Plastic pollution is one of the most serious environmental challenges of our time. More than 80 per cent of marine litter items are plastics, causing damage to the environment and harming marine life. Tourism can play a central role in tackling the plastic pollution in holiday destinations. The sector can provide a relevant platform to bring local businesses, residents, and visitors together to avoid plastic pollution and to raise awareness among communities and guests. A prime example of such collaboration was presented and discussed during a Policy Breakfast coordinated by Dr. Ralf Pastleitner, Director of International Public Policy & EU Affairs, at TUI Group’s Corporate Office in Brussels on 30 November 2022. 

Silvia Bartolini, Head of Unit Marine Environment & Clean Water Services at the European Commission, Philippos Drousiotis, Chairman of the Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative (CSTI), and Manuel Ferreira, Programme Manager at the TUI Care Foundation, debated their approaches to avoid plastic pollution. The discussion brought together representatives from the European Institutions and the UNWTO, tourism and aviation industry professionals, and last but not least a delegation of young European who won in the #RestartEurope contest run by TUI Stiftung.

In Cyprus, plastics constitute most of the litter in the sea and on the beach. To help address this, the TUI Care Foundation has teamed up with Cyprus Sustainable Tourism Initiative (CSTI) and over 100 local businesses in its Destination Zero Waste Programme. Partners include hotels and restaurants but also travel agents and schools, explained Philippos Drousiotis. Manuel Ferreira added that, so far, the project has helped to avoid and remove the equivalent weight of almost 95 million bottles in plastic waste from the natural environment and established two plastic-free beaches. Speaking about the plans for the next three years of implementation, Mr. Drousiotis explained that the project aims to increase the plastic-free beaches to six, expand the impact to the entire country, reach 300 local partners and help provide education to 5,000 students. Mr. Ferreira added that the Destination Zero Waste Programme of the TUI Care Foundation is „an effective model easily replicable in other destinations to tackle this issue. As a matter of fact, the programme is currently successfully running in various destinations worldwide.” 

The project in Cyprus supports wider EU sustainability goals. Silvia Bartolini explained that, as part of the European Green Deal, the Commission has proposed policies and measures for a circular economy in which plastics are used, reused and recycled. A key deliverable highlighted in her presentation was the EU Zero Pollution Action Plan, which aims to reduce plastic litter at sea by 50% until 2050. The targets are calculated on the basis of the Single-Use Plastics Directive, which promotes the production and use of sustainable alternatives that avoid marine litter. The second part of Ms. Bartolini's presentation focused on the recent findings of the Bathing Water Report, which shows that almost 85% of Europe's bathing water sites met the European Union's most stringent ‘excellent' water quality standards, and upcoming reforms of this initiative. In this regard, she highlighted the relevance of collecting more information on the quality of outside swimming waters and making it available to the public in an interactive way. This will enable citizens to make informed decisions when planning their holidays. 

TUI has been pursuing strategies to reduce plastics across the business for years. The tourism group has so far removed 257 million pieces of single-use plastics from its hotels, cruise ships, airlines and offices. In 2020, TUI joined the Advisory Group of the Global Tourism Plastics Initiative, led by UN Environment Programme and UN World Tourism Organisation. The initiative enables businesses, governments, associations and NGOs to take concerted action, leading by example in the shift towards circularity in the use of plastics. TUI is also a signatory of it, committed to eliminate plastic items; to innovate to safely reuse, recycle, or compost plastic; and to circulate in order to keep plastic out of the environment. These actions are also key pillars for the next phase of TUI’s sustainability strategy.