of making uniform calculation standards for CO2 emissions available digitally for the German-speaking travel industry.
Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism
In 2021, the Hotelplan Group signed the Glasgow Declaration on Climate Action in Tourism issued by the United Nations global tourism organisation, which was launched as part of the COP26 climate summit. This means that the Hotelplan Group is committed to halving the greenhouse gas emissions it causes by 2030 and achieving the target of net zero by 2050 at the latest.
Please visit the Hotelplan Group website to find out about further sustainability measures undertaken by the sister companies of Hotelplan and the entire Group.
Back to overview Sustainability at Signature Travel