Responsible Travel

USTOA SIR Mission Statement

The USTOA Sustainability is Responsibility (SIR) Community is a safe place for member collaboration and peer learning around responsible travel, advancing profitable social and environmental practices in our businesses.

Overview of Member Opportunities

USTOA Global Social Impact Manager Molly Laycob acts as a point-person for all things responsible travel for both Active and Associate Members. She consistently evolves the association's SIR platform to reflect current needs of member organizations. Whether a member is just getting started or fairly advanced on their journey, Molly aims to provide ample opportunities for engagement and learning for all.

Ways for members to get involved in the SIR community include:

USTOA SIR Resources Hub

A USTOA members-only portal webpage where members can access information on upcoming events, resources, important announcements for the SIR Community, and more.

1:1 Advising with Molly

Molly is more than eager to assist USTOA Active and Associate Members with any challenges that may arise relating to responsible travel.

Sample Sustainability Strategy

In collaboration with Tourism Cares, USTOA has created a Sample Sustainability Strategy that can be utilized by all members to help them either create or advance their own organization's sustainability strategy. In this strategy, members will find a detailed outline as well as resources to help them achieve each step.

Annual USTOA SIR Summits

Designed to bring together sustainability champions within our community while also showcasing a destination where real sustainable innovation is taking place. SIR Summits provide attendees with first-hand experiences and knowledge. The summits create unique opportunities for attendees to engage and collaborate with fellow sustainability staff members in the travel and tourism industry who face similar obstacles.

The SIR summit atmosphere provides a safe space for transparency and support to help each other advance in individual organizations' sustainability journeys while also establishing roadmaps to address our collective challenges as an industry.

USTOA SIR Education Series

Sessions are formed around focus areas and topics collected throughout conversations with USTOA Active and Associate members discussing sustainability journeys and what would be beneficial to discuss to help move forward with initiatives. The sessions are held monthly and are available for anyone under the USTOA umbrella to attend, regardless of if their position is related to sustainability.

The sessions include subject matter experts and case studies from within the USTOA family, with the goal of giving members an opportunity to learn from other company's collective experiences, successes and hurdles included. During these sessions, attendees are given an opportunity to speak about their personal experiences with these topics and either ask for guidance or offer expertise to help others facing similar situations.

Responsible Travel Library

Comprises best practices, plans, templates, and much more, compiled by Molly as well as USTOA members along their responsible travel journeys and shared specifically for the purpose of helping other members. Currently, Active and Associate members have access to over 200 resources across 20 focus areas that are designed to meet current member's needs.

USTOA Future Lights Program

Recognizes both Active and Associate individuals as champions of responsible travel efforts within their own companies, and now, among all members of USTOA and the greater tour and travel industry. USTOA continues to focus on the people, issues, and opportunities that will shape and improve the tour industry for future generations. Each of the USTOA Future Lights help lead us into a more sustainable, responsible, and equitable future.

Learn More About Future Lights

USTOA Sustainability Committee

Comprised of Active and Associate members representing various corners of the Travel and Tourism Industry. The committee's mission is to advance sustainability within USTOA, member companies, and the wider community. The four pillars of focus for the committee are:

Education
Change management to address adaptation and mitigation
Community
Guidance