Prepared for what lies ahead in tourism
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Climate change presents us with major challenges - especially in the tourism and leisure industry. myclimate "Cause We Care" offers an innovative solution that combines local sustainability measures with global and national climate protection projects. With a simple but effective model, tourism businesses and their guests can take responsibility together, bring about sustainable change and thus make an important contribution to the future of our planet.
F.acT: How did the project come about?
Christina Roitinger: myclimate "Cause We Care" was launched in Switzerland in 2017, based on the idea that guests and hosts should take joint responsibility for climate protection in the tourism and leisure sector. The program, including a digital platform, has also been available for tourism businesses in Germany and Austria since October 2024.
F.acT: Who is the "Cause We Care" program aimed at?
Christina Roitinger: The target group includes sustainability-conscious tourism businesses of all sizes and sectors, including accommodation providers, event agencies, mountain railroads, destinations, mobility providers, tour operators and leisure providers. The program is also aimed at guests and customers who are willing to make a contribution to climate protection.
F.acT: How can "Cause We Care" be used?
Christina Roitinger: Companies can become partners of myclimate "Cause We Care" and offer their customers the opportunity to make a voluntary climate protection contribution when purchasing a tourism service (e.g. hotel accommodation or a ticket). This contribution is doubled by the company and paid into an earmarked fund. Afterwards, 75% of the funds are invested in company sustainability measures, 25% flow into selected myclimate climate protection projects.
Video: How "Cause We Care" works
© Abbildung 1: So funktioniert der myclimate «Cause we Care»-Mechanismus., © myclimate
F.acT: What advantages does myclimate "Cause We Care" offer tourism businesses?
Christina Roitinger: The companies benefit from myclimate "Cause We Care" above all by strengthening their sustainability strategy. They offer their guests an easy way to actively contribute to climate protection, which promotes trust and credibility. By doubling their climate protection contributions, companies can invest in internal sustainability measures that save costs and increase competitiveness in the long term. The digital platform facilitates implementation, enables the calculation of the carbon footprint, provides concrete proposals for measures and supports communication with guests and customers in order to actively prevent greenwashing accusations.
F.acT: What are your interim results? What have you learned from myclimate?
Christina Roitinger: Since the start of the initiative, over 150 tourism partners in Switzerland have already decided to become part of the "Cause We Care" program and 9.2 million bookings with a climate protection contribution have been recorded! A few examples are the Swiss Youth Hostels, Living Circle, Kloster Kappel, or the Teufelhof in Basel. These successes show that the model of joint responsibility of guests and hosts in climate protection works and that positive effects can also be achieved for businesses in Austria.
F.acT: What is expected for the future?
Christina Roitinger: With the introduction of the digital platform, we also want to take off in Austria. The aim is to further strengthen the dual impact - global and local - and to win over more hosts and guests for joint climate protection.
