Over 200 travel and tourism companies were asked to complete an online questionnaire, which asked for specific information about any actions that have been taken to reduce carbon impact as well as other aspects of sustainability, such as water preservation, waste management and biodiversity conservation.
A panel of travel and tourism experts, chaired by Dr Graham Miller, director of International Studies at the University of Surrey, read the completed questionnaires and decided on the final list. The aim was to identify companies that have introduced significant changes to their business, the products they offer and the way they perform. Any measures that are highly replicable and scalable weighed in their favour, particularly where a transparent degree of monitoring was demonstrated.
The panel of judges for the Green Travel List:
Dr Graham Miller, Chair of Judges
Dr Graham Miller is Director of International Studies and a Senior Lecturer in Management at the University of Surrey, England, where he teaches issues relating to business ethics, sustainability and the tourism industry. Graham’s main research interest is in the forces that enable and prevent the drive towards a more sustainable tourism industry, publishing the first book to address the monitoring of sustainable tourism in 2005. Graham has just completed a major study for the UK government Department for the Environment on public awareness of sustainable tourism and leisure. Other recent clients have included the Department of Trade and Industry, EU, Association of British Insurers, National Audit Office, TUI-AG and Ipsos-Mori.
Graham is a consultant and qualified accreditation officer for the United Nations World Tourism Organisation and their Tourism Education Quality Programme, and a judge for the World Travel and Tourism Council’s Tourism for Tomorrow Awards, which seek to establish the tourism company making the greatest contribution to sustainable tourism each year. Graham sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Sustainable Tourism, and is the Tourism editor of the journal Tourism and Hospitality Research. Graham is vice-chair for the Research Ethics Committee of Hammersmith Hospital, and a member of the Faculty of Management Ethics Committee at the University of Surrey.
Tim Smit
Tim Smit was born in Holland on 25 September 1954. He read Archaeology and Anthropology at Durham University. Tim worked for ten years in the music industry as composer/producer in both rock music and opera. In 1987 Tim moved to Cornwall he and John Nelson together ‘discovered’ and then restored the Lost Gardens of Heligan. Tim remains a Director of the gardens to the present day. Tim is Chief Executive and co-founder of the Award winning Eden Project near St Austell in Cornwall. Eden began as a dream in 1995 and opened its doors to the public in 2000, since when more than 8 million people have come to see what was once a sterile pit turned into a cradle of life containing world-class horticulture and startling architecture symbolic of human endeavour. Eden has contributed over £800 million into the Cornish economy. Eden is proud of its success in changing people’s perception of the potential for and the application of science, by communicating and interpreting scientific concepts through the use of art, drama and storytelling as well as living up to its mission to take a pivotal role in local regeneration. It demonstrates once and for all that sustainability is not about sandals and nut cutlets, it is about good business practice and the citizenship values of the future. Tim is a Trustee, Patron and Board Member of a number of statutory and voluntary bodies both locally and nationally. He has received a variety of national awards including The Royal Society of Arts Albert Medal. In 2002 he was awarded an Honorary CBE in the New Years Honours List and he has received Honorary Doctorates and Fellowships from a number of Universities. Tim was voted ‘Great Briton of 2007’ in the Environment category of the Morgan Stanley Great Britons Awards. Tim has taken part in a quantity of television and radio programmes and has been the subject of ‘This is Your Life’ and a guest on ‘Desert Island Discs’. He is a regular speaker at conferences, dinners and other events. Tim is the author of books about both Heligan and Eden and he has contributed to publications on a wide variety of subjects. He lives in Fowey, Cornwall and in his free time he enjoys reading, film, music and art.
Alastair Sawday
Alastair Sawday is the chairman and founder of Sawday's Special Places to Stay series of guide books recommending over 5,000 inspected hotels, B&Bs and self-catering properties across Europe and beyond. He is committed to all things 'green' and endeavours to promote 'slow' living, sustainable travel and environmental awareness to all his readers. Alastair has had a remarkably miscellaneous and varied career, which has taken him to the most far-flung corners of the globe: he headed up a VSO programme in Papua New Guinea, worked in St Lucia, ran a disaster relief team for Oxfam in Turkey, has taught French and has run a small travel company, conducting walking tours throughout Europe. It was this that inspired him to publish his first travel guide, French Bed & Breakfast, after discovering various 'special' B&Bs and the extraordinary people that run them - away from the impersonal, robotic nature of the large hotel corporations. The books were lapped up, and the initial 10,000 copies sold out within six months, and so, in 1994, Alastair Sawday Publishing was born. Now 30 staff work on 20 titles in the Special Places to Stay travel series and the Fragile Earth imprint. The company work from converted eco-barns in Long Ashton just outside Bristol. Alastair ran as parliamentary candidate for the Green Party in 1992, and was vice-chair of the Soil Association. He was the founder Chairman and Director of Avon Friends of the Earth. He has contributed to The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Observer, The Times, Daily Mail, Observer Food Monthly and many magazines. He has appeared on both Open Country and the Today programme on Radio 4.
Stephanie Draper
Stephanie Draper is a Director of Forum for the Future. She has over 12 years experience working with business and other organisations on sustainability development, strategy and change. Stephanie is responsible for ensuring that Forum drives the change needed to create a sustainable future as effectively as possible using futures, leadership and innovation. She uses her expertise is in leadership, strategy and change to help organisations and sectors benefit from a sustainable approach – and challenge them a little too. She works with a range of companies on creating strategies that are fit for the future including PepsiCo, Tui Travel plc and Shell. Stephanie leads Forum’s work on travel and tourism. Forum is supporting the sector to be successful and sustainable at the same time through projects such as Tourism 2023, Overland Heaven and Paradise Found. She is one of Travel Weekly’s ones to watch in the industry and is a regular columnist for them. She is a trustee of the Travel Foundation and chair of its activities committee.
Kate Rew
Kate Rew is a writer and swimmer who founded and runs the world's biggest collective of wild swimmers, the Outdoor Swimming Society. Number two on Monocle's global hotlist of people who deserve a bigger stage in 2010, Kate is described as ‘the driving force behind Britain’s wild swimming movement’ (Triathlon 220). Kate has adventures as often as possible, just as delighted by the undiscovered nearby as skiing, hiking, biking and kayaking her way around the globe. ‘For me, a good adventure is one that challenges you and transports you, that delivers a feeling of newness and untamed happiness. For me it’s not about going further or faster, but about experiencing things more closely. One of the things I love about swimming is that you get that newness right on your doorstep’. In the name of adventure Kate has recently been seen hammering at any icy tarn in her bikini in the Lake District (it didn’t break), taking a surfboard down some grade 3 rapids, and flying off her bike into a small bog on an 18km descent of New Zealand Mountain range The Remarkables. Kate is author of Wild Swim (Guardian, £12.99).
Dan Linstead
Dan Linstead is the editor of Wanderlust, the UK's leading magazine for independent and adventurous travellers. Prior to joining Wanderlust in 2006, he gained ten years' experience as a magazine editor and journalist, focusing on in-flight and consumer lifestyle titles. He has written extensively on overseas volunteering and community-based tourism, and appears regularly on TV and radio as a travel industry commentator. His most recent travels for the magazine have been to Rajasthan, Romania and Borneo.
Miranda Krestovnikoff
Miranda is one of the resident wildlife experts on the BBC1’s popular The One Show and award winning Coast. She has also presented How to Holiday Greener – UK for the Travel Channel and Thames Wildlife Superhighway and Country Lives for ITV. Other BBC series include History Mysteries and The Nature of Britain. As an experienced diver, Miranda presented Channel 4’s Wreck Detectives and is the UK front-woman of the new broadband channel the underwater channel.tv. As an accomplished musician, Miranda has presented the BBC Proms and hosted weekend Breakfast Shows for Radio 3. Miranda is a successful public speaker and has presented for the National Geographical Society and UK and Irish Dive shows, amongst others. She writes articles for tourism, lifestyle and leisure and has become one of the country’s leading beachcombing experts launching a major top ten campaign last year. Miranda writes regularly for Diver magazine and co-wrote Scuba Diving for the DK Eyewitness Companians series. Her second book, Best British Beaches was published last year. A keen gardener and cyclist, Miranda lives "the Good Life" just outside Bristol with her husband and two children and 10 chickens.
Jan Peter "JP" Bergkvist
Jan Peter "JP" Bergkvist has been active in the field of Sustainable Business at an executive level in the hospitality in industry since the early nineties. He had 15 years with Scandic and the last 9 years in an executive management position, including 4 years with Hilton International in the role of Director of Environmental Sustainability. In January 2009, JP stepped back from his position as Vice President Sustainable Business at Scandic to a role of senior advisor working in his own business SleepWell AB. He is a board member of The Swedish Fair-trade labelling organization, The Green Meeting Industry Council GMIC and chairman of the Stockholm Water Prize Founders council.
Rochelle Turner
Rochelle Turner is an enthusiastic advocate for consumer rights and one of Which?’s key spokespeople. She is involved in investigating and unveiling the companies that confuse and rip people off. Her career started in market research for the travel industry, carrying out projects for a number of the UK’s foremost travel organisations and leisure attractions. In 2006, Rochelle swapped sides and started working for Which? Holiday as Head of Research and now manages the research process for all reports for the magazine and online.
Stewart Shepard
Stewart works for Mountain Riders, a French environmental ski charity. His responsibilities include the development of its eco guide to ski resorts, the eco guide to ski and outdoor gear and the organisations international development.