The Adventure Travel Trade Association™ (ATTA) and BehaviorSMART™ are pleased to announce they have entered into a global strategic partnership to combine ATTA’s expertise in adventure travel with BehaviorSMART’s behavior economics-grounded sustainability solutions for the tourism industry. Together, the two organizations aim to empower the global travel sector to deliver sustainable travel experiences through innovative tools and solutions that use insights from behavioral science to encourage desired behaviors by leveraging an understanding of how people think, decide, and act.
This partnership will provide ATTA members with exclusive access to the beSMART Platform, an on-demand sustainability and marketing advisory designed by B Corp certified BehaviorSMART. The first-of-its-kind platform was designed to align with how human psychology drives decision-making and offers businesses in the tourism industry actionable steps to adopt sustainable practices that create tangible, positive impacts on the environment, society, and the economy.
As part of this partnership, ATTA members will receive a 20% discount on the beSMART Platform subscription, giving them access to a comprehensive range of Sustainability Topics, including topics for reducing plastic waste, water consumption, carbon footprint, pressure on hotspots, respecting local norms and much more. Each topic includes actionable, step-by-step guidance designed to make sustainable travel both accessible and achievable, regardless of a company’s size or resources. Such actions have helped travel businesses reduce waste by more than 30% or increase demand for local foods by 15%.
Behavioral Economics: The Unique Path to Sustainability
The beSMART Platform stands out due to its foundation in behavioral economics. The development company, BehaviorSMART, utilizes insights from human psychology to inspire micro-actions that lead to larger, long-term sustainable outcomes. The platform makes it easier for tourism professionals to implement and scale sustainability initiatives that deliver measurable results across various aspects of their operations.
"Partnering with BehaviorSMART brings a vital collaborative strength to our work at the ATTA, allowing us to blend our adventure travel expertise with behavioral science to inspire and empower tourism professionals to create impactful, sustainable change," said Gustavo Timo, ATTA’s VP of Sustainability and Impact. "This enables us to support our members in even more meaningful ways, providing the tools and insights needed to design experiences that encourage responsible travel behaviors and drive the industry toward a more sustainable future."
Looking Ahead: What This Partnership Means for the Industry
With sustainability at the core of both organizations' missions, this partnership is poised to create meaningful change in the adventure travel industry and beyond. Through combined efforts, ATTA and BehaviorSMART are committed to helping businesses make responsible travel choices that align with the needs of both their customers and the planet.
“With the beSMART Platform, we aim to make sustainability easy, actionable, and affordable for all tourism businesses, regardless of their size and resources. This partnership with the ATTA allows us to extend our innovative tools to ATTA's global network of tourism professionals who prioritize sustainability, helping them easily implement practical, science-backed solutions that drive real impact”, says Gergana Nikolova, CEO and Co-founder of BehaviorSMART. “ATTA and its community is globally recognized for its leadership in sustainability and we are very proud to support each other in this partnership and truly believe in the impact it can lead to.”
Upcoming Initiatives & Future Collaborations
To help tourism professionals discover the power of the beSMART Platform, BehaviorSMART is hosting an introductory webinar on how the platform works and how it can seamlessly integrate sustainability into daily operations.
To accommodate global attendees, two webinar sessions will be available: one on 4 November timed for participants across Europe, MENA, and Asia, and a second session on 6 November designed for attendees from the Americas.
Additional joint activities will be announced in the coming months.
About BehaviorSMART
BehaviorSMART™ is a B Corp-certified company that applies insights from behavioral sciences to enhance the efficiency and impact of sustainability solutions in the tourism industry. Committed to helping businesses in the tourism industry progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and Net Zero operations, BehaviorSMART provides advisory services and training programs designed to drive lasting behavioral change.
The company’s latest innovation, the beSMART Platform, launched on 1 August 2024, serves as a hub-and-spoke solution for an endemic issue. By integrating practical sustainability measures with behavioral insights, the platform supports tourism professionals worldwide—across the Nordics, Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Scotland, the U.S., and beyond—in making sustainable practices achievable and impactful. Through these efforts, BehaviorSMART continues to lead the way in transforming the tourism industry for a more sustainable future.