Custom travel specialist Audley Travel has shared its latest achievements in its long-term commitment to ensuring its business operates ethically and responsibly.
The annual report details the progress Audley made during 2024 against its Environmental Social Governance (ESG) Framework’s 36 annual targets, within five key areas of the environment, workplace, communities, marketplace and governance which are aligned to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals. These targets form a long-term journey where small sustainable steps over extended periods of time continue to deliver change to benefit the communities in the destinations Audley's clients visit.
Achievements during 2024
Audley made great progress against the 36 ESG targets set for 2024, with 89 percent met. Highlights of the achievements include:
Responsible product – Audley's Responsible Choice collection has been helping clients make sustainable choices since 2023, identifying products that go above and beyond to give back to local communities and the environment. In 2024 a further 200 experiences and stays were added, with a total of 498 in the portfolio globally.
Employee volunteering – More than 55 percent of employees used at least half a day to volunteer, in addition to several members of the Executive Board, with over 5,300 hours dedicated to helping out in local communities (in Boston, London and Oxfordshire).
Building careers in travel – Audley’s career building initiatives were scaled up during the year across, outreaching to 2,376 students at career fairs and school volunteering initiatives in the UK and USA. Nine Insight sessions (an initiative using the knowledge of employees and suppliers to support young people from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds to learn about the different career opportunities in the travel industry) were delivered, as well as week-long work experience placements for 46 students, and 12-month placements for four undergraduates.
Supplier engagement – Audley delivered capacity-building workshops for suppliers, sharing tools and resources to identify energy-saving opportunities and create greater cohesion in data collation and sharing.
Working with carbon consultant eCollective, Audley continues to look for ways to work with suppliers to reduce their carbon footprint, for example moving to electric car transfers in destinations and offering alternative travel options where practical. Audley also continues to enhance the detail of the data it holds, surveying the top 450 hotels it works with (accounting for 80 percent of client stays) to gain a more accurate understanding of each hotel’s footprint.
Sabrina Parker, Global Sustainability Manager at Audley Travel, says: “Responsible travel has long been at the heart of what we do and our ambition and commitment to being as sustainable a business as we can remains.
“This year we continued the expansion of our Responsible Choice collection - an example of our continued partnerships with suppliers who place importance in both environmental and social sustainability in their operations. Volunteering and philanthropy initiatives have also remained high on the agenda in 2024, inspiring the Audley team, as well as the next generation interested in a career in the travel sector, to think about the bigger picture of sustainable travel.
“As we look ahead to 2025 and beyond, we’ll continue to challenge our ambitions in this area, as part of our journey as an organization that aims to benefit people, communities, and the planet for years to come.”
Audley’s Sustainability Report can be downloaded from here.