"The potential to make luxury travel sustainable is there."

Professor Dr. Harald Zeiss is the founder of the Institute for Sustainable Tourism (Inatour) and director of the Institute for Tourism Research at Harz University of Applied Sciences. Author Susanne Freitag spoke with him about sustainability in luxury tourism.

From 2017 to 2022 Prof. Dr. Harald Zeiss Chairman of the Board of the Sustainability Initiative Future and until 2024 on the advisory board of German National Tourist Board (DZT). In addition, he volunteers as chairman of the sustainability committee at the German Travel Association (DRV) and is chairman of the environmental advisory board of the Tourism Association of Saxony-AnhaltIn an interview with Susanne Freitag, he talks about Sustainability in luxury tourism.

Friday: Can luxury travel even be sustainable?
Zeiss: There is a fundamental contradiction between luxury travel and sustainability. If we want to travel sustainably, we should use resources responsibly – but luxury often means using them wastefully. This doesn't always have to be the case, but if you look at current offers, a very large part of the luxury narrative is precisely this cornucopia of making everything possible.

Friday: Are there any exceptions?
Zeiss: There are trends toward more sustainable luxury travel, which increasingly focuses on exceptional experiences. For example, particularly good service is always sustainable because it doesn't waste resources and simultaneously puts people at the center, who – it is hoped – will then also receive better pay for this special experience.

Friday: How can luxury hotels become more sustainable?
Zeiss: Luxury hotels, which offer very large rooms with showers, bathtubs, and whirlpools or private pools, have particularly high water and electricity consumption. This means that luxury travelers leave a larger ecological footprint than the average traveler. To counteract this, hotels can invest in sustainable technologies, such as resource-efficient water and energy production. Unfortunately, not all luxury hotels implement these measures, leaving a large gray area that is not very environmentally friendly.

Prof. Dr. Harald Zeiss. Photo: © Harald Zeiss

Friday: Your conclusion?
Zeiss: The potential to make luxury travel sustainable is there, and there are many attractive starting points. I welcome the fact that luxury travel is increasingly focusing on experiences and less on opulence and waste. Especially in the luxury segment, travelers often have a higher level of education and should therefore understand that we should preserve our beautiful planet for future generations. My hope is that these travelers will focus less on price and instead place value on the responsible use of resources.

Friday: Is there a contradiction between sustainability awareness and actual travel behavior?
Zeiss: Yes, it really exists. Many people are aware of the need to travel more sustainably, but still want to enjoy their vacation without a guilty conscience. This contradiction is called "cognitive dissonance": The head tells you to act in an ecologically and socially responsible way, but your gut then opts for the cheaper hotel or the climate-damaging long-haul flight. Studies, such as the FUR Travel Analysis, show that while many people desire a socially and ecologically responsible vacation, there is this discrepancy between attitude and actual behavior – the so-called attitude-behavior gap. This is human nature, and the business model of gyms works so well precisely because, here too, "wanting" and "doing" are two different things.

Ultimately, many travelers hope that the tour operator will take care of everything, much like we rightly assume that no child labor is used or employees are mistreated. Many expect sustainable practices such as water conservation or buying local food to be standard practice. But often, reality doesn't quite live up to these expectations.

Friday: How can this be changed?
Zeiss: One approach is so-called "nudging": gently guiding people in a certain direction without taking away their freedom of choice. For example, travelers are more likely to book sustainable accommodation if they are prompted by a catalog or, as was the case a few years ago with Iberotel, by a green carpet and a reference to climate protection within the hotel itself. This so-called priming can increase the willingness to behave more sustainably – even if the leverage is limited.

Friday: What would be more effective?
Zeiss: I believe the industry, together with policymakers and associations, should establish binding standards. This would ensure that sustainability doesn't remain merely an optional add-on, but becomes a mandatory measure for all providers. Specifically, this means that all hotels – regardless of their category – would be bound by measures such as water flow restrictions, waste recycling, and energy consumption monitoring. Only through uniform standards will sustainability become an integral part of the industry and not just a voluntary addition.

Friday: Are there any regions that are leading the way?
Zeiss: Yes, Scandinavia and the Netherlands have already achieved a great deal in this area, as has Costa Rica, which is known for its particularly strong environmental protection efforts. Bhutan, on the other hand, is an example of a country that severely restricts tourism to protect the environment and society. In Turkey, every hotel is currently being certified according to the Travel Life Standard, which I consider very positive. Hotels that focus on sustainability can improve their overall quality through this standardization.

Friday: One more personal question: What does luxury mean to you on vacation?
Zeiss: For me, luxury is above all the special and extraordinary – experiences that leave a positive impression and surprise. These can be small moments, like a drink at a trendy rooftop bar, simply enjoyed for the sheer pleasure of it, or an exclusive tour of a museum. But I also experience luxury in authentic encounters with local people from whom I can learn something and discover about their lives. And I often realize how well off we are in Germany, that we live in luxury every single day.

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