My friend Greg Berry at nuance intelligence asked that I comment on his recent post:  Ethical Travel I’m not sure I offered anything towards the solution of our massive travel footprint but it allowed me a venue to post some thoughts. Thanks Greg.

Meeting new friends in Jordan

Across the globe there are countless initiatives being discussed to address travel, air travel specifically, and climate change. Recent numbers I have read are that tourism trade accounts for 5% of the World’s CO2 Emissions.  If you allow for a second lens, tourism employees 10% of the worlds economy. Tourism infuses money into poor economies. Travel encourages protection of natural environments and finally, travel leads to understanding.

The reality is most travelers fall into two distinct categories. Those traveling for “vacation”-pleasure, education, adventure, experiences etc (we will include travelers taking part in National Geographic Tours private Jet Tours (!?) and those traveling for work.  Both groups are less likely to be focused on this discussion that we “conscious” readers are.

Challenges:
Consumers traveling for vacation purposes are not interested in feeling guilty about their travels. They’re on holiday! They want to enjoy their experience which includes using plush towels and wonderful bath products. It is a luxury they often don’t have at home.  Many argue correctly that the “towel” issues is much more about how the the hotels wash their linens than about how guests use them.  That’s followed by airline and hotel recycling programs etc etc. Good overview of what is all really means here.

Business Travelers are far more interested in convenience. For all of us who travel for a living I think it is safe to say that airline travel has lost any mystery and excitement it may once have had. The very thought of an airport is now worse than the fear of visiting the dentist.  Anything that makes this journey to our destination easier and less unpleasant will be used. Business travelers are focused on getting in and out with as little personal headaches as possible. Public transportation to/from airports is neither convenient nor well communicated.  Trying to negotiate rail and bus options is complicated enough for the budget traveler and even cities such as NY and Chicago have done a poor job.

Positive Steps:
Vacations: Tour Providers/Companies who have taken the initiatives (offsetting the carbon footprint of the ground portion of the tour) take the first step in educating and encouraging travelers to offset their flights.  Many “tour providers” carefully choose locally owned properties and restaurants and hire regional guides, all of which encourage an overall understanding and connection with the destination. I believe that future political and ethical decisions a traveler makes when NOT traveling will be based on these experiences.  Post travel we tend to read, shop, listen to and engage in topics that touch on a destination we have been to very differently than when we merely read about an issue in a far off destination. The Middle East and Africa are good examples.

Corporations who initiate green travel policies and wield enough status to encourage “green” rental fleets and “green” hotels partners are a start.  It will be interesting to see if this can translate into preferred carriers such as Virgin America’s who’s young fleet of planes are arguably very efficient in both fuel consumption and emissions. Cities focused on ease of public transportation are improving their methods of communication via tools and applications which live on handheld devices.  Yes, booking connecting bus or rail connections when our planes land, knowing when the next local bus is due to arrive and various “share a ride” applications will become increasingly popular and used…once they touch interfaces, specifically mobile phones, and work.

Bottom Line: Meeting and collaborating using technology is effective up to a point in many but not all circumstances.  Face, real face, to face meetings, discussions and SHARED EXPERIENCES are invaluable to many of us.

Beyond reducing your carbon footprint: How about increasing the value of your footprint?

What if we started to think how the travels that we must or choose to make could have a more positive impact? I believe that conference, meeting, corporate travel planners AND individual travelers have a responsibility to make travel worthwhile.  “Offsetting” travel, even an entire conference, is not enough.  I’ve attended far too many conferences held at the Ohare and Orlando airports. I contribute little to nothing to the local economy and leave with little to no understanding of the destination I have just “stepped on”.  Green Conferences are becoming big business for destinations. Moving conferences to smaller venues which represent a destination (like the Chicago Cultural Center at which the GoodandGreen.biz conference is held) Being informed and encouraged to sleep, eat and shop local as well as incorporating these features into the conference venue, and making these choices easier, affordable, and demanded will increase adoption.  Eating room service in front of our computer or the TV is far too common for most business travelers, especially women who may be less inclined to venture out on their own for a meal or a morning run without the information and support of the concierge or hotel staff. Recommending and featuring hotels that embrace local/natural/organic within their walls and even encouraging taking an extra day to experience the destination may not reduce our carbon footprint but may offer some level of a positive exchange. Understanding a destination and the people who make up these communities has the potential for global value.

Would love to hear your thoughts on how to increase the value of our global footprint.

Still traveling, Kathy

Within the travel industry the importance of “Women’s Travel” is often confused.  Women hold a, agruably THE,  leading position in the viability of travel and tourism products.

Slovenia Women's Adventure

Women as Decision Makers

Depending on whose research you review, women influence between 88 and 92% of all travel decisions.  period (should I write that again?)

She is behind the final decision for all family vacations, romantic get-aways, adventure weeks.  She controls the purse-string though she might not be making the final booking.  She makes decisions based on different variables that men.  She wants to know about the experience; how it will make her feel, how it will make her life easier (you’ve done all the planning and picked the perfect hotels, there are options for her kids, you can accommodate her husbands food allergies etc), who she will meet along the trail…she wants the picture rather than the minute by minute details.

She has a high bullshit meter and purchases from companies she has established trust with.  She wants to be asked questions about her needs and she likes to work with people who listen.  She researches travel online but then looks to her friends to tell her who they have traveled with and where they have been.  She’s looking for the perfect solution…and they want to be surprised and delighted that you have thought of something they haven’t.

To providers this may seem like a fairly straightforward introduction…but it is amazing how many brochures, websites,  tour itineraries, confirmation packets, photos, trade-show booths etc are NOT targeting women.  Having been in the industry for over 20 years I would bet that most companies in-house staff is made up predominately of women.   Has every piece you send out to potential clients been honestly reviewed by them?  Who is training your ground staff beyond “guiding” to address how to integrate these needs and desires into the itinerary.

Last but certainly not least, we should address Word Of Mouth Marketing.  In general, women are part of a much larger social community than men are.  We surround ourselves with diverse groups…other couples, women’s book groups, moms play groups, walking/running friends, professional networks. We are part of a huge web are always sharing tidbits of insider knowledge to help others.  Yes, if we like (or don’t like) the trip or company we have just traveled with we will tell EVERYONE.

Women as “Travelers”:
In the late 80’s and early 90’s women’s tours were put in a corner which most adventure travel companies as well as guests were uncomfortable with.  Were “Women Only”  really just another word for Lesbian Trips?  If we had group of women traveling together on our trips, what was their relationship? If two women booked a trip together, were they a couple?

The fact was that during this time, a fair portion of companies targeting “women only” were targeting the lesbian community, while an emerging group of entrepreneurs were simply realizing the growing market of women interested in traveling with other women.

As the industry came of age in the late 90’s and had “softened” a bit (offering more options to suite a wider range of physical abilities, staying at properties with private baths, focusing on local culture interaction and environmental education…renaming trips from “Hiking” to “walking”, focusing on food) we saw astounding growth in the industry.  The demographics had changed from trips being made up predominately of men in their 30’s to couples in their 40’s and 50’s and singles, mostly women, of all ages, eager to take part in an adventure without the concern of security or the need for a traveling companion.

In the beginning of the century “women’s only” tour companies were popping up in every niche (yoga, culinary, skiing, Sailing etc) and major tour operators began testing out “women’s only” departures.  Similar to the “family tour” bandwagon, there was little thought of why, where and when women choose women-only departures.

What we have found through the fallout of canceled departures is what we, as adventure seeking women, have always known, we are constantly changing.  We  gravitate towards “women’s only” trips to learn a new skill, especially one which involves a new sport or physical challenge, as we enjoying being in a supportive women’s only learning environment.  We are likely to take Goal Trips, like trekking the inca trail or climbing Kilimanjaro with other women.  We LOVE to get away with our girlfriends and this section of the market is only beginning to tap into this annual event.  We are also wives, mothers, girlfriends,  individuals who enjoy the company of the other sex.  We like traveling with our husband or partner, with couples, and, if we are single, in groups that have other solo travelers as well as couples.  Most of us are not “women-only” travelers, we are “sometimes women-only travelers”…it is or prerogative

TravelTrends – Travel search intelligence: performance among demographic segments – Compete, Inc.

TravelTrendsTM Weekly travel insights from Compete

By: Jack Drew
September 28, 2008

This is the fourth search-themed travel newsletter this month, highlighting the capabilities of Compete’s Travel Search Intelligence product. This week we focus on the ability of travel marketers, using Compete Travel Search Intelligence, to assess their performance in attracting specific demographic segments through search.

Each month the major online travel agencies fight for hotel search referrals and bookings. Not all searchers are created equal, however, and many marketers are looking to attract only specific customer segments. To highlight Compete’s capabilities in looking at search activity for specific segments, we analyzed Online Travel Agency search performance within a defined demographic group.

Looking specifically at search-driven hotel bookings of high-income women travelers between the ages of 35-44 shows an increasingly competitive Hotwire gaining ground against a steady Expedia and Priceline, while Hotels.com loses ground. While a year ago Hotwire had captured an average of 10% of the search-driven hotel bookings of this demographic, the past few months have seen the brand rise to up to a 30% share in May 2008.

Chart 1

Women’s OTA hotel conversions deriving from a search engine are the result of organic clicks 68% of the time and sponsored clicks for the remaining 32%. The only competitor to rely more heavily upon paid than natural was Hotels.com at 54%.
Chart 2

As online marketers pursue specific consumer segments – either demographic groups, affinity/lifestyle groups, or others – understanding the search behavior of each can give you a competitive edge. The demographic studied above is evidence of how quickly market share shifts can take place. Contact Compete to see how we can help your marketing team ensure it comes out on top in the battle to reach its target traveler segments.

I love this post…wish I could meet all of these women~!

25 Most Influential Women In Travel – Forbes.com

ForbesLife Executive Woman
25 Most Influential Women In Travel
Melissa Biggs Bradley 06.30.08

Women are the prime movers in American travel, driving 70 percent of all leisure travel spending and 80 percent of corporate travel bookings, profoundly impacting where the entire country goes for both business and pleasure. (And don’t forget, women count for some 40 percent of the nation’s business travelers.) Who among these millions of “deciders” have the most clout? To find out, ForbesLife Executive Woman polled top industry executives. The result is our first list of the 25 Most Influential Women in Travel, all of whom have significantly shaped–and will continue to define–the $740 billion U.S. industry that fuels more than 5 percent of America’s GDP. Their predictions for the hottest new destinations and travel trends follow our list.

Produced by Susan Delson

THE NEW SPECIALISTS

Carolyn Spencer Brown
Editor in Chief, CruiseCritic .com

After years of covering cruises for the Washington Post (nyse: WPO – news – people ), Brown was a natural to take over CruiseCritic.com. Thanks to the site’s wealth of information, active community, and frank reviews (from both staff and members), it has 5 million annual visitors and more than 110,000 registered members. That may explain why it is listed as the number one cruise-information web-site on Hitwise.

Georgia Kirsner
Vice President, Travel Industry Sales, Ritz-Carlton

If travel agents could have just one wish, it would be that hotels give their clients the star treatment. Kirsner knows that a happy customer is a return customer, which is why she introduced the Ritz-Carlton’s STARS program, reserved exclusively for top trav- el agencies working with the company. Selected agents have access to a password-protected website for booking. In addition to the attentive service accorded Ritz-Carlton guests, STARS clients are monitored by a designated “guardian angel” at each property for even more personalized attention.

Lisa Lindblad
Founder, Lisa Lindblad Travel Design

Lindblad creates personalized journeys for a following of highly exclusive clients–those who don’t blink at her initial con-sulting fee of $2,500 to design an itinerary. Areas of expertise include East Africa and India. Customers can expect a once- in-a-lifetime trip. Says Lindblad: “I make sure to insert magical moments–like being on top of a hill in East Africa when the sun sets.”

Michelle Peluso
CEO and global president, Travelocity; executive vice president, Sabre (also see “The Climb”)

Travelocity, the mother of online travel agencies, took a blow when competitors Expedia (nasdaq: EXPE – news – people ) and Orbitz (nyse: OWW – news – people ) ramped up their oper-ations in 2002. Wharton grad Peluso, Travelocity’s CEO since 2003, helped the company reach profitability by launching an innovative hotel partnership program and spearheading the acquisition of lastmin ute.com and ZUJI.com (another travel-planning website). In 2008 the World Economic Forum named her a Young Global Leader. Despite the size and scope of Travelocity’s business, Peluso maintains a small-business-like approach in her dealings with people: She answers all customer emails that land in her inbox and tries to get back to employee emails within 24 hours.

Lalia Rach
Divisional Dean and HVS International chair, NYU Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management; founder, Rach Enterprises

In any game there is a need for exceptional coaches. Rach has advised many people in the industry and is one of its most sought-after speakers. As an academic and the founder of a business consulting company, she tracks trends in business management as well as in affluent and baby-boomer markets. In part through her embrace of the increasingly digitized way of doing business, she is known for helping to shape the next wave of travel professionals.

Patricia Schultz
Author, 1,000 Places to See Before You Die

Schultz developed a passion for exploration as a child, but it has been as a travel journalist (for such publications as Condé Nast Traveler and Frommer’s) that she began honing the “life list” that blossomed into a number one bestseller in 2004. With 2.8 million copies in print, the compulsively readable tome has introduced millions of people to such gems as Canyon de Chelly and the Hagia Sophia, and has spawned a sequel (on U.S.- and Canadian-specific sites), a Travel Channel show, and even a jet trip around the world with TCS Expeditions.

STANDARD-BEARERS

Lynne Biggar
Senior Vice President and General Manager, American Express (nyse: AXP – news – people ) Consumer Travel Network USA

One of the chief reasons many people get American Express Platinum cards is help in making trip arrangements. The person at AmEx most responsible for keeping them happy is Biggar, who leads the division that provides premium travel services. She oversees more than 3,000 staff members and has grown travel sales by over 20 percent a year since assuming the position in 2005.

Pamela C. Conover
President and CEO, Seabourn Cruise Line

Born in Thailand, educated in England, and now a resident of Key Biscayne, Conover brings international flair to her role as head of Seabourn, Carnival Corporation (nyse: CCL – news – people )’s luxury cruise line, which she took over in 2006. Seabourn’s all-suites ships set the standard for travel at sea, and the line is known for the intimacy of its fleet (ships accommodate 208 to 450 guests). An optional program sends passengers out with personal shoppers and chauffeur service while in port. The line’s bold new flagship, the $250 million, 32,000-ton Odyssey, is set to debut in 2009, and two other ships are in the works.

Marilyn Conroy
Senior Vice President, Sales and Marketing, Silversea Cruises

Conroy was one of the first women to hold a senior-level position in the cruise industry. Now, with 30 years of major cruise-line business (including Crystal and Cunard) under her belt, she oversees sales and marketing for Silversea, whose honors have included the number one Small Ship Cruise Line rating in a recent Condé Nast Traveler Readers’ Choice poll.

Bella Goren
Senior Vice President, Customer Relationship Marketing and Reservations, American Airlines (nyse: AMR – news – people )

In her more than 20-year career with American Airlines, Goren, a former chemical engineer, has tackled the complex coordination of aviation-related services and business planning. She oversees the company’s customer service operations and its website, aa.com, telephone reservations, and the airline loyalty program AAdvantage. Earlier this year, customer loyalty was put to the test–as were Goren and her team–when the airline weathered the storm caused by thousands of safety-inspection-related cancellations.

Christie Hicks
Senior Vice President, Global Sales, Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide (nyse: HOT – news – people )

In her current position, Hicks directs more than 250 global senior sales associates and is responsible for $3.2 billion in annual revenue. The hospitality industry has recognized her business acuity: Acknowledgments by her peers have included the Vision Award from NYSAE and the PCMA Professional Achievement Award.

Kathleen “Katie” Taylor
President and COO, Four Seasons Hotels & Resorts

In her nearly two decades with Four Seasons, Taylor has helped grow the 48-year-old Toronto-based company into one of the finest hotel brands in the world. She oversees all of its global operations, making sure the company’s 76 properties in 32 countries maintain a consistent standard of excellence. Any Four Seasons loyalist can attest that it’s working; despite the wild expansion in the number of luxury properties in the past decade, the brand more than holds its own.

TRENDSETTERS & INNOVATORS

Samantha Brown
Host, Travel Channel

Don’t be fooled by her self-deprecating humor and girl-next-door charm. Brown has skillfully and steadily bolstered the Travel Channel brand. Last year alone, the Emmy winner’s pages on the channel’s website received more than ten million views. Travelers treasure her tips, whether it’s her favorite place to stay at Walt Disney (nyse: DIS – news – people ) World (the Animal Kingdom Lodge) or a terrific spot for sunbathing in Hawaii (Lanikai Beach in Oahu). Next up: Passport to Great Weekends, premiering June 26, and Passport to China, a three-part tie-in to the Beijing Olympics, starting on July 28.

Carolyn Corvi
Vice President/General Manager, Airplane Programs, Boeing (nyse: BA – news – people )

Corvi likes speed, both in her leisure time (auto racing) and on the job. One of Corvi’s chief accomplishments as general manager of Boeing’s 737/757 Programs was streamlining the manufacture of 737s, cutting the final assembly time in half. In recognition of her industry innovations, she received the Women in Aerospace Leadership Award. Today she oversees Boeing’s Airplane Programs division, with more than 30,000 employees.

Kate Hanni
Founder, Coalition for Airline Passengers’ Bill of Rights

Before Hanni became the hero of frustrated travelers across the U.S., she was a real-estate broker with $40 million in sales and an occasional singer in a rock band. But after spending more than nine hours stuck on the tarmac in Austin, Texas, in 2005, she used her business savvy to create a coalition that advocates for passenger rights. The group has grown to 23,000 members and has lobbied Congress to implement a bill of rights for stranded passengers. Not all of the coalition’s demands have been met–yet–but Hanni’s influence keeps growing.

Susan Harmsworth
Founder and CEO, ESPA

It’s hard to remember that in the 1980s, resorts were more likely to have a state-of-the-art exercise room than a high-end spa. The spa boom is thanks in part to Harmsworth, a visionary who founded the British company ESPA in 1993. With its holistic approach to wellness, the multimillion-dollar firm was a pioneer in incorporating such treatments as aromatherapy, and it maintains perhaps the industry’s most rigorous therapist-training programs. Today there are more than 50 ESPA facilities around the world, including spas at top hotels like the Ritz-Carlton in Moscow, Gleneagles in Scotland, and the Peninsula Hong Kong.

Christine Petersen
Chief marketing officer, TripAdvisor.com

With more than 15 million traveler reviews of 300,000-plus hotels and attractions and more than 25 million visitors monthly, TripAdvisor is an online leviathan. In her marketing post, Petersen makes sure that the reader flow doesn’t slow down. She heads up all consumer marketing, community support, and product and content development, including a collection of destination guides consisting solely of user reviews.

Michelle White
Director of Environmental Affairs, Fairmont Hotels & Resorts

As the children’s song goes, it’s not easy being green–especially if you’re a huge international chain like Fairmont Hotels & Resorts. That hasn’t stopped White from helping the brand take a leadership role in addressing such industrywide challenges as improving water conservation and waste management, as well as increasing the use of alternative energy. The hospitality field will be closely watching the innovative Fairmont Green Partnership program.

ESTABLISHED AUTHORITIES

Priscilla Alexander
Founder and President, Protravel International

Alexander founded Protravel in 1984 and quickly built it into a travel-agency juggernaut. She knew that by focusing on the company’s growth, she could leverage its size and attendant power–about 550 employees, 22 locations, $600 million in annual sales–to nail down discounts for clients without sacrificing such niceties as a 24-hour U.S. toll-free hotline. Today it is the largest independent seller of luxury vacations in the Virtuoso network.

Vivian Deuschl
Corporate Vice President for Public Relations, Ritz-Carlton

Deuschl’s roots are journalistic: She was a reporter in Texas and a newspaper editor in Taipei. As one of the highest-ranking female executives at Ritz-Carlton, where she has worked for the past two decades, Deuschl steers public relations strategy and has helped cement the venerable brand’s reputation as a purveyor of modern luxury. Known for schooling reporters new to the travel beat, Deuschl has been honored three times with the Society of American Travel Writers’ highest award. She served as spokesperson for the Travel Industry Association of America’s 9/11 task force.

Suzanne Fletcher
Director of Travel Management, Concur

In her role as president of the National Business Travel Association, Fletcher oversaw an organization that represented more than 2,700 corporate travel managers and travel-service providers and $170 billion of travel expenditures. Under her leadership, the NBTA testified on Capitol Hill in favor of programs to ease frequent travelers through TSA airport checkpoints. Subsequently, she was named director of travel management at Concur, known as an innovator in streamlining corporate-travel accounting.

Barbara Gallay
President, Linden Travel Bureau

As owner and president of New York–based Linden Travel, Gallay has grown the business from a small, family-owned agency to a multimillion-dollar organization with offices in three cities and an A-list clientele. She is the only travel professional on the 2007 Crain’s New York Business 100 Most Influential Women list, and sits on the advisory board for such companies as Virtuoso, Starwood’s Luxury Collection, and Orient-Express.

Kristi Jones
President, Virtuoso

When Jones recently addressed the Luxury Marketing Council, the crowd packed New York’s Carlyle Hotel. Jones’s popularity is due in no small part to her 20-year role in the creation, development, and marketing of Virtuoso, a name now synonymous with luxury travel agencies. Today the upscale travel network has agencies in 22 countries and controls more than $4.8 billion in annual buying power.

Michelle Morgan
President, Signature Travel Network

Located in Marina del Rey, Cali-fornia, Signature is a 52-year-old co-op of travel agencies. Since taking the reins 15 years ago, Morgan has helped expand the company’s geographic reach, as well as its member marketing programs. Signature now has 325 agency offices, partnerships with over 500 hotels, and upward of $3.8 billion in sales clout.

Valerie Ann Wilson
Founder, Chair, and CEO, Valerie Wilson Travel

After a career in fashion, Wilson took off more than a decade to raise her children before founding her eponymous travel agency in 1981. Today she runs Valerie Wilson Travel with her daughters, Jennifer and Kimberly. It has become one of the top luxury travel agencies in the U.S., with a reputation for superb service. The über-agent’s taste level hasn’t been lost on her peers: Wilson sits on the boards of Ritz-Carlton, the Oberoi Group, and Abercrombie & Kent, among others.