ASI Reisen, a platform specializing in sustainable active and adventure travel, announced that the company will exclusively offer trips from CSR-certified tour operators by 2025. With this initiative, the family-owned business is setting new standards in sustainability and transparency.
Highest Standards with GSTC-Recognized Certifications
"Certifications are valuable tools for understanding and improving our impact on the environment and society through concrete actions. At the same time, we want to provide travellers with the assurance that they are traveling with a sustainable company," said Ambros Gasser, CEO of ASI Reisen. The travel platform deliberately focuses on certifications recognized by the Global Sustainable Tourism Council (GSTC). This ensures that the certifications contribute to the sustainable development of tourism and meet uniform criteria. Therefore, starting in 2025, ASI Reisen and its subsidiary, WeDesignTrips, will only collaborate with certified tour operators.
Sustainability and Economic Viability
In 2024, ASI Reisen will take the first step in highlighting particularly sustainable products. Trips from certified tour operators will be listed more prominently in the future. Additionally, certified travel offers will be labelled accordingly and easily discoverable through various filter functions. "It is our responsibility to actively support our partners in sustainable practices and create a clear connection between sustainability and economic viability. As a family-owned company, it is particularly important for us to accompany partners in the long term and support them in a collaborative manner," added Ambros Gasser.
Certification as Part of the Sustainability Strategy
Sustainability is an integrated part of the family-owned company's mission to develop sustainable experiences for travellers and local communities. In September 2022, ASI Reisen received the B Corp certification, one of the most comprehensive certifications worldwide. In March 2023, ASI Reisen's efforts in sustainable tourism development were recognized with the Travelife certification.
Measurability plays a central role, and the company transparently calculates the CO2 emissions of its trips and reduces them through measures such as avoiding domestic flights. ASI Reisen offsets all other emissions, including international flights. Local value creation is also important, and the company transparently calculates the share of the travel price that stays in the destination area, presenting it, along with its own margin, on the website. Additionally, ASI has its own donation platform with projects in more than 70 countries. Some of these projects are already integrated into travel itineraries as experiences, and further expansion is underway.
Travelife Certification
For companies interested in attaining Travelife certification, ATTA and Travelife for Tour Operators have entered into a global strategic partnership to provide ATTA members worldwide with Travelife Engaged membership.
Travelife for Tour Operators provides online training and practical tools for sustainability management and certification. The training and online tools are suitable for tour operators of any size and cover all management aspects of the travel company business including office operations, the supply chain, destinations and consumers.
Travelife Engaged is the first level in the three-stage Travelife certification process and includes access to Travelife’s online trainings, webinars, and workshops, as well as Travelife’s proprietary sustainability management, action planning, guidance, and reporting tool.
→ Register for Travelife Engaged membership as an ATTA member here
Learn more about the program and what is included for ATTA Members in this webinar and read more about the strategic partnership here.
About ASI Reisen
ASI Reisen is a family-owned company founded in 1963 and a specialist in worldwide outdoor travel and alpine courses. The company's mission is to develop sustainable experiences for travelers and local communities. The travel portfolio includes more than 4,500 different trips to all continents and is divided into the following areas: guided group hiking tours, self-guided hiking tours, alpine training courses, e-bike tours, canoe trips, and adventure tours.